By KELLEY R. DAUGHERTY
Staff Writer

When you meet Carolyn Driver, she will impress you as a woman full of good news. She carries herself like one ready to burst with excitement and continually flashes a big smile.

And she has a lot to be excited about as she recounts the ways she says the Lord has worked in her life over the past six years.

Back in 1992, Driver said she felt the Lord calling her to resign her position as associate pastor of an Assembly of God church and to begin Carolyn Driver Ministries.

"We give rubber meets the road training," said Driver of the classes and training she offers in her Tyrone location as well as around the world.

She left Friday for Johannesburg, South Africa to speak to a group of missionaries who are "about to be sent to all nations of the world" on the topics of conflict resolution and motivation.

From there, she says she will go on to Zimbabwe to minister in "different ethnic churches" and then return again to South Africa to speak at a women's conference, where six churches have combined for prayer and meeting.

According to Driver, this is the first time these churches have crossed denominational boundaries for the purpose of meeting and praying together.

Driver, who turned 50 mid-air Friday night, says her purpose along with all Christians in the world, is to embrace the gift of life everyday and to have intimate relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit so that she can be a lifechanger whereever she is.

But, she says, we must not confuse our purpose with goals.

"God gave us a mind, emotions, and a will as well as a spirit with a soul," she said.

Those are things that determine what we do, Driver explained. "God doesn't care what we do as long as we fulfill His purpose. It's not that God doesn't's speak to you, but those times are rare."

Driver says that her job is easy. "I just love with no strings attached."

By loving people, Driver believes she is able to help people identify the sources of the problems in their lives.

"God has sent us people so beat up by life," Driver said. "But their just diamonds and emeralds in the rough. A lot of places give you value by your performance; we just love people and give them the Word and let Him change them."

She names "unhealed hurts, unmet needs, and unresolved issues" as the root of every problem in a person's soul.

"I don't deal with the symptomatic and behavior is a symptom," she said. "The only person who could ever meet these needs is Jesus."

While Driver has spoken to thousands in the last six years, including people in the Philippines and Hong Kong, she says she doesn't keep track of numbers.

"I'm not interested in numbers. It's enough to have three or five people and see their lives changed."

CDM is a facility that she uses to teach people. She uses the Word of God, lifestyle and the environment to minister to one another.

Every Sunday, following a tradition established on Easter Sunday in 1996, adults from all over Tyrone assemble together from 3-5 p.m. at the CDM facilities for what some call "church."

While Driver says it's not church in the traditional sense, it is a time of fellowship that is "interactive" where fellow Christians can share, prays together, lay hands on one another and anoint each other with oil.

"The Lord has called us to be a new model, totally grounded in prayer," said Driver.

The ministry also offers several classes year-round and is holding registration for to begin in September.

Carolyn Driver Ministries is a non-profit organization funded solely by donations.

For more information about the ministry, call 770-487-7354 or 770-487-0254. The ministry is located at 175 Handley Road in Tyrone.