Listen to podcast interview on the importance of developing an Apprentice!
What’s Happening with Women’s Ministry?
What’s Happening with Women’s Ministry? is a great artilce. I’m currently writing an article on the changing face of Women’s Ministry and how to reach more women in today’s ever changing culture. Please leave me comments about what’s happening in your church.
Live Interview on Prodigals
Tuesday, May 10 at 10:00 AM (EST) I’ll be interviewing and giving hope and encouragement to parents struggling with wayward daughters. Tune in live and ask your questions and also have an opportunity to win a free autographed copy of my book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter.
The interview will also be available on their website later in the day.
Ten Ways To Survive the Holidays When You’re Infertile
Adapted for Mother’s Day from Laura Christenson, a Mommy-in-Waiting with her story in Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby? and author of The Adoption Decision.
If the mere thought of babies being handled by fawning relatives or the celebration of mothers is enough to make you burst into tears and run for cover, try the following alternatives. You’ll not only survive Mother’s Day; you may even celebrate it joyfully and triumphantly.
1. Take charge. Organize a party for the childless couples and singles in your church. Have a potluck at one of your homes.
2. Just say “No.” Graciously decline invitations to child-oriented events. Send a note or gift to the hosts, letting them know how much you appreciate them.
3. Pray. If you plan to share the day with extended family or friends, pray for patience, wisdom and strength. Contact a trusted family member before your arrival and schedule a leisurely walk together during the party.
4. Send cards from Kitty. Send cards to your mom’s from you both and your cat, dog, cockatoo or hamster.
5. Run away from home. Take a mini vacation with your spouse to a romantic bed and breakfast inn. Make your marriage – not your baby quest – top priority during this time. Remind each other that it doesn’t take a child to make a family; you and your spouse are a family already.
6. Learn a sport together. Go for a long bike-ride, take a walk together, go to a movie, or indulge in a sport you like to do together like tennis or golf or work in the garden.
7. Get crafty. Create handmade greeting cards, design jewelry or make flower arrangements. Give them to all the moms and grandmothers in nursing homes.
8. Serve selflessly. Focus on serving your own moms, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, mother-in-laws, and sister-in-laws.
9. Wax poetic. Compose a romantic song or poem for your spouse.
10. Write a love letter to God. Thank Him for giving you life, and for loving you more than you can comprehend. Ask Him to guide you through this difficult time. God is always there to listen, and He understands.
Adapted from page 269 in Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby? A Companion Guide for Couples on the Infertility Journey.
A Perfect Gift for Mommies-in-Waiting on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is torture for a mommy-in-waiting. Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby? A Companion Guide for Couples on the Infertility Journey is a gift of hope and encouragement for these women. To read my daughter Kim’s journal on Mother’s Day the year before she became a mommy, and also for tips to surviving any holiday while waiting on God’s plan for parenthood, go to pages 140 and 269. Or “Look Inside” on Amazon.
[Tweet “Mommies-in-Waiting feel left out and overlooked on a day that honors those of us who are mothers”]
Mommies-in-Waiting feel left out and overlooked on a day that honors those of us who are mothers. Don’t ignore or minimize the pain an infertile woman is feeling. Let her know you care with a gift that is a “walk-along-beside-you,” and “I-understand-because I’ve-been-in your-shoes” book.
[Tweet “Don’t ignore or minimize the pain an infertile woman is feeling.”]
A Perfect Gift for Mommies-in-Waiting on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is torture for a mommy-in-waiting. “Dear God, Why Can’t I Have a Baby?” is a gift of hope and encouragement if you know (or are) one of these women. To read a snippet of my daughter Kim’s journal the year before she became a mommy, and also tips to surviving any holiday while waiting on God’s plan for parenthood, check out pgs 140 and 269 on the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon. I’ve attached a link.
The Team That Jesus Built Press Release
Former Saddleback Leader Offers Practical Steps to Building a Successful Women’s Ministry
(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.)—April 19, 2011—Former Saddleback Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry leader Janet Thompson, in her new release The Team That Jesus Built: How to Develop, Equip, and Commission a Women’s Ministry Team (ISBN 978-1-59669-300-5, $16.99), offers practical tips to women’s ministry leaders. Drawing on years of experience and lay-ministerial success, Thompson passionately encourages women’s ministry teams to continuously and systematically groom others.
“Most churches have a list of ministries that started with a bang and then fizzled—not for lack of people needing the benefits of the ministry, but often because the leader left without having an equipped team in place,” writes Thompson.
When God called her to start the mentoring ministry at Saddleback Church, she looked for resources to assist her, but found none. Instead, through years of experience she has now written her own. Using sound biblical principles, also incorporated by large international Bible studies, Thompson uses the training relationship of Jesus with the disciples as the basic outline for the book.
Chris Adams, senior lead women’s ministry specialist, LifeWay Christian Resources, recognizes the tools this book contains for effective team-building and offers positive words about the authors’ credibility.
“Janet Thompson has a heart for the Lord and a heart for raising up women who have a heart for Him,” endorses Adams. “She has given us many tools to mentor women and to grow together as women. As a leader herself, she has developed effective and multiplying teams.”
What distinguishes this book from so many others is that she takes the principles of Jesus and puts them in practical terms for women’s ministry. The book addresses getting started and organized, recruitment, informal interviews, key communication elements, conflict resolution, and a host of other topics that arise in ministry regardless of church size or denomination.
“In The Team That Jesus Built, Janet Thompson offers practical, step-by-step advice for building, remodeling, or rejuvenating a ministry team,” endorses Kathy Howard, minister of adult education at Fannin Terrace Baptist Church and author of Before His Throne, God’s Truth Revealed, and Unshakeable Faith.
About the Author
Janet Thompson, founder and director of About His Work Ministries, is an author and speaker on topics relevant to today’s Christian woman. She developed the Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry at Saddleback Church, where she and her husband, Dave, were members. Janet served as a lay minister for 12 years, leading Saddleback’s Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry. Passionate about mentoring others, she is also the author of the “Face-to-Face” Bible study series. A new resident to Idaho, she continues to share the blessings of mentoring by training churches around the world.
About New Hope Publishers
Representing more than 50 authors and more than 100 individual works, the mission of New Hope Publishers is to provide books that challenge readers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God. New Hope Publishers is the general trade publishing imprint for WMU, a missions auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. New Hope Publishers is a member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).
For more information about New Hope Publishers, visit www.newhopepublishers.com.
Marriage, Obligations, and Service
Marriage, Obligations, and Service. Wondering how to balance it all. Priscilla and Aquila have the answers!
