Ministry Wives Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Embracing Biblical Lament (an interview with Danielle Kelly) Mar 25, 2024

Show notes

We live in a broken world full of pain and suffering. We are bound to suffer trauma and grief; how do we navigate that pain as believers? Pastor’s wife, writer and podcaster Danielle Kelly joins the show today to share how God invited her into biblical lament as a lifestyle and how choosing to trust God’s character in the process transformed her life and relationship with Him.

SHOW NOTES

Biblical lament is more than crying aloud with your grief; it’s grieving with a purpose that draws you into deeper trust in God.

On the other side of entering lament with Jesus is beauty, joy, and new growth.

Embrace lament as a lifestyle that will ebb and flow throughout your life. Make space for it whenever it arrives.

QUOTES

“One of the things that God started to show me is that lament is beautiful because I was scared of it. I said ‘Okay, I see you inviting me into this, but I feel like it’s a dark pit that I can’t see the other side of, and I don’t know what’s at the bottom of that pit.’ But Jesus is on the other side and He has lament with a purpose, our lament is not empty. He’s a savior that knows lament well and His invitation is not something He hasn’t walked through Himself.”

-Danielle Kelly

“When you sit in the darkness of lament with the Lord and allow Him to comfort you, to minister to you, to speak to you…then He starts to water you. Then all of a sudden beauty comes out of it and you are able to sing. You are able to worship, you are able to have a different perspective, but it has to go through a process of sitting in the darkness and feeling all the feelings and being there.”

-Danielle Kelly

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

Dark Clouds Deep Mercy

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Connect with Danielle

Instagram // Podcast

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Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

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An Interview With Christine and Kyle Hoover (special guests Lynley and Ben Mandrell) Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

On this special episode of the Ministry Wives Podcast, Christine hands the microphone over to Lynley and Ben Mandrell as special guest hosts. Christine and Kyle open up about a very vulnerable time in their life and marriage, the lessons God taught them, and the book that was born out of that season, “You Are Not Forgotten,” out April 23.

QUOTES

“I think the main thing I learned was that God really does see me, and that’s why I wrote this book. These truths are holding me now as we’re going through a whole different season of suffering. I have not doubted God in our current suffering because I know what He did for me when I felt so buried, He saw me and He pulled me out.”

-Christine Hoover

“One thing I learned in that time was that I often thought about ministry as outside of my home, meaning other people that are not in my family. I thought of my kids as part of my ministry, but I rarely thought about Kyle as my ministry, and we just did not carve out time for one another. But I look back now and I see that we were giving of ourselves to everyone else except for one another, and we had to carve out some extensive time to work through these things and to come back together. I would say we haven’t just come back together, but we have a new marriage and a healthier marriage, a happier marriage.”

-Christine Hoover

“I think in marriage, you can just keep going on cruise control. I think having times of dedicated work towards, what are those repeated conflict points that we have? What are the things that keep popping up? Who do we want to be as a married couple moving into the future? What are our blind spots? We need to be intentional with our time and energy to realize that our marriage needs that kind of attention as well.”

-Kyle Hoover

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

You Are Not Forgotten

CONNECT

Connect with Lynley and Ben

Lynley Instagram // Ben Instagram // Website // Podcast

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

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Motivations for Ministry (an interview with Krissie Inserra) Mar 11, 2024

Show notes

In theory, we should always desire to serve God in ministry to honor and obey him, but in practice, we may sometimes find ourselves struggling with our motivations in ministry. We struggle with what we think we “should” do, wanting to please others, even wanting recognition for our service. Pastor’s wife Krissie Inserra shares how God has worked on the motivations of her heart in the last 16 years of their Tallahassee church plant. Krissie explains how God has taught her who He created her to be and how she recognizes the different seasons of life God has placed her. She also shares the importance of frequent heart checks, ridding her heart of glory-seeking motivations.

SHOW NOTES

Don’t fall prey to people pleasing behaviors. Ask God how He has gifted you and serve in those areas.

Be aware of what season you are in. You may be called to operate in a lot of ministry in church or you may be called to operate in ministry heavily within your home.

Regularly check your heart. Prideful motivations of wanting to be known can creep up unexpectedly.

QUOTES

“If I’m really honest with myself, my motivation can sometimes be so that my name is out there. Why? I don’t know. Because that’s just our human nature. We want to be known. I have to check myself on that all the time.”

-Krissie Inserra

“Those of you just starting in this, you’re probably going to make mistakes and maybe do too much or not do enough and then realize, ‘I’m not going to do that again.’ Ministry is a lot of learning as you go and learning from your mistakes. Praise God that He is a gracious God who forgives and who is bigger than our mistakes.”

-Krissie Inserra

CONNECT

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

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Serving in Small Churches (an interview with Wendy Ortiz) Mar 04, 2024

Show notes

God calls us to serve in so many different ministry contexts. Sometimes we’ll be called to serve in large spaces with hundreds of people, and sometimes God calls us into small environments with less than 10. Church planting wife Wendy Ortiz shares her experiences serving in small churches both in the US and Puerto Rico. She explains the joys and challenges of small environments, including God’s work in her heart regarding letting go of control.

