Emboldened E-Book

Tara Beth Leach

• Herausgeber: IVP
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Seitenzahl: 270

Beschreibung

Throughout Scripture and church history, women have been central to the mission of God. But all too often women have lacked opportunities to minister fully. Many churches lack visible examples of women in ministry and leadership.Pastor Tara Beth Leach issues a stirring call for a new generation of women in ministry: to teach, to preach, to shepherd, and to lead. God not only permits women to minister—he emboldens, empowers, and unleashes women to lead out of the fullness of who they are. The church cannot reach its full potential without women using their God-given gifts. Leach provides practical expertise for how women can find their place at the table, escape impostor syndrome, face opposition, mentor others, and much more.When women teach, preach, lead, evangelize, pastor, and disciple, and when men partner to embolden the women in their lives, the church's imagination expands to better reflect God's story and hope for the world.

Leseprobe

Emboldened

A Vision forEmpowering Womenin Ministry

Tara Beth Leach

Foreword by Scot McKnight

For Jeff.

My love, my partner, and the one who emboldens me to ministry every day.

Contents

Foreword by Scot McKnight

Introduction: A Burden for the Church

Part 1: Emboldened Women

1 This Is Our Story

2 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

3 Breaking Stereotypes

4 Overcoming Opposition

5 An Emboldened Sisterhood

6 Marriage, Family, and Singleness in Ministry

Part 2: A Vision for an Emboldened Church

7 An Emboldened Mission

8 An Emboldened Imagination

9 Emboldened Colaborers

10 An Emboldened Church

Acknowledgments

Appendix: Books to Read

Notes

Praise for Emboldened

About the Author

Missio Alliance

More Titles from InterVarsity Press and Missio Alliance

Copyright

Foreword

Scot McKnight

In my first term as a professor at Northern Seminary was a young woman, Tara Beth Leach. She was clearly engaged in every topic and wrote papers that captured my interest because they not only examined the Bible carefully but showed the implications of her papers for the church. I had Tara Beth in a few more classes, and her work was such that I then asked her to be my graduate assistant. Kris (my wife) and I have walked with and prayed for Tara Beth over every one of her moves in the last five years, but her recent move to pastor First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena revealed the giftedness Tara Beth has. When she preaches and when she leads, she is doing what God has called her to do.

Over four years at Northern Seminary we had many conversations about women in ministry and how best to embolden gifted women in their ministries, and one of our discussions led to this: avoid justice, emphasize giftedness. So many have an instinct to turn the discussion about what the Bible teaches about women and ministry into a fight, and the first card laid on the table is justice. For many it expresses something profoundly deep, but for church folks it sounds like politics and culture wars. I myself do believe silencing the voice of women is an injustice, but not just to women: it is an injustice to what the Bible actually says, and therefore it is an injustice to the women God has gifted. But instead of pulling that argument out of the bag, it is far wiser, far less inflammatory, and far more compelling for a woman to teach or preach or exercise her gift. Justice will become obvious when the woman’s gifting is obvious.

Another of our discussions prompted this observation: males on the platform need to slide over and give women a place. It’s a fact today that males are in power (define that term in positive or even negative ways, but power is at work) and for gifted women to exercise their gifts requires the permission of males. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean: males are on the platform, and the only way for a woman to gain access is for males to move over. Cruciform—a word that tumbles off Tara Beth’s tongue often—leadership requires males to surrender their power to anyone gifted, including women. Perhaps this foreword can encourage males in power to consider how they might make room for women on the platform. Power in the hands of a cruciform leader becomes transformative power. Instead of exercising authority over someone or creating hierarchical structures, cruciform power emboldens others.

Once a denominational leader told me he couldn’t relate to a chapter I had written because every story in the chapter was about a woman. I gulped, took a deep breath, and tried to avoid blurting out the obvious, but this was the question: How do you think women feel almost every Sunday in most evangelical churches? The stories male pastors tell are far more often about males, and if that denominational leader would hold up the mirror he might see that stories about women are necessary too. How can young, gifted women know there is a place for them on the platform if they don’t hear stories about women ministering? Tara Beth tells stories of women, and the stories of women will provide for readers of Emboldened examples of women exercising their gifts.

