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Events offers refreshing time for ministry wives
BSC Communications
February 23, 2016
6 MIN READ TIME

Events offers refreshing time for ministry wives

Events offers refreshing time for ministry wives
BSC Communications
February 23, 2016

Refresh, a day to equip and encourage ministry wives is set for March 5. Registration and check-in begins at 8:30 with the program starting at 9 a.m. The event is hosted by Old Town Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. The cost is $25 and includes lunch and program materials. Beth Harris of First Baptist Church in Charlotte and Tabatha Frost of Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh are the main speakers. Below, hear from Harris and Frost about ministering to ministry wives. Visit ncbaptist.org/ministrywives16.

Beth Harris

Beth Harris has been a minister’s wife for over 27 years alongside her husband, Mark E. Harris, who serves as pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte. She has also served on the boards of Salem Pregnancy Support Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Harris and her husband have three grown children.

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Beth Harris

Q: Why is ministering to ministry wives important?

A: Ministry wives not only experience the same highs and lows of life that all women experience, but they do so in the context of being in a public position with a high expectation of perfection.

They may find their husbands both placed on an unrealistic pedestal or unfairly criticized, and all of these factors can combine to produce stress. It is vital that they have truly spiritual times of refreshment in worship and prayer with each other away from the congregations they serve. I can recall one N.C. Ministers’ Wives retreat specifically in which our prayer time was so sweet and so powerful, it literally improved my physical well-being and lifted my spirit for weeks afterward.

Q: When your husband first became a minister, what were some of your feats, and what did God teach you?

A: Like many ministry wives, I had to work outside the home while my husband was in seminary. During those years I also gave birth to two children. So, a “feat” of mine, as Jacqueline Kennedy once said, was surviving! I was also blessed to make a lifelong friend through a women’s Bible study that I led. I learned to keep the main thing, the main thing in any ministry endeavor.

Q: What is the best piece of advice you would share with a young ministry wife?

A: I will be sharing about this on the retreat – but if I could go back and tell myself one thing, it would be to look for the opportunity in the obligation.

Q: What do you wish people in other ministry positions understood about ministry wives?

A: That we are given our own set of spiritual gifts as is every other believer. We are not equipped to say yes to every request, nor should our gifts be ignored because our husbands are the senior pastor.

Q: What has been your greatest joy as a ministry wife?

A: Seeing people come to faith in Christ and growing in their faith, and seeing my children grow up and be faithful to the Church and serious about their faith.

Q: What do you hope fellow ministry wives take away from what you share at “Refresh”?

A: I hope they come away embracing their status as role models and influencers more than ever. It took me a long time to truly understand that potential in its proper perspective – not as a pleaser of men, but as a disciple of Christ.

Tabatha Frost

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Tabatha Frost

Tabatha Frost is the women’s ministry director at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh. Her husband, Brian, is the senior pastor at Providence. Frost and her husband have three children.

Q: Why is ministering to ministry wives important?

A: Ministering to women in general is important because God has called us to do it in His Word. Hebrews 10:24-25 challenges us to spur one another to love and good deeds, to meet together and to encourage one another. Wives pour themselves out to support their husbands, nurture their children, care for their homes and minister to their neighbors.

As women, it is essential for us to have godly women in our lives who can walk beside us and encourage us when we are discouraged, confront us when we sin, comfort us when we grieve and remind us of truth when we doubt.

God does use His Word and His Spirit to fill our cups, but He often uses other women as tangible evidence of His love for us.

Q: What sets the role of minister’s wife apart from other ministry positions – what makes it unique?

A: The role of minister’s wife is unique in that a pastor’s wife is very visible, yet her role is a behind-the-scenes role. Often, the Church does not give us a job description, but it has many and various expectations of us.

Q: What is the best advice given to you as a ministry wife?

A: Do not feel like you have to be involved in every ministry. Know what the Lord has called you to do, and faithfully follow His lead. Focus more on pleasing God rather than man. (Galatians 1:10)

Q: How do you juggle your own growth in the Lord as you minister to your family and as you serve at Providence?

A: My personal time in God’s Word is a priority. Throughout the different phases of my life, my “quiet time” has changed and evolved, but having one-on-one time in the Bible has been crucial for my personal growth. As I daily seek Him in His Word, He renews my perspective, reminding me of what is important.

When I take time to listen to Him in prayer, He sustains me as I walk through the day with the kids, disciple young ladies or prepare for the next event at church.

Q: What do you hope fellow ministry wives take away from what you share at “Refresh”?

A: Speaking to ministry wives is like preaching to the choir. I am sure I will not say anything they haven’t heard. However, we all need to be reminded of truth, and we all need to keep certain truths at the forefront of our minds. I pray the ministry wives would leave encouraged and reassured by truth they already know – God has a plan for them, and He will equip them for His purpose. I pray that they would leave reminded of the grace He has extended to us – grace that is sufficient for all of our needs.