Dispatched for Ministry

by Jeff Finley

Police dispatcher Eleitino “Tino” Tuiasosopo sensed God leading her to Chapel of Change Christian Fellowship in Paramount, California, but she didn’t expect to become a key leader and a pastor.  

“I came to Chapel of Change nearly six years ago from another church I was serving at. I felt like it was a transition to Chapel of Change, and the Lord had called me there,” said Tuiasosopo during an interview with Light + Life at the E2022:[Her]Story conference.

Tuiasosopo served in high-profile roles at her previous church, but she wasn’t seeking the spotlight when she came to Chapel of Change.

“The greatest thing for me was to sit in the audience and not feel like I’ve got to be so visible,” she said. “I just enjoyed being incognito.”

However, she didn’t stay on the sidelines for long.

“The few friends that I had were in pastoral ministry, and I think they blew my cover and told Pastor Brian [Warth] about me,” she said.

Warth asked her in 2017 to help plant a Chapel of Change campus in Carson, California. He specifically requested that she give the talk leading into the offering.

“I thought maybe that will be once a month or every couple months. It turned out I did it almost every Sunday,” said Tuiasosopo, who added she served in that capacity for more than a year. “It challenged me to really pray and seek the Lord, because after a while it was like: ‘How many times are we going to quote Malachi 3:10?’”

The experience opened the door for other opportunities.

“My preaching ability and skills came to life at Chapel of Change,” she said. “The gifting was there, and after about a year, Pastor Brian would ask me to preach every now and then. I was able to preach more sermons and share the Word. I was very comfortable doing that. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t afraid. I just felt the anointing of the Lord each time. I felt God’s presence.” 

Meanwhile, Chapel of Change continued to grow rapidly and open additional campuses.

“The Lord was blessing the church. People were getting saved and healed, and I was just blessed to be a part of that. I wasn’t even officially a pastor yet. I was serving as a lay leader and helping out,” she said.

Then Warth asked her to apply to become a conference ministerial candidate (CMC). She initially told him she wasn’t ready to make that step.

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“We could be leaders, assistants, children’s workers, teachers, but not an ordained minister.”

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“In 2020, I finally said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,’ but I almost didn’t do it because at the time the paperwork was due, my brother passed away,” she said. “I didn’t feel motivated. I was going through that grieving process, but I felt the nudge of the Spirit and finally sat down and got it all done. It was quite extensive.”

As a CMC, Tuiasosopo’s beliefs must align with the doctrines of the Free Methodist Church USA that includes Chapel of Change, but the denomination was new to her. She researched the FMCUSA and its beliefs.

“I began to merge those things into my heart and to adopt the Wesleyan way. I began to delve into that, learn about it, read about it and ask questions,” she said. “The more I learned, the more I enjoyed it.”

One key difference from her church background was the Free Methodist Church’s support of women in pastoral ministry.

“I grew up in a lot of small Samoan Pentecostal churches that did not recognize or ordain women pastors,” she said. “We could be leaders, assistants, children’s workers, teachers, but not an ordained minister.”

SoCal Prayer Ministry

Now, in addition to pastoral work at Chapel of Change, Tuiasosopo is a ministry leader for her Free Methodist annual conference.

When the Free Methodist Church in Southern California commissioned Chapel of Change Co-Pastor Laura Warth to organize a conference prayer summit last year, she asked Tuiasosopo to help her. When Tuiasosopo asked Warth about the greatest need for which Tuiasosopo could assist, Warth replied, “Tino, what I really would like is an intercessory prayer group.”

Tuiasosopo put a request on Facebook for Southern California intercessors, and she had more people respond than she expected. They agreed to pray together weekly using Zoom in the weeks leading up to the summit.

“We bathed that thing in prayer, and we saw God move. It was really a tangible answer from the Lord that strengthened all of our faiths,” said Tuiasosopo, who had planned to end the weekly prayer after the summit, but “the Lord didn’t let me do that. I didn’t feel the release from Him.”

The weekly online prayer meeting has grown to now include more than 30 Free Methodists across Southern California.

“I’ve been leading through deliverance. I call it ‘digital deliverance,’” she said. “What it’s showing us, me particularly, is you don’t need to be physically near someone to see God delivering them. In this age of COVID, I’m seeing God do miracles.”

LAPD Dispatcher

Pastoral ministry is not the only way that Tuiasosopo serves the Los Angeles area

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“It’s like an extension of who I am.”

