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Angie Smith shares journey with ministers’ wives
Shannon Baker, Baptist Press
June 23, 2015
5 MIN READ TIME

Angie Smith shares journey with ministers’ wives

Angie Smith shares journey with ministers’ wives
Shannon Baker, Baptist Press
June 23, 2015

Angie Smith told more than 1,000 ministers’ wives how much she had dreaded to speak at this year’s Ministers’ Wives Luncheon, held during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, June 16.

To explain, she pointed to her first experience with Christians as a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University. Not yet a Christian, she had been invited to a Bible study – “whatever that was!” – by fellow students who instructed her to go to the LifeWay bookstore to buy her Bible study book.

In the store’s parking lot, the Beastie Boys blaring from her radio, Smith froze in fear. As she looked into the store, she felt she didn’t belong, a sentiment she carried throughout her early experiences as a new believer. She left the parking lot empty-handed, but still attended the study, where she later became a Christian.

“I felt really awkward when I became a Christian as an adult,” Smith confessed, sharing she would look up all the Bible passages in advance of each Bible study so that she wouldn’t look foolish in front of others. She also bought children’s Bibles at the LifeWay store so that she could better understand the Bible’s storylines.

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Photo by Adam Covington

Angie Smith, author of several books and wife of Todd Smith, lead singer of Christian music group Selah, was the featured speaker at the Ministers’ Wives luncheon June 16 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. The sold-out event was themed “Radiant Ministers’ Wives” based on Exodus 34:29.

Those “baby steps” eventually led to her becoming a LifeWay author of several books, including the recently released Seamless, a seven-session Bible study that helps explain the Bible as one complete story.

She is also the author of a blog entitled, “Bring the Rain” (now at angiesmithministries.com) and the books, I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy, and Mended, works born out of the loss of her and her husband Todd’s newborn daughter Aubrey in 2008. Todd is lead singer of the Dove Award-winning group Selah.

“Isn’t it ironic that I have been publishing with LifeWay for seven years now? Next time I do this, I am going to stand outside a bank!” Smith joked.

“But here’s the point. In that [parking lot] moment, God saw me sitting there, in this mess, and because of women like you who are sitting in this room, who just reached out and made me feel welcome, I am where I am today … as one who’s eternity is secure.”

Acknowledging many ministers’ wives feel inadequate for their tasks, she told them, “You’ve been called to be exactly where you are. You’ve been equipped to be the wife to the man that you are married to, to be the mother of your children, to be in the specific role in ministry … none of these things are accidental.”

Her voice cracking with emotion, Smith said, “Yet I know sometimes you might feel, ‘God, did you pick the wrong girl?’”

Encouraging the ministers’ wives from Psalm 34:4 to stay focused on the Lord, Smith reminded them what was their responsibility – to “seek, look, cry, and fear Him” – and what was God’s – He “answered, delivered, heard, saved.”

“I want to focus the rest of my days … with a radiance,” she said.

This year’s luncheon president, Mary Cox of Lawrenceville, Ga., said this year’s luncheon theme, “Radiant,” was based on Moses in Exodus 34:29, whose face was radiant because he had been with the Lord. “There are times we struggle with the stress of ministry and we do not feel like being radiant,” Cox said, “but when we look to the Lord and spend time with Him, we will become radiant.”

Guest musician TaRanda Greene, who began her career with Southern Gospel group The Greenes also shared her struggles. In 2010, she found herself a widow and a single mother of two girls, a story she now shares through music and testimony. She led a powerful rendition of the hymn, “It is Well,” which culminated into a standing ovation.

Officers for the 2016 luncheon in St. Louis, Mo., with the theme “Be Encouraged,” are Vicki Munton, of O’Fallon, Ill., president; and Sheila Peters of Columbia, Ill., Wyvetta Granger of East St. Louis, Ill., and Donna Quails of Arnold, Mo., as vice presidents.

Next year’s featured speaker at the June 14 luncheon will be popular comedian Anita Renfroe, who is known for her “unique brand of estrogen flavored musical comedy.” She has been featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “Dr. Phil,” CBS’s “The Early Show,” Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” and many other media outlets.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Shannon Baker is director of communications for the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network in Columbia, Md.)