Reason #38,765 I'm Thankful For My Church

A pastor linked on the left has been doing a series on all sorts of things like "ministry burnout" and "stress" and recently finished an entry on what the role of the pastor's wives should be in a church. I have no background as to why he's on those kicks and I can't imagine why he'd spend as long as he had on such topics...but my guess is that we all run through those times in ministry where it helps to re-think those things.

That's interesting to me because, in my previous church, there were some expectations of my wife in ministry. Well, on the Sunday ministry anyway. She'd be expected to attend both morning and evening services (and I didn't think they took that seriously until staff meeting and I was asked very specifically why she wasn't at night services one week), and she was asked to serve in the nursery periodically...but it was a small church and we had a child in it so that wasn't too much to ask. She's always enjoyed helping out when she could with teenagers--and that might be chaperoning a beach trip or helping out with a girls' Bible study or just hanging out with them when they came by the house.

So, it wasn't too terribly taxing on her, but there were some expectations there. But, manalive, we'd heard some horror stories from wives we ran into at youth ministry conferences or denominational get-togethers here and there. Sure, Tracy had some degree of expectation but they were, by comparison, terribly minor.

Against that backdrop, when we interviewed with Crossroads, they were nice enough to let us ask a few questions to the leadership. As we got to the end of that time I asked, "What expectations would you have for Tracy's role in the church's ministry?"

At first, the reply was eyes getting wider and a few seconds of silence, followed by a reply that went something like this: "Well, the way this works is that we're deciding whether or not to hire you. We like Tracy and we hope she'll choose to attend Crossroads. Maybe she'll even choose to use her gifts and talents to help CBC, but if she doesn't, well, this is really about figuring out if CBC fits you and you fit CBC."

You know what?

They stayed true to those words.

And my wife did choose to attend CBC. And she does get to use her gifts and talents to serve (and, if I may puff my chest out a bit here, if you've seen the photos that adorn the children's ministry area, you've seen her gifts at work) in several ways over the last few years. And it is cool that when people meet her at church, they'll occasionally ask if we're related, which I think is funny.

I don't think it's just my wife, either. Joye, Jeanette, Penny, Kim, Dee, Mish & Janice all get the chance to be who they're supposed to be before Him without a great deal of external pressure from CBC to dive in and serve. Granted, I may be biased, but all those ladies are quite a blessing to our church...not only by what they do behind the scenes for their husbands, but also by how they use their gifts and talents to joyfully and lovingly serve. Don't get me started on what fun and enjoyable people they are, either.

And, for that reality, today, I'm thankful.

*token gesture:* Any and all staff wives who stop by The Diner today will get free coffee and conversation...

P.S. (yes, I know the husbands of the wives on our staff are equally as integral & gifted, but this isn't about them today, okay, man?)