By Faith With Christine Hoover

If God calls you to work outside the home or church, you may experience guilt or fear because you are filling a role that looks different from the traditional ministry wife “mold.” Pastor’s wife and business owner Macy English explains how she overcomes these misgivings by communicating with her husband and practicing open-handed stewardship before the Lord. SHOW NOTES Scripture teaches that all work is sacred, whether it’s inside the church walls or outside the church. Don’t allow the guilt or fear of being different from the “mold” keep you from being a faithful steward of what He has gifted and called you to do. Practice open-handed stewardship by regularly going before the Lord with your spouse, laying down your life, work and ministry before Him. QUOTES “When we start to look at all of work as sacred, the Lord can redeem and birth something really beautiful out of the Excel spreadsheet I’m building. In conversations around being gospel centered in our homes, there̵

The weight of ministry can be heavy. We are often journeying with others through hardship and disappointment. But amid the hard, the Lord gifts us with sweet spots of lightness and fun. Pastor’s wife and teacher Tanya York joins the podcast today to share how she finds joy and fun even when circumstances are hard. Tanya intentionally pursues the buckets of joy and wins the Lord gives, and gives practical tips on how we can do the same.   SHOW NOTES Take your sin seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. You cannot change the character of people who are giving you hard, but you can change the way you perceive them. Choose to see their uniqueness and have fun with them. Don’t use personality as an excuse to live negatively. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the wins and pursue life with a God who is as good as He says He is. QUOTES “I take sin very seriously, confronting sin in my own life and heart, but I don’t take myself too seriously. I’ve learned to laugh about thi

Mental illness can be very confusing as a Christian. We are followers of Christ, we know Scripture, so how could we feel hopeless? Today, Julie Busler candidly shares her journey through depression and PTSD. Julie has learned that medicine and faith go hand in hand, and that a mental illness diagnosis does not disqualify you for ministry.  SHOW NOTES Being a Christian does not mean you have to be happy all the time. Joy and sorrow can coexist. Telling someone your struggles may feel overwhelming, but until we bring things into the light, healing cannot happen. Medicine and faith go hand in hand. You may truly need medical intervention, but you also need Jesus every minute of every day to bring your soul to life. QUOTES “I actually went to another missionary and told her enough that she knew I needed help. This was so important because I think sometimes in ministry it can be pretty lonely, and it’s hard to find safe friends who you can be real with, because you feel like you have to have it a

Marriages can be strained by attacks from the enemy and the pace of church ministry. How do we balance the demands of ministry with the proper honor God calls us to give our spouses? Pastor and husband James Roberson explains how men can uplift their wives, how wives can approach hard conversations, and how the marriage partnership is a blessing from God.    SHOW NOTES Husbands: Slow down and consider the state of your own soul. Then you can assess and address the overall health of your wife, who is your partner and equal investor in ministry. Spouses: You are not just a tool for one another’s ministries. God chose you for one another for your life, growth, and sanctification. Wives: Approach your husbands with observations, not accusations. Remember that Satan would love to turn you into enemies. Saturate hard conversations with prayer. QUOTES “I think the navigation of my wife’s gifts is a broader holistic navigation of her mind, soul, and body. I need to budget time to assess all of tha

Criticism is inevitable in the life of a ministry wife, but learning to respond to it well takes patience, practice, and peace from the Lord. Author and teacher Ann Swindell joins me today to share how reframing her views of criticism and immersing herself in God’s Word allows her to navigate criticism with grace and love.  SHOW NOTES Your job is not to fulfill what other people want. Your job is to fulfill what God wants. Criticism always offers us an opportunity to grow, whether the remarks are valid or not. The Word provides peace to carry us through the emotions that arise with criticism and righteous conviction. QUOTES “It’s hard to let people down. Behind my back, people could be saying, ‘Ann seems inaccessible or isn’t doing what I think a pastor’s wife should do.’ But my job isn’t to fulfill other people’s aims for my life. My job is to follow and walk with Christ in the season I’m in, trusting He will give me grace to do what I’m called to do.”  -Ann Sw

