The Mantle Will Not Shrink: How to Grow Into the Calling God Put on Your Life

What a worn bomber jacket, a 30-year university legacy, and one reluctant yes can teach us about owning what God gave us to carry

By Dr. Lee C. Cordell

Want to listen to the full interview?

Chantell Cooley spent more than 30 years building Columbia Southern University from the ground up with her family.

It became one of the largest online universities in the country, with more than 100,000 graduates. And while the organization is secular, her and her family's faith is NOT a secret.

They did not force it on employees... instead, they let it lead and shape everything.

How people were hired.
How they were developed.
How promotions happened.
How a leader walked down the hall and waited for an honest answer after asking, “How are you?”

And it massively impacted how long people STAYED.

But the most incredible part of Chantell's story starts further back, when she had a vision that changes everything.

The Bomber Jacket Mantle

“The mantle will not shrink. You have to grow.” — Chantell Cooley

That is what Chantell said to me in our conversation, and I'm writing about it here because SO many of us are looking at what God put in front of us (the leadership role, the business, the message, the room, the responsibility) and asking a version of the same question:

Will this really fit me? And will I be able to fit into it?

Here's the backstory behind our conversation:

When Chantell was in her mid-thirties, having spent the last 2 decades battling poverty, demonic oppression, and other peoples judgements and doubts in order to grow their family's online university to around 7,000 students...Her father died.

Soon after his passing, she had a vision of a worn bomber jacket coming down from heaven.

It was motorcycle-style, beat up and too big, but she clearly saw and understoood it as her mantle, full of the assignments, abilities, authority, and grace God had placed on her life.

It did not fit her yet- but it would.

Your Work Is the Vehicle. It Is Not Your Identity.

Chantell knew she felt called to ministry when she was 19 years old.

She went to Bible college, leaving shortly afterward as she realized she had a different dream: building big things in the marketplace.

For a long time, many of us have been taught that being called to preach, lead, or minister means we have to CHOOSE.

You can be serious about God, OR you can be serious about business.

You can make an impact inside a church, OR you can make money in the marketplace.

But Chantell’s outlook does not fall victim to that false split.

She built an educational institution that changed lives, developed people, and helped others build communication skills, step into leadership, earn promotions, take their families on vacation, and live a fuller life... all while being bold in her love for Jesus by living out His Word.

“I don’t need to talk about Jesus. I want you to watch my life. Watch how I treat you at work. Watch how I handle pressure.” — Chantell Cooley

When we start secular businesses as Christians, that does not mean our faith needs to stay hidden, but instead that our faith gets to become visible through the way we lead.

St. Paul talks about how the Church IS the body of Christ, and we are its members... so that means the Church goes where WE go.

Into the hospital unit.

Into the conference room.

Into the family business.

Into the corporate office where someone has never had a boss look them in the eye and ask how they are really doing.

Our work is never separate from your calling to "make disciples of nations".

In fact, for entrepreneurs, it is often the very vehicle that carries it.

The Difference Between Humility and Hiding

There is a version of humility that is actually fear dressed up in false humility.

It sounds like this:

I am not that good at this.
I should not say I have a gift.
I do not want to make anyone uncomfortable.
What if I am not enough for this?

I know this false humility well, because I have lived in a identity distorted by it for most of my life (and I'm betting you have too).

I have been a strong speaker my entire life. Put me on a stage, and I am going to do a good job.

But I have also learned that I can overprepare, planning my words so rigidly that I leave no room for God to come in and use me the way He wants to use me.

I can strip off some of the oil, some of the anointing that He's poured over my head, by filling up my head with too many words to remember to say.

In the episode, I shared the word God placed on my heart for this year: profit.

I heard it before I saw it, and I asked God - "PROF-I-T or PROP-H-E-T?"

You know what I heard? "Yes."

For me, they are ONE spoken word.

Speaking what God calls me to say creates profit.

And profit, in the financial sense, requires margin. Space.

So God told me to create space for Him to come in and let grace do what it can around the assignments He gave me.

Not with arrogance, nor fasle humility, but ownership and stewardship of the gifts of speaking and writing that He has blessed me with.

In our epsiode, Chantell said something profound; that the mantle becomes visible when you have language for what you are good at.

