Aliene’s Story

Aliene Thompson is living a life of adventure. She is on a journey of becoming radically obedient to Jesus. Looking at her, you will see a speaker who is not afraid to be real … a woman who studies the Word hungrily and leads others to do the same … a Bible teacher with a passionate desire to reveal Jesus and his glory … but it has not always been so …

Aliene became a Christian in 1996 at a women’s conference in Raleigh, NC. A never-ending love for God’s Word began that day. Eventually she became a discussion leader in Bible Study Fellowship. Through the years, she was a speaker at various women’s events and in her church. Teaching God’s Word became her passion.

In 2007, Aliene began teaching a Bible study of Galatians to a group of women in her home church. On completion of this study, they encouraged her to teach another one. God called her not only to teach, but also to write the next study. The result was Radically Obedient: The Joshua Study, published in 2008.

Aliene’s ministry took a major turn during the writing of Radically Obedient when a woman who had attended the Galatians study left a message on her phone. "I am in the hospital and I need your help." This woman had been experiencing so much emotional pain that she had attempted suicide. She now asked Aliene to come to the hospital and teach her God’s Word.

After leaving the hospital that first day Aliene cried out to God, "Why did this happen? Why didn’t she feel like she could be real and share the pain she was experiencing?"

God spoke this to her heart, "Well, Aliene, you are not being real. You tell women about your "acceptable" struggles like gossip and complaining, but not the mountains I have moved in your life. How can you expect other women to share their deepest needs? You have a story of redemption to share. Quit dressing yourself up and quit dressing me up. I want you to reveal me in all my glory and all my truth and teach women to depend on only me because I am the answer for every need they have!"

In looking back, Aliene realized she had always been careful to speak what her audience wanted to hear. She loved to be loved. She realized that her “light” Bible studies could not minister to the many deeply hurting women who need Jesus. They did not need her or man-made formulas or programs. They did not need religion. They needed Jesus. It was time to talk about her healing from anxiety and depression … to encourage others to take off their masks and come into the light of Christ to find healing.

Aliene says of that time: "This was the turning point in writing the Joshua Study and in my ministry. It was no longer about me and getting people to like me. It was about the hurting women out there who needed a love relationship with Jesus. My new calling was to be real and reveal who he really is. My new goal was to link women up with Jesus because he is the healer. If they begin to grow in radical obedience to following HIM, he will lead them on a journey of growth and healing. Led by the Spirit, our lives become an adventure with Christ."

Aliene knows what it is to live with anxiety and depression. But she also knows what it is to be rescued by Jesus and the truth of God’s Word. God has blessed her with a unique connection to hurting women—and a teaching gift that draws them into the Word and into the incredible adventure of being radically obedient to Jesus.

People’s enthusiastic response to Radically Obedient: The Joshua Study has prompted Aliene to start Radically O Ministries so she can help more women begin their adventure with Jesus.

Aliene received a BA in Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She and husband, Jim, were married in 1995. She is a busy and dedicated mother of two sons. Aliene comments, "I am the wife of a wonderfully supportive husband. He has walked every step with me and gives me so much wisdom, freedom and confidence to be radical and real for Jesus."