Rev. Dr. Shirley M. Gordon, or “Pastor Shirley”, as her members refer to her, is the Senior Pastor of Praise Temple Christian Center, the Founder of Praise Temple Ministries and the Chief Executive Officer of SHE-BE, Inc. and Red Pig Media Productions, Inc. 

The fifth of nine children born to a Church of God in Christ Pastor and Missionary, Pastor Shirley grew up in the church.  From a very young age, she had a heart turned towards God and knew she was chosen to do a special work for Him.  

While other children were outside playing or trying to avoid going to church, Pastor Shirley was in the house reading her Bible and trying to make sure her Mother, an anointed missionary, did not leave for church without her.

Pastor Shirley gave her life to Christ as a teenager and was filled with the Holy Spirit at the age of 16, while she was a senior in high school.  After giving her life to Christ, she gave her hand to Ken Gordon, Sr. and they have been married for over 45 years.  Their union has produced two daughters:  Von and Gaylene, one son:  Ken Jr., and four grandchildren:  Valeree, VeNeis, Ken III, and Cidnee, thus far. 

Though a wildly successful businessperson and entrepreneur, Pastor Shirley has never ceased looking for the fulfillment of a dream she had in the 1960’s.  In this dream, God showed her standing before thousands of women and He was ministering to the women through Pastor Shirley.  Women were weeping and crying out to God.  Bonds were being broken.  Wounds were being healed.  Pain was being removed.  Yokes were shattered and inner healing prevailed.  The more women God ministered to through Pastor Shirley, the more that came. 

For years, Pastor Shirley prayed and consecrated herself to be in the spiritual place where God could use her when it was time for this dream to come to fruition.  To prepare herself for God’s work, Pastor Shirley voraciously read her Bible, fasted and prayed.  She was educated in theological seminaries (Center for Urban Theological Studies, Geneva College and others).  The author of several yet to be published works on a number of spiritual topics, Pastor Shirley has been conducting research and interviews for the S.E.C.R.E.T.S. series for over a decade. 

SHE-BE (Solidarity Helps Enable Bondage Eradication) is the birth of the dream and “S.E.C.R.E.T.S. of the First Ladies, Volume I” is God’s first step in His plan to minister to thousands, even millions, of hurting women.  These women are not on street corners or in seedy motels.  They are not in back rooms or in the shadows of a crack house.  They are not raggedy, uneducated and deprived.  These hurting women are right in our churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, and state houses.  These women are leaders in their communities.  They are Apostle’s wives.  They are Bishop’s wives.  They are Pastor’s wives.  They are preacher's and deacon’s wives.  They are the wives of presidents, governors, senators and mayors.  They are community activists.  They come from varied and diverse backgrounds.  However, the one thing they have in common is that they are hiding terrible secrets. 

Through Pastor Shirley and the S.E.C.R.E.T.S. series, God ministers to those whose secrets are destroying them, from the inside out.  This trumpet of God is telling women being abused physically, mentally, psychologically, sexually and even spiritually, they are not alone and have not been forgotten.  God is telling them that joy cometh in the morning.  Pastor Shirley is here to wake those women from their nightmare and into the glorious radiance of a God who cares and wants to deliver them.  Now!

With God’s help, and the full support of her husband and family, Pastor Shirley will allow God to pull the cover off the terrible secrets that have been taboo and gone unspoken and ignored in the church, and elsewhere, for far too long.  Pastor Shirley knows that Silence Encourages Cruelty and Reality Eventually Threatens your Sanity.  She has seen first hand the devastating havoc and the inner turmoil that the weight of these secrets has caused.  God’s First Ladies are under attack.  The demonic spirits have manifested themselves in the forms of low self-esteem, low self-worth, low self-awareness, low motivation, terminal illness, mental fogginess, suicidal thoughts, overeating, and deep-rooted depression.  The list of ailments goes on and on. 

Pastor Shirley knows that keeping these terrible secrets is destroying women all over the world and the real sin is in not “outing” the predators who are perpetrating them.  Pastor Shirley is here to let the predators know, the GAME IS UP!  God is telling those unclean Spirits to come out from among them and return to the pit of hell from whence they came.  Take your hands off my women and be ye removed from thence!

Pastor Shirley has dedicated her life to God and now dedicates the S.E.C.R.E.T.S. series to all those hurting women who are crying on the inside and smiling on the outside and to all those women who are hiding behinds masks of happiness, false smiles and large hats. 

May God bless, heal and deliver each and every one of you, even as He has done for so many already.  Without a doubt, GOD IS A DELIVERER!

As for now, Pastor Shirley stands in the gap for you, lifting you up in prayer.  It’s your time . . . find your voice for you will need it to praise God for the victories He is ready to unleash in your life, today!  Now! 

Note - To be of assistance to other hurting women, please click on the SHE-BE Inc. icon located on the home page.