Tara Jenkins, Ed.D., is a dedicated wife, mother, and faith leader. Along with her husband Pastor Charles Jenkins, they lead the congregation at the historic Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church of Chicago. Jenkins is the head of the Daughters of Royalty Women’s Ministry. She is the founder of the Ministry Mates Institute for online learning which is an empowerment headquarters for Pastors’ wives. We spoke with Jenkins who is also an author about her latest book Enoughness: The Journey To Discovering Who You Already Are.
How did you come up with the title?
Enoughness is the journey to discovering who you already are each of us has enough of what we need to do what we’re called to do. But sometimes we are always reminded of our not-enoughness. I’m just ready to see everybody walk in their enoughness and get excited to do everything that’s in you to do. You’ve already been pre-packed with all the gifts you need, all the courage you need, and all the faith you need to accomplish what God wants you to do during your time on Earth. Enoughness is that ingredient that says you are enough.
Tell us about the book and your Enough Conversation Series.
For the last two decades, I have been convening women,wives and girls in different sacred spaces, in mainly faith lifting events. No matter how big the person’s stage has been, no matter how big that person’s reach is perceived, each of us, I’ve learned, is dealing with some area where we feel like we’re not enough, or we were treated as if we would never be enough. Every week we platform someone and hear their enoughness journey, we see them go from feeling like they were not enough and then we see that transition to them functioning and flowing, as if they know that they are enough already. We’ve been blessed to have people like Michelle Williams, Adrienne Bailon, Megan Good, Erica Campbell, Deborah Joy Winans, and the list goes on. Every single time we’ve seen that they started out with some feeling of not-enoughness.
What message would you give people right now about how to stay mentally strong and know that they’re enough during this pandemic?
I feel like this time right now is a wake-up call. It’s a moment in history, that’s unprecedented where everybody is simultaneously on time out. During a timeout, there’s a huddle, there’s reassignment and there’s a time of resetting. I think we have this divine opportunity to see the areas where we’ve been ignoring our enoughness.
Who is the target audience for the book?
We’ve had church groups, non church groups, families and men going through it, because it’s not a gender-specific book. It is for anybody that needs to discover who they already are. Maybe you need to find out that you’re man enough, maybe you need to figure out that you’re woman enough wife, husband enough, or mother enough. It’s a great thing to do with somebody who knows you well.