You begin to see the patterns of your gifting.

Maybe you can read between the lines when no one else can.
Maybe you can build teams.
Maybe you can see an outcome before other people even see the problem.
Maybe you create, teach, comfort, organize, or move people to action.

Those things are not accidents.

They are part of the mantle that you are called to carry, and the grace He has laid upon you to help you grow up and into your assignment.

And this means that true humility is not pretending you do not have a gift, but rather knowing and honoring where (and WHO) it came from.

Transition Is Only Meant to Transition

Chantell said something I needed to hear, and I think you may as well:

The "transition" space is not a LARGE space.

For many, it may feel like you've been transitioning your whole life, or like you have been waiting forever to get to where you're supposed to go.

But the transitional space is not meant to become your permanent address.

“Transition is only to transition.” — Chantell Cooley

She described the transitional space as a gap about six feet wide.

(Small tangent: as Chantell said this, I remember thinking that our graves are typically six feet deep, and how David tells us in Psalm 23 that we should fear no evil, as we "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" because God will be with us!)

So we walk through this liminal space, not yet who we will be and also not still who we once were, moving ONE foot at a time- and we do not let our feet stop.

This is a critical practice to adopt as those who want to take dominion, those who want to ensure we carry our mantles according to God's will-

Because we can get so scared of what is next that we decide the discomfort of transition must mean we are in the wrong place.

We look at the people leaving, the old vision that no longer fits, the strategies that worked at the lower level but are not working here, and we FREEZE.

But Chantell provides us with Scriptural evidence of why and how God guides us in the transition.

She shares how when Joshua had to cross a river and lead a people into territory he had never led before.

God did not tell him to become Moses; He told Joshua to be strong and courageous.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

God did not promise that Joshua would never feel fear, nor that there wouldn't be old versions of himself that would need to "die off" for him to take on his mantle and lead others into the Promised Land.

He simply reminded Joshua that fear did not get the final say, and that God would be with him wherever he went, and help him claim the land "wherever he placed his feet."

That is the part we have to remember when the mantle starts to feel heavy...

We don't have to grow into it, carry it, or transitional alone.

New Levels Need New Tools

Chantell said one last thing that explains why transition feels so exhausting.

When you step onto a new level, you cannot take all the old tools and old strategies with you, because you've outgrown many of them.

The work you did in the last season may have gotten you here, AND it's likely not what will carry you into the next one.

And that growth, while grief-filled, is divinely designed.

Joshua and Caleb spent 40 years being prepared, learning how to take territory, righteously batter, and to follow God through wilderness.

But when it was time to take the land, they had to keep the Word with them while they moved.

They did not need to recreate the old season of spending hours worshipping and studying how to lead as God directed.

They needed to use what had been built in them, and apply their training to their transition.

This is the part that applies directly to leadership and entrepreneurship.

Sometimes you are not stuck because you need another course, another certification, another 10-step plan, or one more person to validate you.

Sometimes you need to acknowledge what God already showed you, and then take the next step.

Chantell told me that when she finally said out loud, “I accept the call,” things that had been delayed started moving within 30 days.

Not because she became perfect.
Not because every question vanished.
But because she finally stopped withholding her yes to recgonizing the mantle now FIT, and she was well-equipped to wear it.

And one of the last things she said gave us a guardrail we all need:

“Not every assignment that’s great is ours.” — Chantell Cooley

Once you're known for the graces and greatness of your mantle, you must be cautious in your committments.

You do not have to take every invitation to prove you are called.

You do not have to wear someone else’s mantle.

You do not have to make yourself sick trying to become the person God made someone else to be.

There is one next assignment with your name on it- and that is enough.

Chantell built an online university with her family, and helped create a culture where people stayed for decades, retiring at 49 to continue mentoring business leaders.

And she did it all by growing into the mantle she saw when it was still too big, and said YES anyway.

So let me ask 2 questions, friend—

What is the mantle you keep asking God to shrink because you are afraid you will not fit it?
What is the next step in your transition that you know you need to take (not after you have every answer, but because God is with you wherever you go?)

Always Rooting for You,
Dr. Lee

P.S. You can connect with Chantell, explore her books, and learn about her mentorship at chantellcooley.com.

You can also find her on Instagram at @chantellcooley.

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