Sometimes I fear that I don’t take the time enough to brag on my hubby and tell him how proud I am of him.  I always hope he knows, but I never want to take for granted that he does.  Being a pastor’s wife isn’t always an easy job, as I’m sure my fellow PW friends can agree.

It’s a difficult balance of “work and life”, when your life revolves around your ministry and serving others. My hubby is amazing at this.  Sure, sometimes he brings his work home.  But he does a good job of knowing when it’s time to unplug and focus on me. He’s practicing well for being an amazing daddy by taking his days off to spend with his family.  I’m so thankful for this.  Although him being pulled in a million directions can get hard from time to time, it’s a blessing to get to be a part of what he does. It’s not just his ministry, it’s OURS. I love that he makes me a huge part of it and always values my opinion so highly.

I’ve been a bit of a wreck for the past 8 months.  It’s not been easy on me to be pregnant, and that could have put a lot of pressure on our marriage because it’s hard for me to focus on it a lot of the time.  He has stood by me every step of the way. He tells me I’m beautiful when I feel the size of a house.  He encourages me. He tells me it will be over soon (that’s the best thing I can hear these days…). He never questions his feelings for me.

As women, it’s not always easy to be vulnerable with our spouses.  Especially when we want them to see us as beautiful and as perfect as possible.  But we’re in this thing…for better and for worse.  I’ve had my fair share of “worse” days lately, and he’s not left my side for a second.  And he won’t leave my side during our better days either.

One of the best days is to come, when we see our baby girl for the first time.  I can’t imagine a better man to share this with and to be the father of my children.  Thank you baby for all you for our ministry and our family.  You are truly my hero.

Ok…maybe not terrified.  But honestly, they are difficult for me.  Most churches have moved away from Sunday School, and focus more on Small Groups/Life Groups/Community Groups…whatever you may call them.  I think this is awesome.  I truly believe that it is so important to have people you can pour into and vice-versa.  Hear me out…I think they are extremely important.

However, I’m terrified of them. I just simply don’t like them.

Oh….and why do all of our church graphics for small groups have to have people holding hands?? What group of people actually sits in a circle and holds hands?

Anyway…

Being a pastor & pastor’s wife, as hubby and I are, we draw a lot of “attention” from people who attend the churches we work for. Sometimes good attention and sometimes bad.  But there is something about the pastor that people are drawn to.  And they think the pastor’s wife is absolutely holy & perfect.  Oh my…if only they knew.

All that to say, it’s difficult for me to be vulnerable.  It’s hard to open up. It takes a lot of trust and many things for us to feel completely comfortable to talk about deep spiritual things going on with us, especially to people who look up to us so much.

We have some amazing friendships that we sink into so comfortably and can openly share anything. Most are either fellow pastors & wives, or are friends/family we have known for a long long time.  I’m so thankful God has placed those people in our lives. I really think we’d be lost without them.

How do you allow yourself to open up and be vulnerable to a new group of people?

If you are a pastor’s wife, what’s the best way for you to find “community” and relationships and actually be able to let your guard down?

So many times when we find ourselves in the midst of a tragedy, we (as humans…and sinners) want to broadcast what we are doing to help.  We proudly march up to the front of the church to drop off our money and hope that people will see how many zeros there are on the check.  Something I learned from Jesus:

Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

With the terrible tragedy that has hit Haiti, I ask you to do something to give to these innocent and hurting people.  Do your part.  Whether it is through a financial support, prayer or going to help out in some way.

I encourage you to let this be a reminder to you that there are hurting people all over the world.  Don’t let it take an earthquake or some kind of disaster be all that brings you to help out.

Pray about it, seek God and how He would have you to get involved.  Ask for a pure heart, and then give out of a pure heart.  Don’t boast in what you were able to do, but encourage others through the purity of giving to give of themselves as well.

When your Father sees what is done in secret, He will reward you.

And that is the sweetest reward there is.

Well we did it!! We launched Kingsfield in the theaters! This weekend went GREAT. I wasn’t so sure after getting up at 3:45 am to go set up if it was really worth it, but it totally was. 

I was exciting to see our volunteers there early and so excited about all God is doing. We are so thankful to have some really great people on board and willing to help us set up and tear down.

I have the honor and huge responsibility of leading our volunteers. We officially launched our “Host Team” this weekend. It’s exciting to be a part of this and lead our amazing volunteers! Yes, it’s a lot of work but again, totally worth it.

By 12:30 when we left, I could hardly walk  I was so tired and sore. Oh yeah…and I’m 4 months pregnant and this baby must be sitting on a nerve or something.  Not really helping with set up and tear down (don’t worry grandparents, I didn’t lift anything heavy!). Please be praying for my body as I work a full time job, lead our volunteers in my free time, find time to hang with the hubby and grow a child! It’s a lot of work I tell ya!

Here’s a couple pics! I left my camera in my car and forgot to take very many on my iPhone…oops!

