The Planter’s Wife in Community: Challenges
Odds are, when your wife joined you on the journey of church planting, she left her …
Resources for Article
The Planter’s Wife in Community: Intentionality and Cultivation
Community requires intentionality and cultivation Think of something that happens quickly. A roller coaster ride. A …
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The Planter’s Wife in Community: Openness and Vulnerability
For the first eight years of our ministry at an established church, I didn’t have a …
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Why solely giving to the church is dangerous
As a pastor’s wife, I’m prone to think of church in certain terms, and it’s mostly …
The Planter’s Wife in Community
She Needs Community “Lonely and isolated” are words that many ministry leaders, male and female, use …
Showing up in both the joyous and the ugly
Just show up. Ministry life can be joyous. We have the privilege of being present at …
The Planter in Community: Defer Leadership
A few years back I attended a missions conference and struck up a conversation with a …
The Planter in Community: No Masks Allowed
I was in the middle of small group when I got the barrage of text messages. …
The key to being a resilient leader
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We …
The Pastor in Community: You Need It
I remember sitting at a conference for a particular church planting network. We had reached the …
Looking at the true root of relational stress
For a long time I have allowed myself to become extremely emotional as I have parented …
Redefining Success: City Transformation
Insignificance. Most of our nightmares revolve around this. We all want to know we are making …
Redefining Success: Family Culture
What makes a church successful? Is it the number of those who attend the weekly gathering, …
The importance of family rituals
The word spooked me out for the longest time. Rituals. I couldn’t help but think of …
How to have successful gospel conversations
We’ve all been there. Or even if you haven’t, people in your church have. You start …
We love drawing your attention to great resources. Today we are interviewing fellow ministry wife Holly …
Don’t Plant a Church Because It’s Cool
After a long and stressful day of Kindergarten, I used to play with G.I. Joes in …
When I got pregnant in early 2010, I feared that something was wrong with our baby. …
Ready, Set, Go—Equipping Sending Churches pt. 3
Some years ago, the movie “Chariots of Fire” introduced the world to an Olympic champion and …
Learning to celebrate the difficult journey
We checked no. Well, let me back up for just a moment. God gave us Alex …
Ready, Set, Go—Equipping Sending Churches pt. 2
Running has never been really fun for me unless it was an actual race. Although I …
Eight ways to comfort the suffering soul
When suffering happens to leaders we begin to comfort others differently. Our own journey informs our …
Ready, Set, Go—Equipping Sending Churches
I have been running marathons for almost 15 years now. It’s amazing how the sport of …
When Suffering Produces Endurance
…the testing of your faith produces endurance…” (James 1:3) Several years ago, our daughter and her …
The Benefit of the Bird’s Eye View
Not long ago I listened as another pastor’s wife confided some problems she was facing. It …
Discipleship is messy because our lives are messy. One size certainly doesn’t fit all. How can …
Chauffeuring children to frequent doctor’s appointments, therapy, and extracurricular activities; spending hours reteaching school material to …
What discipleship is Christian discipleship is what happens when people live daily with Jesus. Jesus drew incredible, …
No matter how great of a minister, husband, leader or father he is, he’s not immune …
Developing leaders to multiply the ministry
One of the reasons developing leaders is so critical for a church is the multiplying result. …
wrote the blog below on the 10th anniversary of my husband Rick Ferguson’s death in a …
Yesterday I was talking to a good friend about his next ministry assignment and what is …
How to face adversity and anxiety
Adversity is wrapped up in anxiety. Where there is trouble, there is also fear, worry, fretfulness …
Wise leaders understand the importance of words. They grasp the importance of language in describing the …
Three Ways to Encourage Others with Your Suffering
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion …
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An Important Question to Ask Ourselves
What is your greatest insecurity? It’s a good question to ask yourself, but it’s not so …
Lessons learned from church planting
My friend Jenny was over recently, and my youngest son bounded into the room. He’s getting …
Don’t be surprised: on facing struggle, adversity, and suffering
Today we launch a new series on how to endure adversity, struggle, and loss well. Suffering and hardship …
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The importance of prioritizing as a church planter
This summer I stood in front of a room full of church planting wives and took …
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Why spousal support from pastors is important
