I Ascend: Please share with us, who is Jai?

JAI: Jai is someone that has gone through a lot in a short time. Jay is a pastor’s kid from birth that became a pastor’s wife, to becoming an ordained pastor herself. I have been a worship pastor for lots of churches. The one that I am currently affiliated with is Joyce Meyer Ministries. I have been in ministry so long. I am a singer and songwriter. I am also currently writing my first book. I am a podcaster and co-host of Joyce Meyers “Talk It Out” podcast. I am a speaker, a creative and most importantly I am a mom. I got ordained at eighteen to become a pastor myself. I was a missionary at the Church of God and Christ. They did not allow women ministers at first. I went through that minor in Religion, went to college, got married at twenty had my daughter at age twenty-one. As soon as we got married, we got pregnant. I went through a period of depression that I did not want to talk about at that time, because people in church did not really talk about depression. I went through postpartum depression really bad, where I could not work in marketing, which is what I went to school for. That is when I really started up the gift of music. Now, music runs through my blood, music runs through my veins because I am a part of the family of the group called God’s property. That’s my aunts, uncles, and cousins. The people that created the song stump with Kirk Franklin, that’s all my family. Music has just been ingrained in me all of my life. I did not really want to do music, but once I went through that depression, I was writing a little bit more.

During that time frame, a friend of mine named Jr. He goes by Courtney Orlando now, was signed to a label called Cross Movement. Cross Movement was the Christian Hip Hop label in the East Coast. That was the only label that really putting out Christian hip hop music. Now, keep in mind, I was a C.O.G.I.C. girl, I could not even listen to hip hop. I didn’t have no business being with these folks. Even though these guys have gone through seminary and are all spiritually rooted foundational guys. I started helping my friend Jr. write his album called “By Stereo” I started singing on our feature on his album. I was writing so a lot of the guys were asking who is this girl?  That is when the snowball effect happened where I started writing with Flame, then I began to work with Lecrae, Tripoli, Tedashii and all of the hip hop guys.  I ended up being the girl that wrote and sang on their songs. That is what really got me integrated into the music scene. I then put out my own album in 2011, I was able to get myself signed, with a distribution deal through Central South and Infinity. While I was promoting my album, I was also singing backgrounds for Mary Mary. I sang with Donnie McClurkin, and I was on the Obama rally because I was singing backgrounds for them which was an amazing time. That album ended up getting nominated for hip hop album of the year for the GMA Dove Awards.

I took a break and I started focusing more on the pastoral side of things. I realized that I was on the road so much, even though my ex was my road manager. I still felt like we weren’t able to focus on family as much. That break was a good thing, because it connected me to Joyce Meyer Ministries, which is amazing. During this time I was an independent artist, I was at the top of my game, I was one of the trailblazers for Christian hip hop, I was like the Missy Elliott of Christian hip hop and so to take a break at the peak, when I had just been offered another deal was a sacrifice that I made for my family. Fast forward, all that went down, I found out that my ex was having an affair for three years with a friend that was married, to one of my musician’s wives. When you have that happen and this was during the pandemic it can knock the wind out of you. I was already into the podcast with Joyce Myers, I went through the pandemic and walked through getting served with papers, after I found out that my husband cheated on me. I had to keep pushing through and doing a podcast and blessing other people, which was one of the hardest things in my life to do. I have seen it bless so many people, because during the pandemic was one of the times where we saw so many divorces and families breaking up. I was able to talk through my situation because as believers, a lot of times people don’t want to talk through their pain. This caused a rip in my heart, and I stepped down from being a worship pastor and I talked about it on the podcast, I stepped down from a lot of things. Now here we are. I am a single mom putting my kid through college, so God is doing some stuff. I am now writing a new album and writing a book, I am also a John Maxwell certified speaker and coach I took a long pause trust me while the pandemic was in full effect but I don’t want to let it stop me.

I Ascend: How many years were you married?

JAI: I was married for nineteen years and ten months. We were two months from being twenty years. I knew my husband since I was eleven years old which means I have known him about thirty years. Not only was he my husband, he my best friend and my first love. He was my first that I experienced intimacy with, I remained a virgin until I got married.

I Ascend: What has the process of “Becoming” been like for you on this journey?

