Women’s Leadership Forum

Wow. We have had a fantastic few days at the forum in Nashville, along with womens leaders from all over the country (about 600+). It has truly been a great few days and one of my favorite times of the year because I love working with leaders in ministry and also hearing from some great speakers.

This year Priscilla Shirer seriously brought the heat with a great message about the supernatural power that is available to us…it was awesome. Then yesterday afternoon Mary Kassian spoke one of the most powerful messages I have heard on biblical womanhood…I am still processing all the info! Then today my pastor, David, brought a very specific and practical message of encouragement to us and those were only in the main sessions, there were also lots of breakout sessions that dealt with tons of other issues…

I also got to meet so many women who are leading in ministry at their churches. We have so much to share and learn from each other–that just makes these times so special. SO thank you to all the ladies who we met and talked with (those of you in the min wives session:) and all the others, we never stop giving thanks for you!!!!

MWW Weekend in Oklahoma!!

We had such a great time at the ministers’ wives event last weekend. Oklahoma wives are extremely blessed to have such fantastic leadership with Kelly King and her team….they did an unbelievable job with all aspects of the event and blew us away with the decorations along the theme of “In Our Shoes”. Here are some pictures from the weekend and for those of you attending, thank you so much for letting us love on you and share with you about things God has taught us along our journeys. You are very special to us and we will continue to pray for you and give thanks for you!!!!

Minister’s Wives Event

Hey all you ministers’ wives in Oklahoma greetings to you and we are heading your way this weekend. Jen and I will be speaking at the OK Baptist Min Wives retreat and we are so excited. Please be praying for us to bring the message that God wants for the ladies who are there and also for those who are coming to be blessed and encouraged. The team who is putting the whole weekend together have some really cool things planned and I just know it’s going to be awesome.

If you are coming then we will see you Friday and if you aren’t going to be there then we covet your prayers for us and for the wives attending:)

blessings,
Rachel

A New Experience

Well yesterday I got to experience something new. And of course, it was absolutely crazy. Jen and I were scheduled to do a blog talk interview with Marnie Swedberg at 3. I drove down to pick Jennifer up so we could be together because we needed to call in from our cell phones. So now you are wondering why we needed to be together if we could both call in separately?? that’s simple its because I am extremely awkward on the phone. I have such issues with talking at the same time as the other person and I could just envision how awful that would sound…

So I stopped at the place where Jen was working with a friend from Navpress and while I was waiting for her to come out, a man got into his car right in front of me and backed straight into my little car!!! At this point we were about 8 minutes from needing to call in and so i got his info quickly, while feeling like throwing up, and we took off to find a quiet place to call in. After a couple of stops, we found a quiet parking lot and settled in to do the interview.

No sooner had we both gotten connected than we realized that we could not both be that close together while talking on cell phones because we could hear each other in the car and then thru the phones and it was really strange. The best idea I could find was to get out and stand outside the car–did i mention that it was raining??? I stood under a tree and we communicated thru the windshield of the car. It was absolutely hilarious. I kept wondering what the people who drove by were thinking about us and every so often a huge truck would come by and change gears or something that made lots of noise.

Marnie was so great and the time just flew by but I couldn’t resist grabbing my camera during a commercial break so we could remember just how crazy that whole thing was. Just reminded me that there are distractions always around us and we sometimes have to be flexible in order to make it!!!!

here is a link if you would like to check out the interview its found at marnie & friends

the damage is done

talking in the rain:)

Jen on the phone in the car

Warning!! DANGER!

If you have ever been driving along and seen a caution sign like these you know how helpful they are, especially if you have a sort of lead foot like me, there is no way to gauge how many people avoid wrecks and injuries because they were warned ahead of time that the road curved or was slippery or there was a drop off. I was just thinking this morning that wouldn’t it be great if we had some warning signs like these in our spiritual lives?

I think that those of us who serve in ministry could really make good use of them and probably one of the most necessary ones wold be CAUTION: Potential to get stuck in a rut! Matthew West has a song out right now called “The Motions” and if you haven’t heard it then get on itunes and take a listen. It completely pierces my heart when i hear it because I am challenged to not just go through the motions any longer. It gets very easy sometimes for me to serve God and do the things i need to without really being passionate about it.

What about you? Does that ever happen to you? Another line that I like from the lyrics is “I don’t want to live one more day without your all consuming passion inside of me” …it’s powerful stuff. Check it out. We can live our lives with no regrets that we held back or just did the routine because it was easy or familiar..I’m after the passionate living kind of life…will you join me???

Wives around the Country

I have recently heard of several groups of wives in different areas who are getting together to do IN OUR SHOES and/or other types of support and encouragement. If you have organized or attended any great events or groups for ministry wives that you were blessed from would you let us know what y’all did and how it worked, like when you met, how long etc.

There are so many who would be willing to lead out in doing things that bring wives together and hearing from you may be just the motivation and inspiration someone else needs!

Thanks and I look forward to hearing your ideas…..

The next step

For those of you who have been checking the blog…thanks! and now we are back in action after a very full June in which I was often out of internet range. We are so blessed and excited about the numbers of you who have been using the study and have let us know:)

We would love to hear from you with any thoughts, questions and suggestions you might have for further ministers’ wives projects. So if you have something to ask or offer, please use this blog and we will build up our numbers so that wives know this is a place for them to find helpful info for real life situations. We may be posting some random questions that pertain to wives in ministry so please jump in and share your thoughts when we do. Here is the first one:

With summer so busy for wives in certain areas of ministry, taking the kids along on church trip or leaving them home can be a challenging decision. How do you decide whether to bring the kids along or who do you leave them with if you don’t?

Chime in with your thoughts. We have gotten this question alot and although we both have ideas on it, we would love to hear from you.

Blessings,
Rachel

Ministers’ Wives Event

Wow! Last weekend was just great. Jennifer and I had the privilege of leading at Between Us for ministers’ wives before the Living Proof Live for Wives and it was all fantastic. At the preconference we met wives from all over the country and got to talk about very specific, real life issues that we all face. It was awesome to be able to encourage women that they are not alone.

We also had a great time doing a panel discussion withe the other leaders and hopefully everyone enjoyed some laughs and lighthearted fun.

Then on Friday we started the LPL with Beth Moore. Suffice it to say that girlfriend was wound up! It was absolutely awesome and right on target. Travis and the praise team did a fabulous job with leading worship and then Beth brought some powerful teaching to us. I know that I was refreshed, encouraged and challenged—what more could you ask for.

Here is a link to read a couple of articles that mention the wives’ events

http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/mainpage/0,1701,M%253D200768,00.html

You can also check out some pics on Travis’ blog just google travis cottrell

blessings,
rachel
PS–if you were there also then comment and tell us what you loved best or how God spoke to you….

Beth Moore is Coming to Nashville

Yea!! You all know what a powerful teacher and speaker Beth is. I had the privilege of being at the first ministers’ wives event she did a couple of years ago and I remember what an awesome time it was. Several of our staff wives went together and were so encouraged and challenged and loved on by Beth and the Lifeway team and by Travis and the praise team. SOOOO I am super excited about her offering another opportunity for ministers’ wives to get together and be blessed. The Living Proof Live for MIn WIves is in March and the link is here so check it out for more details and lets all spread the word to the other wives we know:)

you may have to copy and paste that but it should work just fine…hope to see you there! ok you may have noticed that the last sentence is the link..i am so not technical but you can get there:)