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“I’ve been a 911 police dispatcher with the Los Angeles Police Department for 25 years,” she explained. “Prior to that, I was in social work for 11 years. … I worked for the L.A. County Department of Social Services.”

She didn’t originally see her professional work as part of her calling to serve God.

“I used to think compartmentalized about my life: ‘This is my work life. This is my family life. This is my ministry life — my volunteer life,’” said Tuiasosopo, who added that her perspective has changed in recent years. “The Lord has shown me that really my work that I do as a 911 police dispatcher is an outgrowth of my calling. It’s like an extension of who I am.”

While working as a dispatcher, she said, “I carry within me an internal moral code that is alive, well and applicable for my work life. As a 911 dispatcher, I’m guiding, helping, instructing, interviewing, providing assistance, counseling.”

While she can’t discuss God with 911 callers, she has helped people in other ways. One young woman called and said she was on the 17th floor of a building and preparing to jump off a ledge.

“I had just lost my dad around that period of time. I was able to shift the conversation to: ‘Hey, you know I just lost my dad. When’s the last time you saw your father?’ It was a great distraction from having to think about ending her life,” she recalled. “Somehow she responded to my questions and my story.”

As the conversation with Tuiasosopo progressed, the caller decided not to end her life.

“That’s just one example that comes to mind, but that’s a way to minister to people: to let them know they’re not alone in the world — that there are other people that maybe they haven’t thought about lately,” she said.

When her co-workers tell her they’ve learned she’s a pastor, she replies, “Yeah, I know. Sometimes I don’t act like it.” She added that these colleagues treat her with respect, “and actually I’ve had a few co-workers come to me and ask for prayer. We’ve never had a conversation about salvation, Jesus or God, but they heard I’m a person of faith, that I am not ashamed of it, and that I’ve prayed for others.”

Seminarian

Along with serving as a police dispatcher and in pastoral ministry at Chapel of Change, Tuiasosopo is in her second semester of tackling rigorous online coursework as a Northeastern Seminary student.

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“I really just wanted to be more aligned with the theology of the Free Methodist Church.”

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“That first semester was tough. I just about quit,” she said. “But, for the Lord, I am here today, and I finally got to feel like I’m pacing myself and getting my bearings a little bit better.”

Northeastern is based at the Rochester, New York, area campus of Roberts Wesleyan College, which Free Methodist founder B.T. Roberts started as Chili Seminary in 1866.

“I was blessed. I was able to qualify for the John Wesley scholarship,” said Tuiasosopo, who added that as a CMC, “Northeastern actually gives you 25 percent off the tuition right off the top.”

Denominational ties attracted her to Northeastern.

“I really just wanted to be more aligned with the theology of the Free Methodist Church,” she said.

Famous Football Family

Her last name may be familiar if you follow college or professional football. Tuiasosopo recalled that when she first met Bishop Matt Whitehead, he said, “Ah, big football family?”

The bishop was right. Her cousin, Manu Tuiasosopo, played for the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers.

Manu’s son, Marques Tuiasosopo, was the quarterback for the University of Washington. “I remember flying there one year, and I look up, see his billboard and was like, ‘What’s he doing up there?’” she said. 

Marques Tuiasosopo went on to play for the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets and now serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Rice University.

Her immediate family also is part of the Tuiasosopo football legacy. Brother Mike Tuiasosopo played for Pacific Lutheran University and now coaches the defensive tackles for Kansas State University. Brother Navy Tuiasosopo played football for Utah State University and for the Los Angeles Rams. Brother Titus Tuiasosopo, who died in 2020, played for the University of Southern California, and his son, Taylor Tuiasosopo, played for Montana State University.

Tino Tuiasosopo isn’t competing on the football field, but she exhibits the high level of dedication and hard work that is necessary to succeed in athletics. As a resident of Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, her commute to Chapel of Change is approximately an hour and a half each way.

“When I first came out five or six years ago, I thought, ‘I’ve got to move.’ Well, it hasn’t happened,” she said.

Because her schedule as a dispatcher requires frequent Sunday work, her congregational ministry currently focuses on Chapel of Change’s Whittier campus that meets on Saturday.

“We do our women’s Bible study at 3:30, and then we go right into the service at 5,” she said. “I’ve taught a lot of the women’s study there. I’ve engaged in the service. It’s been thoroughly a blessing.” +