Tara Beth and I agree 100 percent on the most important topic of conversation: What did women do? That is, instead of narrowing our debates to some restricting texts in the New Testament—like 1 Timothy 2:8-15—and fighting over the meaning of words and the confinement of women, why not turn our attention to texts in the whole Bible to see what women did in the Bible? Surely Paul’s words in 1 Timothy will not undercut what women had done, what women were doing in his own mission in his own day, and what women would be gifted to do! What we find is women ruling and judging and leading and prophesying and discerning and announcing and teaching and being apostles and deacons.

Those women did what they did because they were emboldened by the Spirit of God and the church’s reception of the Spirit’s gifting. Tara Beth has chosen the right word to describe not only women who have gone before us and what God is doing among women today, but also what church leaders especially need to be doing today: emboldening women as a way of letting the gifts of God be given to the people of God.

As Tara Beth’s former teacher and as a representative of Northern Seminary, we are all proud of her. Not because she’s gone where few have gone but because she has received the gifts of God and is using them for God’s glory.

Introduction

A Burden for the Church

Pastors surrounded her as she knelt with her head bowed. It was another ordination ceremony for a handful of pastors in our denomination’s district, but this one hit me differently. With my hands on her shoulders, dozens of pastors prayed for her, and one pastor prayed a prayer of blessing, commissioning, and anointing. I wept.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful; no, not that. No one was arguing over the biblical and theological grounds for her ordination; no, it was a celebration. No one was resisting or protesting; no, it was an affirmation. I was grateful she was being ordained—after all, many denominations don’t ordain women! But as we gathered around this soon-to-be-commissioned ordained pastor, I was overcome with emotion for the seemingly invisible resistance she might one day encounter. Would she find a pulpit to preach in? Would she find a place to serve? Would she be given a platform to lead from? Would she be welcomed to the table with her male counterparts? Will her voice be heard in meetings? Will she have to defend her calling? As we commissioned her I wondered what she might encounter.

So in that moment, I prayed through my tears. I prayed that she would be a woman emboldened by the Spirit of the living God to proclaim the good news in all things, and I prayed that her brothers in Christ would empower her to be a colaborer, and I prayed that the bride of Christ would boldly name and resist the systems and barriers that keep women sidelined.

I write this book as a grateful woman, but also as a burdened woman. Although many women enroll in seminaries and reach ordination, many still find themselves pushed to the side with no place to serve. I have sat and prayed with countless women who have been pushed aside or have been silenced or feel invisible within their own congregations and Christian organizations. For some, it’s too late—they’ve already walked away. Others are hanging on by a thread, and some have pushed through. There are success stories, no doubt, but still not enough. The church can do better.

Over the years I have noticed something in many well-meaning, Spirit-filled churches. To put it bluntly, women are marginalized and are left without opportunities to harness and use their God-given gifts to the fullest simply because of their gender. Although many churches affirm women in ministry, these same communities sometimes have no idea how to embolden women in their midst as men continue to saturate the leadership structures. Women who are gifted to teach, preach, lead, evangelize, and shepherd are all too often sidelined. The body of Christ is disjointed—privileged men are soaring in their gifts, and women are still silenced. This status quo will continue indefinitely until men and women partner together in this great mission we have been called to.

On Sunday mornings, I often look around the congregation and wonder how many women sitting in the pews have lost the kingdom imagination for their role in the body of Christ. I sometimes wonder how different the worldwide church would be if all the women in the pews lived into their full potential of using their gifts to edify the body of Christ. How many women have extraordinary gifts of leadership but are held back because only the men in their congregations are given opportunities to lead? How many women have supernatural gifts of preaching and teaching but don’t know it because they have bought into the narrative that men alone preach and teach? How many women have unusual gifts of shepherding but are blind to it because they’ve never observed a woman shepherd?