Loneliness can be a very troubling feeling for us as ministry wives. How can we be surrounded by people and yet still feel totally alone? Rivers Partin joins me today to explain how acknowledging loneliness and its gifts has allowed her to become more connected to herself, others, and most importantly, God.  SHOW NOTES Loneliness is a gift–our soul signaling to us that we need to make some changes. Acknowledge the loneliness and try to identify which of the three types you are experiencing: with self, others, or God. Sometimes God allows seasons of loneliness to drive us to Him. QUOTES “The answer to why loneliness exists would be that we were created for relationship. We were created for intimacy. We were created to be known and to know others. You can’t escape it because it’s what we were designed for. What loneliness does is it drives us. It’s a signal to us that we aren’t in strong, solid relationships where we’re known, where we feel like we belong. There is good

We want our kids to love God and the church as much as we do. But when we force-feed faith, especially to teenagers, they can wind up resenting the church and losing interest in Christ. Author, mom, and pastor’s wife Kristie Anyabwile shares how she’s learned to take a step back, giving her teens space to choose the Lord for themselves while providing spiritual opportunities that fit each child uniquely.  SHOW NOTES Don’t try to force feed your teenagers into faith; cultivate their hearts, provide opportunities, and ask good questions. Do what works for your family to grow spiritually together, and do what works for each individual child to grow. When you feel fear or a need to control, take it to the Lord. It likely has nothing to do with your children, but something in you that needs addressing. QUOTES “We don’t want church and church activity to feel forced, to feel like something they have to do. We want to cultivate in them a desire to do it. Certain things are non-negotiable, lik

Sunday mornings can feel incredibly stressful, especially when you have young kids. Lindsey Carlson, pastor’s wife and mom of five, shares how she manages the chaos by having appropriate expectations of her kids, seeking the Spirit’s guidance, and relying on grab-n-go breakfasts.   SHOW NOTES Recognize Sundays will be chaotic. Preparation and clear expectations help minimize the chaos. Remind your kids that they are not coming to church to be looked at or to impress anyone. They are coming because they are participants in the Body of Christ. When disciplining your kids at church, ask the Spirit to help you focus on what you are trying to teach your child, not on what everyone else is thinking. QUOTES “As a pastor’s wife, you have to reconcile the fact that Sunday is going to be the craziest day of the week. How can I minimize the chaos and show up as a servant to my husband, and my church body, but also to my kids that are along for the ride? While there are things that I can’t control

Welcome to Season 2 of the Ministry Wives Podcast! We kick off this season with a very special guest, my husband Kyle Hoover. Kyle joins me for a special Q&A session. You had questions about our life and ministry together, we sat down and openly answered them. I hope you enjoy getting to know us a little bit better and find encouragement from our journey! BEST QUOTES “It’s not about me impressing people, it’s not about my kids being well behaved and impressing people. I want to be faithful in my being faithful. And hopefully people see that that’s what I want them to see: the Lord in me and not myself. I also don’t wanna get into this impressive mindset because I think that’s not helpful to people who actually are watching. I don’t want them to think that’s what faith in Christ is about, that it has to be this mold or this perfection. I want to just be me. I just want to be present with people and, as a sinful person, I’m not gonna do that perfectly, b

The joys and challenges of ministry in a transient place are different from those in a traditional church context. Transient ministry requires detailed intentionality and remembering that God has entrusted people to you for only a short period of time. Brittany Brown understands transient ministry well, having walked alongside her military husband for nearly twenty years. She joins me today to provide insight into transient ministry and how embracing the movement has aided her in leading others towards Christ. EPISODE GUIDE 1. Embrace the unique challenges and movement of transient church plant ministry. 2. There are many joys in a transient church. BEST QUOTES “I think a challenge for us is raising up women to minister to the other women. At any given time, our church could be filled with 75% women and tons of little kids. Seeing that their needs are filled well can be a challenge. We have to walk alongside the elders to help minister to them.” — Brittany Brown “Our vision is to embra

