"OUR PROPHETESS"
My name is Crystal McCampbell. I was born in Toledo, Ohio October 15, 1984. My family moved to Southern California, as Christ lead, in 1986 and we’ve lived in the Inland Empire since 1989. Incidentally, that was the year I accepted the Lord as my personal Savior and was filled with the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. A few years later, my parents noticed that I had been blessed with a few spiritual gifts and, as pastors and ministers were eager to nurture what they saw. By age 12 I was actively singing, ushering and working the altar and by 17 I added assistant youth pastor, poetry squad, and LIVE dance ministry to the list. Currently, I am an ordained prophetess and evangelist, sing in the praise team and am in active dance ministry.
Although I’m best known as a member of LIVE, dance was not something I just walked into. As a child, I was not much of a dancer and was often teased for lack of rhythm, but the desire and passion for dance was in me. Since kindergarten, every song I learned had hand motions and I found myself making up motions for songs that didn’t. I was very timid, at first; fearing I’d be laughed at or simply told I was trying to be like my mentors. Though I choreographed my first and performed dance at 12, I wasn’t taken seriously until I joined the pre-LIVE dance team at my church. Sadly, after our first performance, I was actually discouraged from dancing because I was told I “looked uncomfortable” and “didn’t belong”. Still, I knew that God wanted to use me in that capacity and was selected to be one of four original members of LIVE dance ministry. God took a skill I thought was beyond me and used it for His glory.
Outside of dance and other ministry, I am passionate about psychology and have recently discovered a passion for teaching. Currently, I’m pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology at Cal State San Bernardino (which I will earn June 2007) and work as an associate teacher at Volunteers of America Early Head Start and Resource Center. I also enjoy reading, writing, dancing, singing, watching TV, and spending quality time with friends and family.
In many ways, I am just your average 20-something, working, college student. However, I’ve overcome more than many know. In my lifetime I’ve been abused (physically, sexually, emotionally), depressed, suicidal, felt lost, overlooked, misunderstood, alone and afraid. But now I can honestly I am no longer bound by the trials that once defined me. For much of my life, my personality was characterized by my attempt to hide my secret struggles. Now my confidence is a result of God in me overcoming them.
He is my reason for living, the joy in my smile and the inspiration in my dance.