houston, texas
Our Team
We are a volunteer-based 501c3 organization eager to stop the cycle of recidivism through Christian-based support, resources, and opportunities to help men and women pick up the pieces after being incarcerated. Each member of our board has a personal passion for giving returning citizens a second chance.
Pastor Charles Anderson
Founder and CEO
Pastor Charles Anderson is the founder and CEO of Epiphany Life Change. At the young age of 23, he answered God’s call to become a preacher during his time in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Polk in Leesville, Louisiana. In 1990, he was licensed and ordained and went on lead several congregations.
After 10 years in the U.S. Army, he was honorably discharged and pursued a career in corrections. He soon developed a passion and compassion for the literal and figurative captives inside prison walls, which motivated him to begin teaching weekly Bible study classes inside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. It was this experience that spurred him to create Epiphany Life Change.
Committed to the lives of those behind bars and their families, Charles works with former inmates to help them understand that they’ve been bought for a price, their lives are not their own, and that they are here to accomplish His work for the good of God’s Kingdom. He works to impart to those still behind bars that all people have eternal value and strives to instill the concept that serving God can help others.
Rev. Dr. Dywaine F. Robinson Sr.
Executive Director of Female Prison Outreach
Rev. Dr. Dywaine F. Robinson Sr. serves as the executive director of female prison outreach for Epiphany Life Change. His career path has led him to a life of ministering to those currently and previously incarcerated.
After retiring from the U.S. Army in 2001, Dywaine taught fourth and fifth grade and coached high school football. During this time, he also founded Family Restoration Inc. and Kingdom Educational Counseling Services. He began speaking on college and career preparation, pursuing personal success, excellence in education, marriage and family reconciliation, and mentorship.
Currently, he serves as the director of the prison ministry at St. Luke’s Missionary Baptist Church, where he also ministers and teaches the couples Sunday school class.
He works for the Department of Defense as the Army Education Services Specialist serving Central and Southeast Texas. He possesses a doctorate in educational administration, a Master of Education in educational leadership, and a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice.
Terrance Samuels
TUMI Houston Site Coordinator/Church Leadership Consultant
Terrance Samuels serves as the site coordinator for The Urban Ministry Institute of Houston and a church leadership consultant for Epiphany Life Change. A 21st-century leader specializing in innovation and change, Terrance is the founder and managing partner of Excel Leadership Group. He consults with faith and business leaders on creating change and transforming communities.
He also is a real estate professional and a certified John Maxwell speaker, coach, trainer, and mentor. He has devoted the last 16 years of his life to serving in local church ministries.
Jerome Brandon
Leadership Director
Jerome Brandon serves as leadership director for Epiphany Life Change. Jerome’s life took a dangerous turn at an early age as he ventured into the world of drugs looking for acceptance, which led him to an arrest for drug possession. While awaiting trial and held in a juvenile facility, he encountered God, who revealed a greater plan designed for his life, causing Jerome to pursue a life of seeking and saving the lost.
His experience as a young teenager leads him on a path of outreach and evangelism. He traveled along the East Coast, preaching a radical message of salvation and deliverance. In 2001, he accepted a position as youth pastor at the Lord’s Church Family Worship Center in New York, leading hundreds of youth and young adults in the Bronx community by establishing structured programs for growth and development. He’s also had experience as an outreach pastor in a community-based ministry. Jerome has had the opportunity to impact people from all walks of life, focusing on outreach programs and visionary leadership.
In 2011, Jerome’s ministry expanded internationally as he connected with one of the most notable global leaders in missions, Dr. Patricia Bailey. He was selected to attend the Global Leadership Training Center, an intense missionary training school that equips individuals for impacting impoverished communities around the world. He continued his education journey by enrolling in seminary at the prestigious Houston Graduate School of Theology and received a Master of Arts in Christian Ministries.
Jerome’s ministry expands from the Eastern to Western Coast of the United States, the Caribbean Islands, and Africa. He passionately ignites churches and transforms urban communities through short/long-term missions and leadership development. He is grateful for the opportunity to serve the Kingdom of God.
Rickie Bradshaw
Board of Directors
Rickie Bradshaw serves on the board of directors for Epiphany Life Change. For the last 31 years, he has served as the lead pastor for the First Southwest Baptist Church. In July 2007, Outreach Magazine named Fifth Southwest Baptist Church among the top 25 multiplying churches in North America by Dr. Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research.