Sometimes God calls us to serve in a culture that is unlike our own. Navigating multicultural church planting can feel overwhelming and isolating. The expectations of serving those whose lives look different from our own can leave us feeling as though we don’t measure up. Andreina Fasolino joins me today to share how she has learned to manage expectations and grow closer to Christ while planting a multicultural church. EPISODE GUIDE 1. When planting a multicultural church, understand there may be very different expectations of you in a different culture and you may not be able to meet all of them. 2. You are not alone in the planting journey. God wants to teach you and grow you as you teach others. BEST QUOTES “They expect the pastor’s wife to be there in everything, doing everything. But at the moment, I had to also teach them in love and God helped me do that. First of all, we were church planting, we were just starting. I also had a child and my second one was on the way. I had to let them know

Living in long-term ministry requires a stamina that only comes from the Lord. Donna Gaines knows the secret to longevity in ministry lies in our intimacy with Christ, having spent the last 41 years as a pastor’s wife and ministry leader. She shares today how that intimacy has kept her going, even in the darkest times. EPISODE GUIDE 1. Longevity is achieved through intimacy with Christ, a support system of friends and mentors, and prioritizing your relationship with your husband. 2. The Lord has prepared work for you, not only alongside your husband, but of your own ministry as well. 3. When you feel discouraged, make it a priority to meet with God everyday. BEST QUOTES “When I receive my basic needs for love and significance in my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I’m able to love my husband, my family, and my neighbor out of the overflow. When I love Him with my whole being, He fills me with His love for others. I’m able to love them out of that overflow instead of sucking life out of the

We often think the call to engage in ministry requires established groups, curriculum, and a clear plan. But what about the single mom next door we feel God tugging our hearts for? In my conversation with Elisa Medina today, she shares how God transformed her idea of what women’s ministry should be. Rather than focusing on quantity, Elisa has learned to focus on the one. EPISODE GUIDE 1. Women’s ministry isn’t for someday; it is right now. 2. Your family is meant to be a part of your ministry and a core area that you seek God’s transformation. 3. It’s not about numbers. Even if one woman is changed by Christ, you’re accomplishing God’s work. BEST QUOTES “I want to encourage every woman out there that is trying to build a ministry: I am sure there is one woman at her church already. Maybe not even at her church, because it doesn’t have to be at your church. Maybe it’s your neighbor. Maybe it’s the woman at the market that you see often. Maybe it’s a woman you see

How can women who have the gift of leadership operate in the church in a godly, biblical way? Today, author and ministry director Jen Wilkin shares her origin story–how she got where she is today–what her greatest challenges are in leadership, and what she wants the church to know about men and women serving together within the local church context. SHOW NOTES 1. If you want to use your gifting to lead in the church and the answer is currently “no”, continue to pray for open doors. 2. When your church is starting to place women in leadership, expect growing pains, but remember God intended for men and women to minister together. 3. Being who God created you to be is not a license to sin. BEST QUOTES “If there are not currently doors open, pray that the Lord will make a way and continue to put yourself out there as you’re able to. I know how hard that is, to be met again and again with “no.” But there is good, meaningful, and satisfying work to be done in other spaces if that door is cl

The demands of life as a ministry wife can leave our hearts open to dangerous traps that bruise our spirits and discourage us in ministry. Today, Paige Wieser shares her experiences as a church planting wife and offers ways she’s learned to avoid these traps. EPISODE GUIDE Trap #1: Ministry is a taking endeavor; it’s taking everything from me. Trap #2: This is my husband’s “thing.” Trap #3: Hard seasons never end. This painful time will always be this way. BEST QUOTES “Satan wants to plant a root of bitterness that says, ‘Oh this is taking so much from me emotionally, timewise, and spiritually.’ But we should not be surprised or caught off guard, because church planting is actually a giving endeavor. When you start seeing it as a taking endeavor, there’s a lot of pitfalls and traps that come from that.” — Paige Wieser “Can’t we sometimes be dramatic, us girls? ‘This will always be like this, I’m never going to see the end of it.’ There will be hard.

