Michelle McKinney Hammond

After completing high school McKinney Hammond moved to Chicago, where she attended and graduated from the Ray-Vogue College of Design (now known as the Illinois Institute of Art). Following her graduation she flew to Ghana to meet her father's family for the first time. During the trip McKinney Hammond, who was raised in the Episcopalian church but was not a practicing Christian at the time, was deeply influenced by her paternal grandmother, a devoutly religious woman who spend several hours every day in prayer at a local church.

Five months after McKinney Hammond returned from her trip to Africa, she was devastated when her boyfriend was shot and killed. Her life in shambles, she searched for validation in a series of relationships and friendships that did not stick. Having emerged from her self-professed ugly-duckling stage, she sought the excitement of a glamorous life and interviewed to become a Playboy bunny. But she continued to feel unfulfilled and without purpose.

McKinney Hammond's life was impacted by two life-altering events. First, searching desperately for the peace she witnessed in her grandmother's life, McKinney Hammond was moved by her reading of Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, which lays out a particular vision of what God intended for Christians. Second, a woman who shared a bus ride with on her way to work each morning constantly pestered McKinney Hammond to attend church with her. Finally McKinney Hammond acquiesced, and during the service the minister prayed for McKinney Hammond, telling her that God loved her very much. McKinney Hammond, who was very moved by the experience, claimed to finally begin to feel at peace with herself.