The Organization
Leeward Community Church meets in Pearl City on the leeward side of O'ahu and serves a multi-generational congregation that knows its neighborhood. The church carries the kind of ohana culture that does not require pretense and does not need a guest speaker to perform. When the right voice walks in, the room knows.
The Engagement
Speaking at Leeward
Michele and her Releasing Generations team were invited to speak at the adult Sunday school services for six weeks in a row during the summer of 2024 and 2025. She also led a keynote equipping the children's ministry leaders in 2025. Michele has a very close working relationship with Pastor Joseph Ong and his team.
Hosting the November conference
Leeward Community Church has partnered with Releasing Generations to put on a youth and parent conference on November 14 and 15, 2025.
A longer partnership
Pastor Joseph Ong and his team also collaborated with Michele to plan the 2020 ReThink Creativity Conference. They were going to host it at their church, but when COVID hit and all events were shut down under state mandates, the conference moved online. Pastor Joseph Ong and his team had been working closely with Michele for a full year prior. He was also a key connector in promoting the first and second Explicit Movement conferences that traveled to Singapore in 2016 and 2017, opening doors through his connections.
Another Leeward connection from those formative years: Abi Kroontje, then Leeward's youth director, served alongside Michele on the Explicit Movement core team in its early days. Abi is also a contributing author to the Brave Series curriculum.
The Outcome
The Leeward partnership has done two things for Michele's work:
- It put her teaching in front of the congregation across the summers of 2024 and 2025.
- Michele has been deeply honored, encouraged, and blessed to have the support of Pastor Joseph Ong and his team. They have built a warm relationship through the years.
Work with Michele.
If you lead a school, church, or organization and want to bring this kind of work to your community, please reach out. Michele will follow up with you personally.
- Based in
- Honolulu, HI