From darkness to light: Gateway Seminary empowers women’s ministry director

Coral Hanson’s husband passed away five years ago from a stroke.

“It was during COVID,” she said. “I was sitting on a bench in a dark waiting room off a lit hallway. That’s where Jesus met me. Ten years before my husband’s death, it became apparent that God was chasing me.”

In and out of Bible studies and life groups, Hanson was seeking God. But she wasn’t open. As she drove home the day after her husband died, Jesus was speaking into her heart and mind.

“As I was getting out of the car, the left side of my body was in the sunlight, the right side was in the shadows,” she said. “Much like the hospital, I was sitting in the dark, looking at the light. I felt like Jesus was saying, ‘This is you. You’re half in, and you’re half out. You need to choose.’”

And it was right there in her front yard that she gave her life entirely to Jesus. She realized He had never left her side.

Three months later, the women’s ministry director of Calvary Baptist Church in Lake Havasu City invited Hanson to a Celebrate Recovery Step Study. The 10-month study changed everything and began her journey to healing. She has since been on mission to Zambia three times with Celebrate Recovery.

Still hungry for God, Hanson picked up a Gateway Seminary flyer in the church lobby.

“I was so terrified,” she said. “But I thought, ‘Why not? I don’t know anything about Jesus.’ I just felt the Holy Spirit pushing me.”

She went on to earn a Bible Teaching Certificate from Gateway.

The next step in her journey was serving in hospitality at her church, where she led the redesign of the ministry from a small group of women to four teams of men and women serving throughout the church and community.

Next, she decided to pursue the Master of Theological Essentials at Gateway.

And when the women’s ministry director at Calvary stepped down, she suggested Hanson take the position.

“The Holy Spirit was pushing me,” Hanson said. “I fasted and I prayed until I knew I was supposed to do this. October 1 of 2024 I stepped into that role.”

She earned her master’s degree in May 2025 and is now back at Gateway pursuing a Master of Divinity degree.

As Hanson has grown in her faith and her theological education, she has received scholarship money and reduced tuition thanks to the Cooperative Program’s support of Gateway Seminary.

“I spent years wasting my life learning about things of the world, thinking I was in control and taking all the glory for myself, not submitting or giving the glory to God, not giving Him permission to work through me for His glory, not mine,” she said. “Learning and serving these last five years has been an incredible opportunity to be a part of God’s kingdom, serving God’s people.”

Irene A. Harkleroad, a freelance writer living in Carefree, is a member of Black Mountain Baptist Church, Cave Creek.