Finding Treasure in the Dirt, Part One

This week on the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender reflects on his delight in all of the brilliant, courageous people he has met over the years through our Training Certificate, and on his desire to introduce some of them to you. One of those people is Laurie Proctor, who has completed both the Training Certificate and the Externship Program. Laurie shares about her experience with The Allender Center and the journey she has been on in years since.

Laurie: “There was something in my soul that knew that this was what it needed, that this was the next step in my journey. And it was exciting and terrifying, and it felt like home when I was there.”

For Laurie, who had already been in the process of engaging her own stories of harm, her work with The Allender Center sparked a new level of honesty and courage. She reflects on how the group work, particularly, challenged her resistance and defense mechanisms in a way that even counseling never had. “I was exposed, and it felt like hell, and it was exactly what I needed.”

Laurie says that, as she discovered depths of pain and shame she had not known were there, she also discovered previously unknown kindness, care, and truth-telling in her group and the facilitators. This helped crystallize Laurie’s sense of calling, returning her to the delight that she finds in helping people “find treasure in the midst of the dirt,” and creating a vision for “how brokenness and trauma create the context for calling and goodness.”

Dan: “How God chooses to work through these eruptions and disruptions, and in many ways losses—it created a context where you knew that you needed to create a business.”

Laurie: “Fear wanted me to run back into corporate America, but I knew that would not have been well with my soul.”

Dan: “That would have been treason to your calling, and also like being sent to Siberia.”

With that vision and energy, Laurie and her business partner, Jean Masukevich, launched SowThat, an organization that guides individuals toward freedom, hope, and healing in their personal and professional lives. Next week, Jean will join Dan and Laurie as they continue the conversation about the work they do and about the journey of creating something out of a calling and a vision.

Dan: “You’re inviting people to engage story in an embodied way, in which you’re inviting people to look for treasure in the midst of the dirt.”