One of the more pleasant surprises of this blog the past few years is the opportunity …
11 Ways to Evaluate Your Preaching and Teaching
The more important our work is, the more imperative it is we strive to improve. If …
The Maturing of Self-forgetfulness
This blog by Michael Kelly was posted on my last birthday. I read and reread this …
In the last post I shared that the first theological distinction deals with the missionary nature …
In part one I explained that when I am asked to define the word “missional” I …
Four truths to fight the anger monster
Aisle Two was not the place to be this morning. Today at WalMart, I heard a …
For nine years I taught a course on evangelism at a small Christian college. There was …
How teaching high schoolers has made me a better mom
I recently learned of some heavy heartache a student of mine is carrying quietly upon his …
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Nine Ways To “Pay” Your Volunteers
I recently spent some time with long-time pastor Steve Stroope, who’s been in the ministry now …
When You are Sick of Saying It, Your Leaders Have Just Heard It
The following is a modified excerpt from Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that …
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Five cross-cultural lessons for families in public school
My 11-year-old daughter, Alli, looked anxious. It was sixth-grade summer orientation — her first year of …
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At the Pastor’s Wives conference of the SBC this summer, we had a helpful conversation with Faith Whatley, …
Church Discipline: The Outcome of Church Discipline
THE OUTCOME OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE As we have faithfully practiced discipline as a body, we are …
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A Process for Multiplying Disciples
By Jeff Christopherson We like to say to “make disciple-making disciples” to inspire a vision for …
Church Discipline: The Process of Church Discipline
The elders of The Austin Stone have studied, prayed and labored over the process of discipline …
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Three Sure Ways to Squander Your Influence
Our influence is temporary. It was given to us by God. It can be taken away. …
Five practices of an emotionally mature leader
When you think of emotional maturity what do you think of? Do you think of someone …
The Strength of a Reluctant Leader
Do people look to you to solve problems or provide the answers or direction needed to accomplish …
Leaders work smarter, not harder
A picture is worth a thousand words. Right? So what words does this one say? Uhhh, …
Five prayers to pray for your husband
Strength in the midst of discouragement Lord, I pray that my husband would turn immediately to …
He crushes me- when leaders lament
Chauffeuring children to frequent doctor’s appointments, therapy, and extracurricular activities; spending hours reteaching school material to …
The Importance of Vulnerability in Leadership
I have consistently made an effort to ‘be who I am’ and not ‘put on a …
Generosity: Building a Generous Church
Encouraging generosity in the church is a matter I believe I can speak to because it …
Your Blind Spot Is Only Blind to You
For our series on leadership we are reposting this old blog on blindspots. Leaders, especially ones that …
John Bunyan once said, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone …
The Resilient Leader: Don’t Quit
Did you know that 2 Corinthians is actually Paul’s 4th letter to that church? Since I’ve been …
On the playground of spiritual disciplines fasting gets picked last, and sometimes not at all if …
The Disciplined Leader: Saying “No” When Necessary
One afternoon last fall, as I put the clean laundry away, I fell to the floor …
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You don’t have to be or live in the city in order to understand the concept …
“When we arrived in Macedonia there was no rest for us. Outside there was conflict from …
Not long ago I listened as another pastor’s wife confided some problems she was facing. It …
There’s something about becoming a professional Christian (aka pastor, church planter, missionary, etc…) that makes the …
Leadership: committed to a cause
Cause – a principle, idea, goal or movement to which a person or group is dedicated. …
Every first Sunday of the month, as a church, we take communion together. Before we take …
Most of us want to be leaders. We want to make our mark for Christ and …
Our culture is sick with busyness and constant connectedness. Almost everyone seems exhausted just trying to …
Three Insights on Building a Team
Last year I started a ministry to internationals at our church. We live in the suburbs …
Let’s just put this reality on the table: many church leaders struggle with prayer. We know …
Living in the Word: Bible Intake for Church Planters I was a new believer, and my …
By this, I was taken by surprise. Humbly knowing in our 4 1/2 years of existence, …
Abide: Introduction to John 15:5
Imagine you are listening to a sermon and the preacher asks “How many of you truly …