Diane Washington is the owner of the Taormina pizza franchise and several MLM companies. She is the author of several bestselling books. She is a speaker, life coach, and women’s ministries co-founder of the Five-Fold international Fellowship Ministries. She holds an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity Degree. She is a widow, and the mother of seven adult children, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother.
Tell us about your ministry
Apostle Diane is the senior pastor of the Trinity Deliverance Church. She served for 14 years in every ministry of the church before she was ordained as a pastor. She has been involved in community development programs and outreach ministries, serving food and providing clothes. Apostle Diane has a special place in her heart for women and children. The ministry supports several women and children’s homes. She supports the adopt the school program, after school program, and the Dave Ramsey financial freedom business classes, as well as health and wellness classes. She also hosts the Five-Fold Conference Yearly.
What motivates you to do this work?
My greatest motivation in life is when I can motivate others. To help others take the next steps to fulfill their dreams. I’ve always been a connector; an encourager who helps others to achieve their life’s purpose.
What is a typical day in the life of Pastor Diane Washington?
My day starts off with my morning devotion/meditation, time with God in prayer and reading the Word of God, and praise and worship. I speak words of declaration over my life and my church. I also listen to inspirational messages like Myles Monroe and TD Jakes.
My list of five things that I need to accomplish include (just to name a few):
I end my day with prayer and thank God it’s over (LOL).
As a Marketplace Minister, what are some of the myths projected by church leaders of the past?
The church is called to manifest the same power, nature, and the ministry of Jesus Christ. We as the church must build on the same foundation culturally as Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and his principles for His kingdom. We want to build a church that looks like Him, we have it all wrong on what the kingdom looks like. We build bigger temples and build our brand, and not brand the message for kingdom advancement. The old traditions of the church look like man, not Jesus.
Myth: The church can’t own a profitable business. The business mountain is where the Kingdom is found in the marketplace. It’s funny how Jesus himself didn’t call anyone from the church but from the marketplace. In the Word, we will find that Jesus called those that were in the marketplace, such as the lawyer, the physician, the fisherman, and the tax collector. Jesus was also in business as a carpenter; His father Joseph was a carpenter.
Also, another myth we find in the church is the idea that the church can survive or be sustained only through tithes and offering. Tithes and offerings are not enough to sustain the church. Yes, the people of God must learn how to pay their tithes and offerings faithfully, but it’s not enough to maintain the church building and the pastor’s way of living, and other expenses. We hear so many stories that offerings are down, the people are struggling economically – they have no jobs, they are losing their homes, they’re in need of food. Where are the funds to help the people? We need an additional stream of income.
The church (the nonprofit) can obtain, build, or create a for-profit arm (businesses) that will financially support the church.
What are some issues that keep some ministries from moving from broke?
We all must be governed by the principles of the kingdom in order to reproduce the manifest promise of the kingdom (Genesis 1:22-26). In verse Genesis 1:26, God states: “Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion…” We got off track by trying to have dominion over mankind and not focusing on the main purpose of God. Man and woman were God’s crowning achievement who was made by His hand; He breathed the breath of life into man. This was His handiwork of creation. Man who was created in His image was a free and moral being. Man bears His divine image and their only assignment was to have dominion over the natural world. So, we were equipped to have fellowship and procreate and to multiply the earth. We failed to obey and we are still falling into the same curses of disobedience and that plunged mankind into corruption, but Jesus came that we may have life and more abundantly (John 10:10).
We must remember that we can’t lead where you haven’t been. In Ephesians 4:11, God called the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the church. Some are not leading with the anointing of the Father, but with one their own strength.
In the wake of the police brutality protests and riots stemming from the recent murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by police in Minneapolis, As an African, America, a mother, a human, how are your feeling, are you ok?
As an African American wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great grandmother, it saddens my heart to know what our young black men have to go through. The same hate as my father, uncles, and brothers had to go through and our parents are what we are experiencing today. People are tired and are rising up to say, “enough is enough” and we will not take this anymore. I was raised in Montgomery, Alabama during the civil rights movement. There was a time I wasn’t sure if my Mom and Dad would make it back home. They were angered by the way our people were being treated. I can remember one night a meeting was held at my house to see who would go and get the voter registration forms and how we would have to hide them. The police came to our house to search for the paperwork and my grandmother was sitting on the paperwork in her big chair so the police couldn’t find them. While the police were searching for our home, my cousin and I ran to tell my aunt that her house may be searched next because there was another copy of the paperwork. Just like we did back in the day, we must band together again in a nonviolent way. The pen is mightier than the sword. I do believe we must take a stand against racism in the church first.
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What’s next on the agenda?
My vision for this season in my life is to “be about my Father’s business.” I want to help other churches to set up their entrepreneurial ministries and others to launch their businesses that have been in the birthing stage for years. Our church, TDC Vision Center, will be launching online entrepreneur classes soon. Finally, I also believe that there are a few more books that God has been urging me to write over the last ten years.
Contact Information:
13LADYD@AMERITECH.NET
LINKEDIN.COM/IN/DIANEWASHINGTON
FACEBOOK: PASTOR DIANE WASHINGTON
FACEBOOK: TRINITY DELIVERANCE CHURCH
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