Not too long ago I came across some statistics for the Church of the Nazarene—a denomination that has affirmed women in ministry since its inception.1 These statistics exposed a troublesome phenomenon. When the report was released, women made up nearly 20 percent of active clergy. However, only 14 percent of clergy women were senior pastors—less than 3 percent of all senior pastorates. Additionally, a higher percentage of women (19.3 percent) were not assigned at all.2Sadly, these statistics reflect the landscape for many women in ministry. In another study through Barna, it was found that women are frustrated by the lack of opportunities in their local church and even believe they are undervalued by their church leaders. As many as 20 percent feel underutilized, and 16 percent feel they are limited by their gender.3 The study notes that although these seem like small percentages, this actually amounts to millions of women in the United States who feel sidelined in their churches.

After reading these statistics, I wanted to commiserate with some of my sisters in Christ. As I sat at my computer, I could see all of the faces of women who have left the ministry because it was just too hard.I could see the faces of women in ministry who have been deeply wounded by the church, those who have given up altogether, or those who, although they have a gift to preach, have no pulpit to preach from, or the ones who no longer see the stress as something worth pressing through.

Since 2004, I have served in both parachurch ministry and pastoral ministry in local churches as a youth pastor, women’s pastor, a teaching pastor, and now a senior pastor. Every Sunday I stand before a congregation that affirms all of me and also emboldens me. They’ve given me a place to lead, teach, preach, and shepherd. I am grateful for every opportunity, review all of my years with great fondness, and look ahead to the future with much excitement. I rejoice when I have the opportunity to share the story of God—the life, teachings, fulfillment, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, my King. I can do nothing but shed tears of joy when someone first decides to turn their heart and life to Jesus. I delight when I watch the people within the body of Christ discover the gifts and talents God has given them through the Spirit. I become weak in the knees when someone in our midst begins to read the Bible, saturate in its words, and become a student of the Word.

I desperately love the church. Sometimes I stand in utter disbelief that not only did God call me to teach and preach, but I actually get to do it. I am grateful for the men and women who have emboldened me to stand behind the pulpit and teach in a way that only Tara Beth in the Spirit could. I am grateful for congregations who have believed in me and loved me, and I am grateful for a congregation that loves me now.

But also, as a woman who has been in full-time ministry for over a decade, I understand wounds—I know them intimately. There have been days that I too have wanted to give up. There have been moments when the pressure of ministry and the obstacles as a woman are so challenging that I think, why bother? With two little boys at home, I often think it would be easier to walk away from the ministry. But I haven’t, and I won’t. I’m in for the long haul, and I want other women to join me. I want to pull all of the wounded women into one big room and tell them to keep on preaching on. I want to tell them to not give up, to come back to the church, to persevere together, and to hold fast to the One who calls us.

And I can see the faces of every little girl, every young seminarian, and every young and aspiring minister. I want to write them a love letter and show them the kingdom vision for women in the body of Christ. I want to offer them words of hope, inspiration, and encouragement, so that when they reach bumps in the road, they would know Whose they are and by Whom they’ve been called.

But I also want to pull into a room all of the male pastors and church leaders who are professing egalitarians. I want to hold a town hall meeting of sorts and give them a pep talk, and plainly teach them how to embolden women in ministry and give them a platform to flourish. Far too many women have been left without wings to soar, pulpits to preach, and churches to serve.

It is my prayer that women will read this book and be inspired to use their gifts for the edification of the kingdom and the glory of God, and men will walk away with practical steps on how to embolden women in their midst. This book is for men and women who already understand the biblical and theological account for the full inclusion of women in church leadership.

If you’re looking for an extensive theological and hermeneutical exposé on why women of the Bible were emboldened and why women today are called to serve alongside their brothers, you won’t find that here. This is not that book. Many wonderful books have made important biblical and theological arguments for women in ministry.4 Instead, women will be able to read this book and be inspired to use their gifts for the edification of the kingdom and the glory of God, and men will walk away with practical steps on how to embolden women in their church. It is also my hope that women who don’t necessarily want to be in full-time ministry but want to use their gifts faithfully within the body of Christ (including but not limited to Bible study leaders, small group leaders, board members, campus ministers, evangelists, writers, professors, worship leaders, and Sunday school teachers) will also find encouragement in this book and then reclaim the kingdom vision for women in the church.