Thank you for your prayers as we move into this new phase as a church! And a HUGE thank you to all the amazing volunteers who made it happen!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the last day in our permanent location at Kingsfield Church! We have sold the building and we are getting out into the community. It’s interesting because after doing set up & tear down for so long at LifeChurch, I swore I’d never do it again. Little did we know…this is what God was calling us to do. And I’m totally excited about it too!

We will be meeting at the theater in a very busy shopping area. We did a “practice” setup and tear down on Saturday and it went great! Sure there will be little kinks to work out along the way, but I know that God will show up and things will go GREAT!

I intended to take a bunch of pictures on Saturday to post, but I left my camera at home and only took one with my phone. Here is the inside of the theater (prior to the stage being set up).

Please be praying for the church as we move into this new and exciting phase to really reach out to the community! Pray for our staff as there is a LOT going on and to prepare for this huge move. Pray that everything goes smoothly our first weekend.

Why don’t we get more excited about Worshipping our God?

I can’t stop watching this video. It’s so cool to see how thousands of people can come together and get so excited about something! Wouldn’t it be great if the church looked more like a Black Eyed Peas concert?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9CmZXSSYmc]

Let’s get excited about what our God is doing!!!!!!!!

As children we are told to reach for the stars, to dream big.  Our parents tell us we can be anything we want to be.  We dream of being firefighters, doctors, princesses, and knights.  We daydream all day about what it will be like to get big. 

Why does this stop? Why when we get older do we stop dreaming? Why are we constantly told to come back to reality?

No, I don’t think we should still be playing dress up and acting like a princess (unless of course that’s REALLY what you aspire to do).  I think our dreams should change as we do.  Being in ministry, my husband and I like to dream big for what is ahead for us and new and better ways to reach people.  We don’t like being tied down to “standards” and the “way things should be done”.  I don’t think that’s how Christ calls us to dream and to live.

Keep dreaming big.  Keep reaching for the stars! We CAN change the world for the better.

Ok, I’m going to find my princess crown.

Alright, here’s my Friday blog.  (Yes, I know…I’ve become a terrible blogger).

Last night I had the privilege of sitting with the Kingsfield staff to talk and dream about what is ahead for our church. 

It was different.

I used to work in full time ministry.  Now I plan events for a corporate, “worldly, if you will” company.  It was different for me to be the “outsider” in this meeting.  But I am learning a lot through this new prospective.  I so appreciate the importance that KFC (yeah… Kingsfield Church…KFC.  I love it) puts on the pastor’s wives.  Our voice matters! Heck yeah!

As we move forward with a really exciting adventure with our church, I am searching for my place to fit in.  I’ve been taking the sidelines for a while since we have moved, started with a new church, me at a new job, etc etc etc.  But how can I expect our people to step up and do something if I’m not doing my part?

This is where a huge passion of mine comes in: volunteering with your church. 

It aggravates me when people sit their hiney ends in their chair every week at church and do NOTHING.  Usually, they get frustrated with the way some things are done.  GREAT! That’s where you should be serving.

Are you giving back to your church? If not, how can you?

Do you get frustrated about the children’s ministry? SERVE THERE.

Do you get frustrated with tech stuff? SERVE THERE.

Do you get frustrated that the donuts aren’t layed out correctly? SERVE THERE.

Instead of complaining, make a difference.

That’s all I got.  I can’t wait to partner with our staff and help connect people to life in Christ! I can’t wait to help people see their potential in serving their church! What an exciting thing God has given us.

There are a few things I’m a total sucker for.

Chocolate.
Sweet Tea.
My husband.

Oh…and this face:

This weekend we were out shopping and I was picking out my next pair of Tomsand my hubby said “you’re such a sucker for causes”.  Dang skippy! I love my toms.  I love the fact that when I buy a pair of cute overpriced shoes, it means a child will get to wear shoes.  It may be the only pair they will ever wear.

I love World Vision & Compassion.  I love sponsoring a child.  I love that others like me bring hope and life to these children.  We may be the only Jesus they ever know!

So my question for you is, why in the world would you NOT be  a sucker for causes? Why not give $30 bucks a month to help a child in need?

Click here to go sponsor a child now!!

Why not??

What are you a sucker for??

How teachable are you?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently.  I want to be teachable.  I want to be open to new things.  Sometimes as young people in ministry we think we have it all figured out.  But I think that sets us up for failure. 

I am in a growing and learning place in my life and walk with Christ.  I want to know more, I want to learn.  One way I like to do this is by listening to people smarter than me (which is pretty much…everyone).

There are some incredible teachers out there who have some wise things to say.  God uses people to speak through and I must admit He does a great job. 

Here are some awesome people who I enjoyed learning from in ministry and have made a huge impact on me:

Craig Groeschel

Perry Noble

Matt Chandler

Wendy Collinsworth

Chris & Cindy Beall

Marcy McConnell

I think the key to being teachable are three things:

1) Shut your mouth
2) Open your heart
3) LISTEN

What can you do to be more teachable?