Our Story

How We Got Started

Jeanie Turner’s life was once marked by brokenness. By the age of 39, she was battling alcoholism, had gone through five marriages, and was living with deep emotional and spiritual wounds. But everything began to change when she encountered Jesus and found the courage to believe that a better life was possible.

Jeanie chose to surrender her addictions, her past, and her pain to Christ. Instead of bars, she started spending time in church. As her life began to transform, so did her heart—she no longer just wanted to survive; she wanted to live with purpose. She wanted to help others find the same freedom she had discovered.

One day, as she read the story in John 4 about the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, something clicked. Jeanie saw herself in that woman—misunderstood, labeled by the world, yet completely seen and loved by Jesus. From that moment, a passion was born: she wanted to tell every woman she could about the God who restores.

And so she did.

Over the next 20+ years, Jeanie began going into the darkest places—picking women up off the streets, walking into drug houses, strip clubs, and jails. She became known in the community by many names: “the purple lady,” “the church lady,” and to the women she serves, affectionately, “the Gangster Pastor”—because she fights for them with everything she has. She’s chased down traffickers, opened her home to women fleeing abuse, and stood between danger and those crying out for help.

Jeanie often says, “God didn’t call me to meet every need, but to make sure every need gets met.” And with the help of her dedicated team of women, that’s exactly what One Way Out Ministries does.

Jeanie became an ordained minister and chaplain in 1999. Over the years, she has led jail ministries, operated five women’s recovery homes, taught weekly classes, and personally mentored hundreds of women. She’s been recognized with the prestigious Liberty Bell Award from the Florida Bar Association for her work helping women navigate the court system, regain custody of their children, and achieve early release from probation. Her most recent Award from the Women of Distinction “Woman of the year 2025 for Acts of Kindness”.

Despite the recognition, Pastor Jeanie gives all the glory to God. She lives by the truth He showed her years ago in Scripture:
There is One Way Out—and His name is Jesus.