There might be a number of reasons you picked up this book. Maybe you are a young woman who has experienced a new call to ministry, or maybe you are a young seminarian preparing to enter full-time ministry. No matter who you are, I hope these stories bring you hope. I believe in Holy Spirit leadings and promptings, and I believe in angelic nudges, so perhaps the Spirit has led you to this book. Whether you’re a woman who is at the end of your rope and is ready to walk away from ministry, or you’re a male pastor scratching your head wondering how to better embolden women in your midst, I pray that this book not only blesses and encourages you, but also opens your eyes to God’s heart for the church.

A prayer for you, the reader:

Lord, I thank you so much for this reader. I thank you for the leading of your Spirit to not only write this book, but I also thank you for leading the reader to pick up this book. I pray for the reader because I so desperately believe in the messages and stories that will unfold in this book, I believe that it is your heart for the church. Before us is a new frontier for women and men in the church, and I thank you for the countless women that have already paved the way to bring us to this point. I pray that you would inspire within this reader to see the church anew and fresh through your eyes. I pray that as the reader flips through the pages of this book their heart would be open and moldable to your wise counsel. Lord, embolden us all, men and women, to serve alongside of one another with a holy passion for your work. Amen.

Part 1

EmboldenedWomen

One

This Is Our Story

Around AD 33. As she sobbed, the tears rolled down her face. He was gone, nowhere to be found. Mary Magdalene stooped low to peer into the tomb. Days before, she stood at the foot of the cross as her Lord suffered. Keyed in on every movement, every word, every breath, every emotion, she watched. Tall above her, head down, he suffered—and she watched.1

And as he was wrapped up and laid in the tomb, Mary watched. He was, after all, her Lord, her Savior, her teacher, her love. And now it was over. The bitter end had now come and gone.

Longing to capture a glimpse of her Lord, hoping that maybe his body wasn’t taken after all, she peered in. Imagine the utter shock she must have felt to see two angels sitting where Jesus had been lying.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (Jn 20:13-17)

As Mary’s bitter sorrow and hopelessness shift to joy at the vision of her Lord and Savior, Jesus sees Mary. Jesus sees Mary; Jesus affirms Mary’s role; Jesus recognizes her intrinsic value as a minister; Jesus emboldens Mary to be the first to preach the tidings of the resurrection. The risen Lord, King Jesus, sends Mary:

“Go . . . to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (Jn 20:17-18)

Without fear and without stipulations, Jesus sends Mary to make the most important announcement of the New Testament. Scholar James D. G. Dunn notes that an account like this was indeed radical in nature.

Mary has the honour of reporting the empty tomb to the other disciples. . . . Yet, as is well known, in Middle Eastern society of the time women were not regarded as reliable witnesses: a woman’s testimony in court was heavily discounted. And any report that Mary had formerly been demon-possessed (Luke 8:2) would hardly add credibility to any story attributed to her in particular.2

Had this been a fabricated story, the writers would have never used a woman’s account. In those days, women were rarely allowed to testify. Therefore, this story stood the test of potential ridicule and incredibility. But the story was told as it happened, and it wasn’t because Mary was the only one at the tomb; it wasn’t because there were no men, so Jesus had to send Mary; rather, this was an intentional, subversive, and radical move to send Mary. Time and again, Jesus boldly affirmed the value and worth of women, and appointed them to be colaborers in the mission. Jesus unabashedly elevated the traditional role of women so they too could participate in the work of the kingdom of God.3 Women of the Bible were indeed emboldened.

Mary is not alone. With her is Phoebe, a deacon and a financial sponsor for Paul’s missions; Priscilla, the gifted teacher; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Junia, the bright and respected apostle who Scot McKnight calls a “Christ-experiencing, Christ-representing, church-establishing, probably miracle-working, missionizing woman who preached the gospel and taught the church.”4

And then there are women such as Deborah, the fearless leader; Huldah, the prophet who helped reignite Israel’s faith; Miriam, the gifted musician for the people of God; and Esther, the brave queen who seized the moment and boldly approached the king.

The very Spirit of the living God that caused a great earthquake, shook the tomb, rolled the stone away, breathed life into Jesus’ lungs, and raised Jesus from the dead, emboldenedthese women. And it isthis Spirit,and this Jesus,whoemboldenswomen today.

