At 61 years old—“29 plus shipping and handling,” as she likes to say—Guinevere Isabeau Haworth, known to most as Izzy, is living what she describes as the happiest season of her life. She and her husband live in Royal Oak, Michigan, surrounded by grown children, an urban farm, four dogs, three cats, and seventeen hens.
But this peace did not come easily.
It came through loss, homelessness, prayer, and a calling that first appeared on a freezing night beneath a Detroit overpass.
Izzy’s early life included church attendance without understanding. Faith was something you sat through, not something you were invited into. Her mother brought the family. Her father came along and slept through most services.
From a young age, Izzy questioned everything. She skipped grades, struggled socially, and felt misunderstood. At twelve, she was diagnosed with autism—finally offering language for what others had missed.
She wasn’t drifting because she lacked intelligence or curiosity. She was drifting because no one had helped her connect belief with meaning.
In December of 1987, Izzy lost her infant son. He was one of several babies who stopped breathing in a nursery due to neglect. Five babies died. Her son lived seven and a half months—his entire life marked by pain.
She had just begun to feel close to God.
Then her son was gone.
“I hated God,” she writes with unfiltered honesty. “I hated Him.”
Grief broke what little faith had formed. Izzy left home and lived homeless on the streets of Detroit for over a year. Surrounded by suffering, life felt unreal. God felt absent.
One winter night on Detroit’s Cass Corridor, Izzy noticed a man slumped under an overpass. Empty pill bottles. Empty alcohol containers. She thought he was dead.
Then he moved.
Something in her broke open.
She knelt beside him and prayed—for the first time in a very long time. She stayed nearly an hour. Before leaving, she felt his hand rest gently on her head.
That moment became a turning point.
She listened. She prayed. She showed up.
Izzy helped him to his feet. Others gathered. They met night after night around a burn barrel—talking about God, survival, and hope. The man turned out to be a former Marine who had survived unimaginable hardship.
The man turned out to be a former Marine who had survived unimaginable hardship.
What began with one or two people grew to ten.
Eventually, the community asked her to serve as their pastor—not through an institution, but through trust.
No building.
No title.
No credentials.
Only presence and faithfulness.
Even after leaving the streets, Izzy knew calling alone was not enough. She wanted to learn.
For years, she intentionally lived among different faith communities—writing to churches, chapels, mosques, and synagogues, asking families to host her while she learned their beliefs. She studied. She taught. She traveled the world.
Her ministry expanded across cultures and continents.
Izzy endured multiple sclerosis, repeated COVID exposure as a first responder, and heart failure. Her implanted defibrillator now has a name: Sparky.
Still, she served.
Today, Izzy ministers near Dearborn, Michigan, among people of many faith backgrounds. She listens. She teaches. She counsels. She prays.
She has been a teacher and counselor for 25 years.
A pastor for more than 40.
Her story reminds us of a quiet truth: God often calls people long before they are trained—and invites them to grow along the way.
If you feel a pull to “do something more,” you are not alone.
Sometimes the next faithful step begins exactly where you are.
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Many people assume a calling to ministry belongs only to the young, the formally educated, or those with uninterrupted paths. Scripture—and real lives—tell a different story.
Across the Bible, God calls people after loss, after wandering, and after long seasons they never planned. Some are called in midlife. Some in later years. Many are called quietly, long before recognition ever comes.
Christian Leaders Institute exists for people exactly like that.
CLI offers free ministry training online for men and women who sense a calling and want to grow in biblical understanding, spiritual maturity, and practical ministry skills—without relocating, going into debt, or putting life on hold.
This formation is especially meaningful for:
You do not need to have everything figured out before you begin.
Many students start simply because they feel a nudge—to learn, to heal, and to serve more faithfully.
Christian Leaders Institute provides a place to grow at your pace, in your season, with dignity and grace.