SHOW NOTES

Small churches allow a family-like atmosphere as well as an unearthing of gifts that may be overlooked in larger churches.

Don’t fall into the comparison trap. God will decide how big He wants your church to be. Focus on being a faithful steward.

Encourage your husband, celebrate every victory, and be intentional about connecting with other church planting wives.

QUOTES

“What would I say to myself? God is going to do what He wants to do. Don’t worry. Just be obedient, do what He calls you to do and help your husband and don’t be an obstacle for him.”

-Wendy Ortiz

“We are a family, so we know each other very well. We may have misunderstandings because our sin always goes out, but it’s just us. It’s just us. We work things together as a family and we can be the church. It’s very personal. It’s very straightforward. The discipleship is more personal as well.”

-Wendy Ortiz

CONNECT

Connect with Wendy

Instagram

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

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Seasons of Spiritual Dryness (an interview with Kristen Wetherell) Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

As believers and ministry wives, we will experience times of spiritual dryness, times where we struggle to experience the truth of God’s presence in our daily lives, times where our spiritual walk feels stagnant and emotionless. We live in a world full of distraction and fatigue; the battle to focus on Christ is ever present.

Author, mother, and pastor’s wife Kristen Wetherell has experienced times of spiritual dryness in her own walk and joins us today to share her story. Kristen shines light on some symptoms of spiritual dryness to be on the alert for, as well as how to navigate those seasons with Christ and community at the forefront.

SHOW NOTES

In times of spiritual dryness, choose community and confession rather than shame and isolation.

Symptoms of the beginnings of spiritual dryness can include distraction, discouragement, physical fatigue, ministry burnout, or temptation engagement.

Discipline and desire go hand in hand. The more we discipline ourselves spiritually, the more we begin to desire God.

QUOTES

“In seasons of spiritual dryness, you will be tempted toward shame and isolation when what will be most helpful for you is to choose community and confession because those things bring freedom.”

-Kristen Wetherell

“It’s weird to think about discipline and desire, but I really think they go hand in hand. Sometimes the desire is there and our hearts are just a flame for the Lord. Sometimes it’s a discipline, and sometimes it’s both. But I think if we’re disciplined, we can sit back and wait on the Lord to renew the desire. But if we’re not disciplined about it, it’s going to be really hard for that desire to have any space to grow when the Lord turns it on again.”

-Christine Hoover

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

Help For the Hungry Soul

Front Row Seat

CONNECT

Connect with Kristen

Website

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

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From Pastor’s Wife to Pastor’s Widow (an interview with Melissa Swain) Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

There is no escaping the reality that women within our church will experience the loss of their spouse at some point in their lives. The Bible instructs us to take care of widows, but how do we practically live that out? Melissa Swain lost her pastor husband Chris unexpectedly in 2021 and joins the podcast to tell her story. Melissa shares how specific help, inclusion, and an admission of the hard has helped her and her children navigate in their new world.

SHOW NOTES

Try to be specific in your offers of help (mowing the lawn, picking up groceries) rather than asking “What can I do for you?”

Even though they might not always be able to attend or give input, continue providing opportunities for fellowship and ministry as you did before.

When you don’t know what to say, don’t avoid reaching out. It’s okay to simply say, “I love you and I don’t know what to say.”

QUOTES

“I understand the statistic that 50% of widows leave their church. Their person that they walk in with, sit with, go to classes with, do all the things with is not there anymore. So that makes it really difficult to continue to be involved in the same context with the same people around you, but you’re not the same anymore.”

-Melissa Swain

“A lot of times, it is easy to feel forgotten because most people assume, ‘Oh, after the first year, you’re fine. Everything’s good. You’ve done all the first things.’ And that’s kind of the mentality of a lot of people surrounding widowhood. You’ve done the firsts. Everything else will be easy. The second Father’s day was harder than the first one. Everything new that my kids do is a first. Sometimes it’s really easy to be in a room and feel like no one knows how hard it is to be there just to be there.”

-Melissa Swain

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

Write It on Their Hearts

CONNECT

Connect with Melissa

Instagram // Website

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

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Unmet Expectations in Ministry (an interview with Lisa Hughes) Feb 12, 2024

Show notes

Sometimes unmet expectations seem to pop up everywhere in our lives. We experience hardship or failure in life and ministry over and over again. Today, author and pastor’s wife Lisa Hughes teaches us how to reshape our thinking regarding unmet expectations. She shares that we need to not only expect the hard things, but also accept that the Lord is always doing what seems good to Him. We can find joy in the hardship while drawing closer to Jesus when faced with unmet expectations, choosing to obey Him even when it’s hard.

SHOW NOTES

Identifying an unmet expectation often means identifying a sin in your heart where you’re not thinking rightly about God or what He’s doing in your life.