The Year Was 340

It was an era typically attributed to the early church fathers, a time when theological disputes were constant and the condemnation of heretics was at its peak. But this story isn’t about one of the patristic fathers; instead, it’s about a woman who fiercely taught God’s truth in an era when women were almost totally silenced. After only seven months of marriage, Marcella became a widow and chose to live an ascetic religious life by devoting her life to God and the study of the Bible. She was well educated and a devoted learner. She was such an avid learner that she spent a lot of time at the feet of prominent scholar and Bible teacher Jerome, who is most well known for his Bible translation from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, and also for his mean-spirited nature toward women. But his posture toward women didn’t intimidate Marcella; she refused to blindly accept any explanation of Jerome’s and took him to task on many theological disputes. Highly esteemed by Jerome, Marcella was known for her biblical and theological brilliance, and for being on the front lines of condemning heretics. Jerome ennobles Marcella:

And because my name was then especially esteemed in the study of the Scriptures, she never came without asking something about Scripture, nor did she immediately accept my explanation as satisfactory, but she proposed questions from the opposite viewpoint, not for the sake of being contentious, but so that, by asking, she might learn solutions for points she perceived could be raised in objection. What virtue I found in her, what cleverness, what holiness, what purity, I am afraid to say, lest I exceed what belief finds credible. I will say only this, that whatever in us was gathered by long study and by lengthy meditation was almost changed into nature; this she tasted, this she learned, this she possessed. Thus, after my departure, if an argument arose about some evidence from Scripture, the question was pursued with her as the judge.5

Marcella pushed against the cultural norms and publicly called out heretics. Maybe Jerome saw her to be a “thorn in his side” for her refusal to accept simple answers, but she was brilliant, she was fierce, and she was a teacher.

This is our story! We are fierce, intellectually astute women who are brilliantly made to not accept simple answers. We are wise teachers and colleagues of some of the world’s most renowned and brightest scholars. We look to men as colaborers in this great work and aren’t afraid to push them to think in new capacities. This, my dear sisters, is our story.

The Year Was 1515

At the age of twenty-one, a grieving young woman who was devastated to leave her family joined the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation at Ávila in Castile.6 Teresa of Ávila eventually came to terms with her role and her love for the church. Although many might think she was tucked away in a convent with influence over women alone, through her writings her impact and influence have crossed both gender and denominational boundaries. Although she addresses women in her convents, some believe her writings are geared toward many priests and laymen.7 She was a woman in tune with the depths of God through her commitment to contemplation. Even today, I hear many pastors—men included—attribute their passion for contemplation to the works of Teresa. From the walls of a convent, Teresa’s words summon men and women alike to sit at her feet. Many have been shaped and formed by the Holy Spirit through her words.

This is our story! Our words live on and gather men and women alike to be nourished by our gifts, our words, and our passions. We find our voices, even when we begin with reluctance and fear. We put our words to paper and use them to call the bride to deeper places and edify her for mission. This, my dear sisters, is our story.

The Year Was 1880

Today, pastors like Steven Furtick, Bill Hybels, and Matt Chandler are known for their ministries that draw crowds as large as twenty-five thousand. But in 1880, it was a woman that drew such crowds. In those days, a woman in the pulpit was rare (they weren’t even allowed to vote), but Maria Woodworth-Etter didn’t let that stop her. She was on a mission from God. Almost immediately following her conversion as a teenager, Woodworth-Etter received a call to the ministry, but this confused her because she saw only obstacles. Her denomination “did not believe that women had any right to work for Jesus,” she recalls. “Had I told them my impression they would have made sport of me. I had never heard of women working in public except as missionaries, so I could see no openings—except, as I thought, if I ever married.”8

She did marry, but this wasn’t her doorway to ministry. Instead, she began following the leading of the Holy Spirit, and at the age of thirty-five she started preaching locally. Her ministry grew and was in such high demand that she was asked to lead countless local churches! But instead she began traveling coast to coast with an evangelistic ministry. Her ministry was interdenominational; she drew in people from every walk of the Christian faith. In 1912 and 1913 her camp meetings began to explode; as many as twenty-five thousand gathered for her preaching. The services were likened to stories found in the New Testament: “Thousands attended the meetings. The miracles were as great as in the days of Christ and the apostles. The fear of God came on the people as they saw the sick carried in, dying on beds, and then rise up and shout praises to God and walk and run. They saw them leap and dance.”9 People came far and wide to hear her preaching even as she grew weak with age. Woodworth-Etter was also a church planter. Near the end of her ministry, she planted a church that is still thriving and growing today: Lakeview Church, Indianapolis.

