An Inspired Chat with Chandrika Phea

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Chandrika Phea. Check out our conversation below.

Chandrika, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
I lead Bikes, Breakfast & Black Girls, and this year I introduced something new: “No Bikes BUT Breakfast,” a winter meet-up for the months we’re not riding. It was a powerful gathering, warm, well-attended, and genuinely impactful. We were joined by a doctor who specializes in organic, whole-body health, and I’m proud of the space we created. People left with real information, practical tools, and that “I can do something with this” kind of empowerment.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am an ordained reverend, an outdoor enthusiast, a Georgia Public School professional, and a partner with W. Brand Publishing for the release of her debut, bestselling, award winning (two-time Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist, Writer’s Digest Honorable Mention) book, “Lord, I Don’t Want to Die a Christian.” In 2005, I graduated Beacon University with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Biblical Studies then went on to complete a two-year teaching and mission assignment in China that ultimately revolutionized my life. For fun, I initiate local outdoor events (e.g. Bikes, Breakfast & Black Girls) providing my community’s Black women safe and trustworthy outdoor experiences. My personal quote: “Water, contained, creates resistance. I am, 60% of it.”

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child, I believed I was born a sinner and needed to be saved. In my book, the chapter “Delivered from Deliverance”, I write “In my knowing, God created me whole, complete, free, and
He has never changed His mind, only seeing me as He created
me to be. Because I believe it, I’ll be it, manifesting experiences
reflective of such belief.
Can I be over the need to be rescued?
I’d like to prioritize what I believe to be God’s perspective of
me and others if Christianity doesn’t mind.”

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
The one kind thing I’d say to my younger self: “You are not and have never been broken. Be the whole, the complete, and the free you were created to be.”

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
I use to hold tightly to the system of tithing ten percent every pay check. Then I read what pastors and preachers don’t teach in churches:
Moses writes (in his book entitled Deuteronomy),
“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each
year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the
firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord
your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,
so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. But
if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the
Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place
where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then
exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go
to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy
whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink,
or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat
there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And
do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have
no allotment or inheritance of their own. At the end of every
three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store
it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or
inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and
the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be
satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the
work of your hands.”

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
What many people will misunderstand about my legacy is that, because I don’t want to die a Christian, I must not believe in God. But I have absolutely no interest in convincing those people that religion, as I see it, is not synonymous with God. In my book, Lord, I Don’t Want to Die a Christian, in the chapter titled ‘Religion: My Definition,’ I write:

“As I see it, religion is the need to be identified apart from another person or group. It is the effort, the energy spent, separating oneself from that which is its same. Religion is the clothing, perhaps, the fig leaves of doing difference.”

I have released the Christian religion, but I still fully embrace, and actively explore, the God idea.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/AuthorChandrikaDPhea

Image Credits
Andy Buckmire and K, Willis