Reshaping our thinking means letting the Lord do what seems good to Him and aligning our thoughts to match Scripture.

You have to decide how to respond to unmet expectations: with despair or with belief and obedience to God.

QUOTES

“It is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him. He’s given me this little incubator, this little pressure cooker time, this little hard thing because it’s not only good for her, but it’s really good for me. How do I need to think about what God has given to not try to escape it? I think a lot of times what we try to do is escape those hard things.“

-Lisa Hughes

“Sometimes in the waiting times, our hearts just get so stretched, so thin, it’s really painful and it can be so discouraging. We need to believe just like David, that God is good and that He will provide good things for us along the way as He causes us to wait.”

-Lisa Hughes

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

Anchor Bible Church

CONNECT

Connect with Lisa

Facebook // Instagram // Website

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Serving in Camp Ministry (an interview with Rachel Shelton) Feb 05, 2024

Show notes

Life in a parachurch ministry often looks very different from life in other ministries, but the goal is always the same: live as a minister of the gospel. Rachel Shelton and her husband were called to minister full time at TBarM Camps in Texas. Rachel describes the joys and challenges of camp life, and how her family focuses on doing life with others as they point them to Christ.

SHOW NOTES

Camp ministry allows campers to experience God in a unique environment where everyone is living outside their normal life.

Life at camp allows leadership to teach college students about pouring into others even when they feel completely empty.

No matter what ministry you serve in, strive to integrate the different areas of your life. You are called to minister the gospel everywhere.

QUOTES

“We’re learning to be who we are as we relate to the students and share what the Lord is doing. They’re not looking for people older than them to try to connect and be real young and hip. They’re just looking for people who are going to point them to Christ. And we do our best to try to do that as we try to do that for ourselves.”

-Rachel Shelton

“I think whatever role in ministry we’re in, we strive for integration. So as we are connecting with others, whether that’s camp ministry or church ministry or parachurch missions ministry is just letting people in our lives and not separating out, work, ministry, school. It’s all integrated.”

-Rachel Shelton

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

TBarM Camp

CONNECT

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

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The Joy of Raising Missionary Kids (an interview with Keri Folmar) Jan 29, 2024

Show notes

Ministry often stretches us to grow in ways we never imagined, some that are hard but many that can bring us deep joy. Raising children in a completely different culture for missions is no different. Missionary wife, author, and podcaster Keri Folmar joins me to shine light on the joys she experienced raising missionary children. She shares how God used their upbringing on a different continent to teach them about hospitality towards all and the unity that comes from Christ alone.

SHOW NOTES

No matter what culture the Lord calls you to, parenting has joys and challenges. Embrace both and lean on Him.

One of the greatest joys in missions is allowing your children to see the unity that comes from Christ, not from culture.

The most important thing your children can see is you living for Christ and loving Him above all else, not living for your ministry.

QUOTES

“The thing with being in a church like this, we don’t have any culture to unite us, but we’re united in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are united sitting under the Word being preached, and we’re united in our love for Jesus. Our children saw that. They saw these deep relationships with people who didn’t look like us, who didn’t act like us in many ways, who didn’t dress like us, but they saw these deep relationships and they had relationships with people like that as well.”

-Keri Folmar

“Live for Christ, not for your ministry. I think that’s important for both husband and wife. If you live for Christ and you love Christ, your ministry will come out of that. But if you are living for ministry, it really becomes idolatry and you hold on. But if you are living for Christ, they see that you love Him above all, and they see that your love for them flows out of your love for Christ.”

-Keri Folmar

CONNECT

Connect with Keri

Podcast // Website

Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

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A Church Planting Couple’s Legacy (an interview with Jennifer Clifton) Jan 22, 2024

Show notes

Clint and Jennifer Clifton spent their lives planting churches as well as pouring themselves into training and encouraging planters and their wives all over the globe. Jennifer joins the podcast to talk about the legacy of her late husband and how she sees the Lord opening opportunities for her to continue to encourage ministry wives just like us. Jennifer also shares her unique perspective on helping marriage and family thrive within the framework of full-time ministry.

QUOTES

“What our roles are depends on what season we’re in. If we’ve got a bunch of little kids, it’s really hard to be super involved, but if your kids are older, it may be a little easier. Our roles change with seasons. It’s important for church planter wives to recognize that and be encouraged in that. And husbands need to recognize that about their wives and help them recognize what seasons they’re in and how they best can be used in that season.”

-Jennifer Clifton

“We just involved our kids in all the ministry things that we did, and so they got to see it. We told them, ‘This is what God wants. This is what God has said. This is what the Bible says.’ We were actively showing them those things, not just Mom and Dad saying them.”

-Jennifer Clifton

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

The Praetorian Project

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Connect with Christine

Facebook // Instagram // Books

Visit How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife to access Christine’s resources for ministry wives like you!

Connect with NAMB

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