For 23 years, he has served as a church consultant for Union Baptist Association in Houston, Texas. As a Union Baptist Association consultant, he is responsible for church planting, community transformation, church leadership development, and church consultations for transforming revivals in the criminal justice system. Because of his work in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) system, Rickie was named 2016 volunteer of the year. He has trained and mobilized revival teams in prisons and communities of churches across Region Three of the TDCJ.
Rickie has served as a regional mobilizer with Intercessors for America and as a global mobilizer with the International Fellowship of Transform World USA.
A member of Pray Houston’s executive team, a ministry for community transformation, Rickie also serves as a community prayer mobilizer for revival and spiritual awakening. Currently, he is conducting prayer camps for revival and spiritual awakening.
Rickie received his theological education at the College of Biblical Studies and has received honorary doctorates in New Testament Theology from Clay Bible College and Seminary and International Kingdome Christian Ministry.
Lenora McMillian
Board of Directors
Lenora McMillian serves on the board of Epiphany Life Change. She brings more than 18 years of experience in a wide range of areas, including operations planning and analysis, infrastructure deployment, application development, policy creation, and governance for a wide variety of Fortune 500 organizations, government, and military environments within the United States and Europe. Her career successes include delivering financial results through budget compilation and monitoring and supporting contract administration and capital improvement project management. She has managed a $1.7 billion Department of Homeland Security airport infrastructure project to ensure security compliance and led a $700 million Social Security IT modernization implementation. Additionally, she recommended an approach to planning for Maryland’s multi-model state and regional transportation system.
Her passion for social and philanthropic pursuits focuses on innovative methodologies and operations that improve people’s lives and work. Lenora has created business and strategic plans that increased membership and fundraising opportunities for faith-based organizations.
A Texas native, Lenora attended the American Intercontinental University, studying business administration. She earned the Mastering Project Management certificate from Villanova University and holds several other industry certifications that support her hands-on operational knowledge and skillset.
Felicia A. Anderson
TUMI Houston Prison Site Coordinator / Life Coach
Felicia A. Anderson was lead to become a Christian Life Coach and Women’s Small Group Facilitator after overcoming life altering losses due to addiction and divorce. Her experience and education has equipped her with the tools and the passion to help others overcome obstacles and find a fulfilling life in service to God. Felicia works with people from all walks of life including ministry, education and the business world. Her compassion for others is expressed through individual services, group program and seminars.
Lana Ward
Executive Assistant for Epiphany Life Change
Lana Ward serves as the executive assistant to the founder and CEO of Epiphany Life Change. A native of San Angelo, she considers Houston her home after relocating there in 1996. She studied social work at Hardin Simmons University. Most of her career has been spent in the floral industry, developing the first floral design certification program for Lone Star College and teaching the program for 12 years. In addition to her role at Epiphany Life Change, she is also executive to The Urban Ministry Institute of Houston’s dean. She spent more than 20 years with Bill Pierce Ministries as a worship leader, church planter, and mission outreach coordinator. A licensed and ordained chaplain, she serves the Harris County Sherriff’s Office and the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office and is a certified volunteer chaplain assistant for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at the Terrell Unit. She facilitates weekly discipleship programs, oversees two praise and worship teams, and is involved in mentoring men and women at the prison preparing for their transition home. Lana has always had a passion for walking with those who the enemy has tried to destroy and seek them find freedom and restoration in Jesus Christ.
Reverend Debra M. Chidakwa Akue
Board of Directors
Reverend Debra M. Chidakwa Akue serves on the board of directors for Epiphany Life Change. With more than nine years in ministerial, clergy, chaplaincy, and spiritual director experience, Debra began her training at Wesley House Cambridge in England. She went on to serve as a circuit lay worker and ministered in both rural and urban communities.
Her experience includes various roles in the Houston area, including the director of youth at the United Methodist Church, serving as a hospice chaplain, correctional officer, and prison chaplain.
Debra also was the assistant spiritual director for Kairos Outside, a program for women to support one another as they experience the incarceration of a friend or loved one. She also has experience in counseling, advocacy, and conflict resolution.
Over the years, she has developed a keen interest in domestic violence, justice and politics, homelessness and displaced ministry, and evangelism. She is a certified advanced paralegal with 12 years of handling various legal issues, including board room case management, unfair dismissals, and benefits fraud.