By Ava Simone Collier

“We have been happily married for ten years,” Says Baron Greenwade of Jacksonville, Florida. He and his beautiful wife, Thomaseen, recently renewed their wedding vows last December. “What really made us go ahead and renew is because we became ministers together last year and we wanted to dedicate our marriage back to God. We want to continue to keep God in our lives. We’ve just been so blessed,” added Thomaseen. Baron says that they had talked about renewing their vows and it was definitely a mutual agreement. He says it was the thing to do. “It was like a new life since both of us became ordained. We want to give Him our all.” Thomaseen continues, “We initially married in the church so it was already blessed. I knew Baron in the spirit first but I had to wait until God sent him to me. When we met, I knew he was my soul mate.”

Baron and Thomaseen Greenwade are members of One Accord Ministries International Church in Jacksonville, Florida under the leadership of Bishop Jan B. Goodman. Baron is a thirty year employee of the City of Jacksonville Beach as a Purchasing Administrator. He and his wife also are the owners and operators of two businesses, a janitorial and courier service. All About Cleaning was born out of a need to do what so many of us desire, to earn extra money. Baron explained, “When I first decided to go into this thing, my wife laughed at me. I wanted to earn about two hundred extra dollars a month. We were struggling. I sat at my computer one day and made some flyers. She and I went out in the neighborhood of local businesses and stuck flyers in their doors. Shortly afterwards, we started getting phone calls. The business has grown so much since then.” Thomaseen agrees, “I did laugh because I didn’t know how we’d get supplies to do this. We used the household supplies that we had, a bucket, mop, broom, window cleaner and started to clean that one office everyday and only made $75.oo for the entire month. This was our first job.” Thomaseen says that word of mouth helped to build their business. “Someone saw how nice the office looked and wanted to know who cleaned it. That’s when the blessings came in. We got an offer from a major real estate company and have been cleaning for them ever since.”

“We’ve been blessed by our business and now we can bless others by employing them,” says Baron. Thomaseen says that in order to even see her husband, she had to go and work with him. “We’d laugh and talk while we worked. I didn’t have a problem with that because we’d spend quality time together. After a while I said that we were now in a position to bring others on board. Faith without works is dead,” states Thomaseen. The Greenwade’s janitorial service has now expanded into a courier service. “One of the companies that we work for was looking for someone to provide courier service for them. The manager at that time asked me if I knew anyone who provided this service. I started thinking that this was something that we could do, “says Baron. This loving couple says it was automatic for them to mix love with their business. “If we are married, we should be able to work together. You do what you have to do to make it work,” says Thomaseen. Baron continued, “We just enjoy being around each other. I love being around her. She is my helpmate. She doesn’t mind helping me with everything, even car repairs!” he laughs. Thomaseen says, “When you love somebody and foresee a potential obstacle or a wedge, you need to do what you can to avoid that. Open doors allow dirt in. We had to keep the door close. I’ve learned so much about my husband. He is so intelligent and I’m still learning things about him all the time.”

The Greenwades have a blended family consisting of six children and two grandchildren. “Wait on God to send you who you’re supposed to be with. Choose someone who knows Jesus Christ. If he/she loves Jesus, they will know how to love you,” offers Thomaseen. Baron says “Put God first in your life. Do things together. Don’t give the enemy a chance to interfere with what you have. With God in your lives, you will make good decisions and He will direct your path if you’re willing to receive.”