How a Nonprofit Director Does the Colson Fellows Program

Welcome to the Pursuit, a series documenting the experiences of a Colson Fellow-in-Training as they seek to walk wisely in this time and place. Each segment will provide an insider’s look at what a prospective participant can actually expect should they choose to embark on the journey themselves.

In this segment, we sat down with Sheri Olsen, a nonprofit executive director in Spokane, Washington. The Colson Fellows Program is designed for busy men and women from all walks of life in mind. Here's a glimpse inside. Enjoy!

As told to the Colson Center Communications Staff

Where are you from? Spokane, Washington. 

What is your occupation? I’m the executive director at Path of Life, which is a relationship resource ministry. We have a pregnancy center, but we also minister to those experiencing unwanted same-sex attraction, gender identity issues, and relational issues. We also offer post-abortion recovery. For many of the individuals who deal with unplanned pregnancy or gender identity issues, there’s a relational issue at the core, so that’s why we’re a relationship resource center.  

What stage of life are you in? I’m working full-time now. I had the blessing of staying home with my daughters full-time for 26 years and then went back into the workforce. 

When did you become a follower of Christ? I was raised in a Christian home, so I can’t remember not being aware of who God was. But having a real relationship with Him came much later in life. The Lord was my friend as a child, but I rebelled in my teenage years and walked away.  

I started acting out in high school, had three abortions as a teenager, and got married at 19. I thought that was going to save me, but it was an abusive relationship. That was the catalyst through which the Lord drew me to Himself. At 19, I saw my need for the Lord and the need to make a commitment to a relationship with Him.  

Eventually my husband divorced me because I was becoming “too radical” of a Christian. After that, I got involved at a church for the first time since high school, became a director of post-abortion recovery at a local pregnancy resource center, and learned the value of walking through the healing process. Divorce is a grief. Abortion is a grief. The Lord taught me how to walk with Him in the midst of those things. Eventually, I met my husband when he came in as a client at my job. We’ve been married 32 years and have two daughters. 

Our youngest daughter has Down Syndrome. In the midst of my rebellion many years before, I had been told that women who have abortions have intellectually disabled children. I believed the lie that this was a consequence of my abortions. Doctors tried to encourage us to abort our daughter. I was horrified. A family member even told me God wanted me to abort my child. It was horrible and hurtful. 

We read all these things about what Down Syndrome would be like. In my mind, I had negatively pre-determined what my daughter would be like. When she was born, she looked just like her sister. She was beautiful. They told me she would be underweight. She wasn't. They said she would be born early. She was born on her due date. I nursed her immediately, which they said I wouldn’t be able to do. Everything negative I was told she would be, she was not. 

The negative things I was told at this time never played out. Yes, she has Down Syndrome. She is delayed. But she enjoys life as much as her sister. She has her own personality as much as her sister. 

When she was a few weeks old, I was reading a statistic that said 89% of babies who are pre-diagnosed with Downs Syndrome are aborted. At that moment, I looked at her, and she laughed out loud for the first time. I felt like the Lord was saying, “The things that are intended for evil, I use for good.” He broke the bondage of my previous abortions. Wouldn’t you think that someone like me, who had chosen abortion three times, would choose to abort a child with Downs Syndrome if 89% of people in my situation were doing it? At that point, I knew God had changed my heart, because I hadn’t considered aborting my daughter. He can change our hearts and lives in ways we can’t even begin to understand. 

Our daughter is 22 now. She went to a small private school until 8th grade and then we homeschooled her. Much like the people in Acts, I can’t stop talking about what I’ve seen and heard. I’ve lived this. This is what Christ can do in one life—not to mention the many lives I’ve had the blessing of ministering to over the years. 

What led to your interest in the Colson Fellows program? My friend Catherine Wheeler went through the Colson Fellows Program and told me about it. I met her in 2017 when she volunteered at Path of Life. After going through the program years later, she told me, “Sheri, you’ve got to do this!” 

What Colson Fellows cohort are you in? How many CFITs are in your class? I was part of the Class of 2023 in the Spokane Cohort. My older sister had heard about it from another friend. We both applied, but we hadn’t told each other. We ended up doing the program together. There were 5-6 in our cohort. I really enjoyed the people I did the program with. There was a range of ages and life paths: A pastor and his wife (who now have a Church Affiliate), a younger man, and a woman in her fifties. The ages ranged from 40s to mid-70s. 

How did you approach the workload for the Colson Fellows Program? Do you have advice for other participants? I was a bit fearful stepping into the Colson Fellows because I have a high-requirement job. It’s not something I can do and then just go home and forget about it. There’s evening work and weekend work, so I was worried about the commitment. 

My bedside table is always stacked high with books. But I made the commitment that if I was going to do the Colson Fellows Program, I wasn’t going to do my usual independent reading. I was going to do what was on my reading list for Colson. It didn’t feel like the program took up tons of time every week, because I would have spent that time reading or listening to podcasts anyway. I never got substantially behind. It became a rhythm of life. 

Every “yes” in one area is a “no” in another area. So, for that year the “yes” was to do the best job I could at the Colson Fellows Program.  

What was your favorite book or topic to study? How Now Shall We Live? is probably my favorite book from the program. 

Where has the Colson Fellows program most impacted you? What transformation did it bring about in your life? Given the work I do, the Colson Fellows Program was the best form of professional development I’ve ever had. I’ll sign up for programs or trainings specifically designed for my area of ministry, but honestly, they just don’t compare to the Colson Fellows. The program itself is very well organized. It was clear what I had to do each week.  

What did you do for your personal mission plan as a commissioned Colson Fellow? We’ve had a huge percentage of our clientele whose children are choosing an LGBTQ lifestyle. These are parents who have had their kids in private Christian school or homeschooled them and done regular devotions with them. Five years ago, they wouldn’t have dealt with this issue. It has become pervasive. My sister and I thought, “How can we use our Colson knowledge in this area?” We started a new program for parents whose kids are ages 3-12 to help them address some of these issues surrounding sexuality and help them to get upstream of the culture. 

What would you say to someone who’s considering the program? Just do it. It’s worth your time and effort. It’s biblically sound, which is critical in the culture now. Not everything that’s coming out with a Christian label is biblically solid, but the Colson Fellows Program is. I loved the in-person cohort and the discussions. I loved that we all spent some time in the hot seat. 

 

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