Quite often, God works through simple acts of obedience.
For Susie Jordan, her story at Eagle Church began in April 2004 during a season when she was carrying hurt from a difficult church experience. After previously working at a church and walking through a painful transition, she came to Eagle, pretty unsure of what might come next for her. But not long after arriving, she heard a sermon from Pastor Eric on forgiveness.
It was a message where God met her exactly where she was. Exactly what she needed to hear.
As Pastor Eric shared vulnerably from his own life, Susie remembers thinking, “God is telling me, this is the place I’m meant to be.” God used that moment to begin healing something deep in her heart. At the same time, something else stood out: her two young sons, who had started to resist church in earlier experiences, immediately loved being at Eagle. Being welcomed in with open arms.
For Susie, those things together made it clear that this was where God was leading her family.
Over the years, Susie became deeply involved in the life of the church through small groups, Bible studies, and women’s ministry. While she has served in many different ways, one thing has remained consistent and what God has given to her: a deep and true heart for people. She invests in helping others feel seen, welcomed, and connected.
As she put it, “I really think that it’s just how God wired me – to love others intentionally.”
For her, ministry often looks less like a platform and more like presence.
She describes herself as someone who is sensitive to people’s needs and quick to pick up on what others may be feeling. “I’m really in tune with people’s body language,” she shared, explaining how often the Holy Spirit prompts her to notice when someone needs encouragement, a conversation, or simply to know they are not alone.
One of those moments came when Susie saw a friend return to Eagle after a long and difficult season in her life away from church. She had gone through painful changes in her personal life, and for her, walking back through those front church doors wasn’t a small step. After the service, Susie spotted her heading for the door and, as Susie puts it, she “literally ran” after her to catch her before she left.
“Debbie, Debbie, Debbie!” she said, catching up to her and stopping her for a moment. “You’re welcome to sit with me next time. There is always a seat by me.”
It was a simple invitation, but it mattered.
The next week and ever since then, Debbie came back. And for Susie, that moment reflects something she has come to believe deeply over the years: sometimes what people need most is not something complicated and heavily planned out. They just need someone to notice them, move toward them, and make room. To simply offer a seat right beside them.
That same heart has shaped Susie’s involvement in women’s ministry.
Long before Eagle Women became what it is today, Susie felt a push to create more intentional space for women to gather, study Scripture, and build meaningful relationships. About ten years ago, she stepped out in obedience and helped start a women’s Bible study at Eagle. She expected a small group. Instead, 35 women signed up.
Looking back, she laughs and remembers thinking, “Whoa, God… I think I’m being obedient.”
To her, it felt like confirmation that God was already stirring something. Since then, Susie has continued to invest in women across different ages and stages of life. What she loves most is the beauty of women learning from one another.
Some are young, some are older.
Some are more outspoken, others are quieter.
Some bring deep biblical insight, others bring strategy, compassion, hospitality, or wisdom shaped by their individual experience.
And somehow, God uses all of it together beautifully.
Susie especially loves the way women in different seasons can strengthen one another. “You both learn from each other. From the season another woman is in,” she said. That belief has shaped the kind of community she has tried to build over the years. A community where women are not just attending a study, but truly supporting one another through life and the peaks and valleys that come along with it.
For Susie, that kind of community is one of the most beautiful parts of church life.
It is also why prayer has become such a central part of the way she serves. For Susie, she would describe herself as a “prayer warrior.”
For her, that means regularly gathering prayer requests, praying for women in her group, and looking for ways that prayer can become an even more intentional part of women’s ministry as a whole. To Susie, prayer is not an extra detail added on at the end. It is one of the clearest ways the church can carry one another through life’s joys and burdens.
And Susie knows the depth about walking through burdens.
Near the end of our conversation, she shared that she is currently walking through breast cancer for the third time. Even in that, her story was marked by the same steady faith that has shaped so much of her life. She spoke not with self-pity, but with trust. “I’ve just got closer and closer to Him,” she said.
Over the past 22 years, Susie has seen Eagle Church change and grow in many ways. But what encourages her most is the spiritual hunger she sees in people today—men, women, and students eager to learn, willing to connect, and open to what God is doing.
“What a time it is to be at Eagle Church,” she said.
And if you ask Susie what matters most, the answer is not flashy. It is not complicated. It is not about having everything figured out.
It is about noticing someone.
To invite them in.
To sit beside them.
To pray for them.
To walk with them.
And through those simple acts of faithfulness, God keeps on building something beautiful.
Ellie Livingston
Communications & Office Administrator