The pressures of performing well as a ministry or pastor’s wife often fill us with anxiety. It’s easy to become lost in expectations and turn our eyes on ourselves. Author Scarlet Hiltibidal joins me today to discuss anxiety as a pastor’s wife. Scarlet, a self-proclaimed anxiety expert, shares how she fights fear with a heavenly gaze and an open Bible. EPISODE GUIDE 1. Anxiety whispers different fears to every woman’s heart. 2. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a good ministry wife and mother, but it’s not about you, keep looking upward to Jesus. 3. We’re all a mess; take it to the Lord together, open His Word and do what it says. BEST QUOTES “I was so anxious about my own goodness and what other people thought of me and what God thought of me. I could have said to you, ‘God sees the perfection of Jesus when He looks at me,’ but I didn’t live like I believed that, so I wasn’t at peace.” — Scarlet Hiltibidal “When I do something good, it’

“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NIV). But how do we love like Jesus did, and how do we love those who are hard to love? Pascha Lee, director of Imagine Me Ministries, has dedicated her life to loving people well and creating an environment of safety for those in her community. She joins me today to help us think through how we can demonstrate the love of Jesus to everyone, including those we might find difficult to love. EPISODE GUIDE 1. Create a climate of comradery and safety. 2. When you think about who He has entrusted you with to love, it has to change your perspective. 3. Some people are harder to love than others. BEST QUOTES “It’s in safety that we can thrive, when we can peel off the layers, when we can be encouraged and then encourage others … that’s where forgiveness takes place. If you don’t have that safety, then there’s a guard and you can’t really have camaraderie and unity and get along well because you’re trying to make sure that not

“The point of life is not to get married. The point of life is to walk well with Jesus.” My guest today, Erin Berkey, shares these words as a core principle in the single adult ministry she and her husband lead. Far too often within the church, singles are overlooked and left behind. Erin joins me to offer practical, loving ways that we as ministry wives can build singles up in Christ while inviting them into our lives and into leadership. EPISODE GUIDE 1. Recognize that singles have different needs than families or married couples. 2. Create space for singles in the church by encouraging them to take part in ministry and valuing them as much as married couples. 3. Bridge the gap between married and single women by inviting them into your life and sharing your journey with Christ. Set the example and urge others to do the same. BEST QUOTES “Young adults need to understand their identity in Christ because it’s hard not to find identity in the wrong things, like their marital status. ‘Once I g

Serving in traditional ministry can sometimes make us forget the effectiveness of genuine friendship and neighborhood outreach. Missional communities, like the one today’s guest Linda Yang lives in, provide an opportunity to live out daily life on mission within your local neighborhood. Linda is an employment specialist with World Relief Chicagoland, working with newly settled Afghan refugees. She joins me to share how she and her family have seen God open hearts through simple acts of kindness and banana bread. EPISODE GUIDE 1. What are the essentials of the missional community model of church? 2. Living in a missional community means thinking outside the traditional box. 3. Sometimes God’s mightiest work happens when we are simply being a friend. BEST QUOTES “A missional community is a group that is faithfully present among specific people with the intention of making new disciples of Jesus. It is a spiritual family on mission together, investing in relationships wherever God calls us.” —

We want to be everything for everyone all the time. We see the needs of others and want to intervene, even when we aren’t meant to. How do we determine which needs are ours to meet, and which are not? Aimee Joseph joins me today to share how she has found freedom in deciphering when a need is a call for action. Aimee spent many years directing women’s discipleship and ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Campus Outreach San Diego. She and her husband are currently planting Center City Church in their neighborhood in San Diego. She is the author of Demystifying Decision-Making. Aimee helps us understand that we sometimes need to say “no” to a need to glorify God and activate the Body. EPISODE GUIDE 1. How do we discern when the need is a call? First, recognize that God created us to be limited, exhaustible, and dependent on each other and Him. Determine each week what is in your circle of responsibility and what is in your circle of concern. If you see a need you are unable to meet, connect the need to