JAI: The process of becoming has definitely been tumultuous. I am not one to sugarcoat things, this process of unlearning everything that was my life. I learned to relearn who God really is. I was very religious, I had religious expectations because of my roots in church. I am realizing through this journey that I have been very judgmental historically. I have had those moments where I was mad at God. I asked how He could allow all of this stuff to happen. I have given my entire life to ministry and to my family. I had to learn what faith truly was. Faith is truly challenging yourself to see beyond your circumstances. That is not easy when you’re going through such tough times. It is still a challenge for me. I am still becoming, learning and growing. I am becoming a better mom of a college student it is not easy. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I Ascend: Who has been the cushion and support team during these various hard times?

JAI: One of the parts of becoming, was forgiving the Body of Christ (The Church). When people go through things like divorce, I have realized that the church gets really silent. They get uncomfortable, especially if they knew both of the people in ministry. I have literally seen so many women that have gone through divorce, that were the ones that were cheated on, fall and fade into the background into the distance because the church didn’t really support them. I heard nothing from a lot of the church people. Those who I expected to have my back did not, those who I did not expect had my back, and my family has definitely stepped up. We have had quite the journey. If you want to know more about that, it is on the podcast too. My family and I have had quite the journey. To see God restore our family, right before all of this stuff came crashing down has been a beautiful story of redemption. To see God work a miracle to the point where my family has become the support system that I never expected. The team at Joyce Meyer ministries has been a huge support for me and the digital world. To go through the divorce during a pandemic. I am super grateful for the world of digital media because social media became a big support system. The podcast has reached millions of people. It’s now on Joyce’s television show enjoying everyday life. The show is being broadcast to two thirds of the world and, translated in over one hundred languages. I had a whole, Metaverse of people who, ended up helping me through this whole situation

I Ascend: So how do you juggle your time with home life, while pursuing your career?

JAI: I am still figuring that out, I do know that there are seasons that I have to lay things down, even though God gave me all of these different gifts. I have to be a good mom, and I used to say I had to be a good wife. There are certain seasons that music takes more of a precedent. Other times speaking takes more of a precedent. Podcasting is a new thing that I never even expected, so that has to take a new precedent to worship pastoring. I had to lay that down. I could not serve the people of God the way I had normally done it all these years, This was due to the fact that I needed to heal for myself and that is a learning process. I got an assistant Kayla who is great so I want to shout her out for that. This has helped me to discipline myself to become a bit more organized.

I Ascend: Congratulations on Ascending and Standing in your Truth and Pursuing Destiny. What do you want people to remember most about you?

JAI: I want people to remember that I am human, that I fail. That I give myself relentlessly to hearing, the father tell me well done. Because I am a firm believer that God has a list of things that he wants us to accomplish while we are here on this earth. I don’t want to make it to heaven, and realize that I only got through with the first third of it. I want to do as much as I possibly can while here on Earth. All while loving people. My goal is to love people and put out good content, whether it be music, or writing, and drawing people closer to the Lord.  We have to be human through the process because I believe that is who Jesus was. If church people would stop trying to be churchy, and try to be more like Jesus we would have more people converting over to what we call Christianity. I want to be a reflection of who Jesus is. I want to hear him say well done when I get there.

I Ascend: What word of advice would you give to our readers to have them continue to Ascend in pursuit of their dream, no matter where they are currently?

JAI: Get to moving, stop being stuck. Do not wait until tomorrow. Even if the moving means planning, writing it down, write the vision, make it plain, dream, believe, and have faith that God is going to do it. If you put it in your heart, he’s going to make it come to past. Even though my life has been rerouted, like a GPS, that destination is still steady with the destination that God has for me. Keep your eyes focused on the route. God cannot drive a parked car, if you’re in a parked car, you got to start moving. As long as you move, then you can let them take the wheel.

I Ascend:  Please share whatever some of the projects you’re currently working on? How can our readers continue to follow and stay abreast of all that you’re doing?

JAI: I work for Joyce Meyer so one of the best ways is on “Joyce meyer.org/talkitout”   That is how people can hear the content daily, and share it. Be sure to leave comments, let them know that you enjoy me.  I am working on new music which is coming out soon. You can check all of the digital platforms, iTunes, Spotify, type in Jai and you should find me. In addition, I am writing a new book. You can stay connected by visiting my website www.justJai.com. On social media at: Instagram @ JaiTalks, follow me today.