This is our story! Even in an era when women have little to no rights in the public square, we rise up and are emboldened by the Holy Spirit to preach and teach. Even when we might be riddled with doubts and fear because we’ve never seen it done before, we choose obedience to the Spirit first and foremost. Even at the age of thirty-five, with no ministry training or education, and without a female role model, we go for it, because we can’t imagine any other way. This, my dear sisters, is our story.

The Year Was 1977

Up until the 1970s, the debate about women in ministry in evangelical churches was mostly off the radar. For many women the 1970s were a ground-shaking, movement-making era. One of the movers and shakers of this time was Patricia Gundry, a passionate advocate for marginalized women in the church. Gundry wasn’t okay with the status quo of women in the church and began to question some of those confusing passages in the Bible. To her surprise, she found out that hardly anyone was discussing some of those passages. Gundry described this in a 2006 interview:

While serving a meal to a visiting preacher I asked him how he interpreted the passage [regarding women in the church] in 1 Timothy. To my shock and surprise, this man, who was usually very friendly and gracious, snapped at me, “Why do you want to know?!” He was sitting at my table, eating my spaghetti, and being obviously rude to me about a simple conversational question.

That’s when the light bulb moment came to me. I thought, He doesn’t know. None of them know. But, they are willing to limit all women’s lives and participation on the basis of Bible passages they know are problematic and they don’t know how to interpret. I determined to someday search and find the answers to my questions, and to share them with all other women who wanted to know too.10

After casually searching for answers, Gundry decided to take her research more seriously and authored Woman Be Free! (1977). Gundry was courageous, bold, and biblical in her writing, and she called on the church to no longer treat women as second-class citizens. In her ground-breaking book for its time, she tackled head-on many of the controversial passages for women in the church. Her book, however, was not without drama:

Her conclusions appeared in 1977 as the book Woman Be Free! At the time of its release, Gundry’s husband Stanley taught at the Moody Bible Institute, a conservative evangelical school in Chicago. According to Pat, people at Moody initially tried to ignore her book. Two years later, however, all that changed when she gave a lecture on women’s rights in Glen Ellyn, a suburb geographically close to Moody. Conservative Christians sent scores of letters to Moody objecting that the wife of a Moody professor was speaking out for women’s rights. Eventually Moody banned Pat Gundry from its media and on August 1, 1979, asked Stan Gundry to resign, since he and his wife were an embarrassment to the school.11

Although it took time, attention was drawn to Gundry’s work, which eventually led to the founding of Christians for Biblical Equality, an important ministry still in existence today. Gundry’s was a voice in the wilderness crying out for equality for women in the church. She pushed against the norms and refused to accept the sidelining of women in the church.

This is our story! We are voices in the wilderness; we are prophetic. We are bold enough to say the things that no one else is saying, and we are willing to speak up for the marginalized. We are Bible teachers, and Bible expositors; we cry out for justice, and we do it with class, love, and grace. This, my dear sisters, is our story.

This Is My Story Too!

I was a seemingly typical 1990s teenager living sixty miles south of Chicago on a forty-acre horse farm. Stacks of boy band CDs garnished my nightstand—NSYNC, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, and 98 Degrees to name a few. “I Wanna Love You Forever” by Jessica Simpson was my jam; I would often stand on my bed and sing it at the top of my lungs, with a hairbrush as my microphone, imagining I was singing it to my latest high school crush. Rarely did I ever leave my house without my Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey or my CK Perfume. I was so boy crazy and usually had a date to homecoming, winter ball, or prom. I would spend months picking out a dress, and an entire day getting ready for makeup and hair.