Getting to know Christine Caine the last couple of months has been amazing. For those who aren’t familiar with Chris, you can read (and should read) more about her here. The girl preaches at Hillsong – heck, preaches all over the world for crying out loud – while fighting sex trafficking and injustice and equipping other leaders. And riding a pink vespa. Of course.
Could I find a more lovely lady to look up to?
Next month, while Chris is down at Healing Place Church, I am going to join her and she and I are going to record a couple of DVDs about women and life and ministry. One about anything and everything, and one specifically on the life of a travelin’ preacher chick. Because I know there are more of us out there than we realize, and I know there are questions we are all dying to know.
We would love for YOU to be a part of these DVDs and would like to hear any questions you might have on:
1. Having and doing it all…
2. Traveling preacher chick ministry stuff…
3. Effective communication…
So, this isn’t just open to the ladies. Guys, if you have questions you’d like answered, rock them out below.
Comments
14 responses to “Adventures of a Travelin’ Preacher Chick DVD”
Sounds exciting! As you know, we believe a lie when we think we can have and do it all because we really can’t. All things we do require us to make choices of priority. Here are a few I’ve faced.
When my kids were small I worked tons of hours at church but did so much of that ministry in my home. We half raised many kids in our youth group, etc. I hosted a million (it seems) parties, sleepovers, bible studies and our home became a huge part of the ministry we did in the Kingdom. At this point in my life I made a choice to include my children in most of that.
As my children got a little older I entered vocational ministry and my involvement shot up but I now realized I couldn’t – for instance – possibly care for my home and be working in vocational ministry 80 hours a week and be with my family too. So I outsourced the housecleaning. Darn it all. :) Tough choice to make. I realized it didn’t matter who cleaned my toilets, just that they were indeed clean. But no one else could be with my family. I also chose to work from home some days as this enabled me to be present with my family or to work from a remote location and be with my husband as he traveled. Presence became more important than cleaning house, etc.
During a stressful time of ministry I realized I had not been caring for myself. I chose to take a sabbatical, to practice sabbath and to cut back my work hours and really spend more time in spiritual community and with my family for the sake of my health and our relationships.
Now, I’m looking at more and more opportunities to travel and minister in completely different ways than before. I’m going to different countries and hopefully these doors will just open wider and wider. And once again I’ll have to make choices. Can I keep my hands on every detail of ministry here and travel too? Will I be able to be with my husband as I desire and what choices will we make to enable our relationship to remain a priority? What about money? No one pays me to go equip worship leaders in developing countries – I have to raise support. So how we spend even becomes a vocational issue.
Choices, Choices, Choices. They never stop!
Jan Owen?s last blog post..You Don’t Have the Cojones for That!
How fun! Christine Caine spoke at a youth conference I attended, oh…maybe almost 10 years ago now! (wow, that makes me feel old…) She left a major impression on me and I still read her books and get her updates this many years later!
Chere?s last blog post..Survey Says!
How can women in ministry network more effectively for emotional and spiritual support? Not just meeting at teas and then chatting and smiling and acting like everything is fine, but really supporting each other…….I’m ready for this! :)
Michelle?s last blog post..Book Review – Teach With Your Heart
Very interesting! I don’t know if this fits into the vision of what you are working on… but here’s my question: How do I maintain/establish my own ministry vision when I’m married to a preacher dude (to follow the vernacular here in these blog parts!)? I’m totally committed to his ministry and supporting him but also desire my own thing too. Thanks!
i’m a “part-time” church staff girl, which really means i am paid part-time for full-time hours. it is rewarding work and i love it, but being married to someone not in a church position makes it difficult. how do you be a wife with ministry hours? how do you grasp and help your husband grasp that ministry is not a 9-5 work day? having my husband support what i do is important to me, but to him that often feels like he is in a second job on the weekends and therefore never gets a break.
i’m new at all of this, the ministry thing and the wife thing. thank you for wanting to help women in leadership.
Rebekah?s last blog post..ah!!!!!!!!
Oh so many questions!! Here’s the big one that encompasses all the little ones: -Where is the line between serving your family, and serving God through serving the church?
Now for the machine gunfire of all of the little questions:
-Is our greater calling as women to take care of our husbands and children, or to be in the ministry? Is it possible to do a stellar job at both?
-What are we supposed to do when it gets to the point that our husbands and children hate the sight of the church building and the other leaders inside, but we know that this is what God wants us to do right now?
-Who takes precedence: family or ministry? (The answer to the last one seems quite obvious, but I think in reality, it is never treated that way by other leaders and volunteers that we work with inside the church.)
i just want to subscribe for the comments. nothing more to say right now. i’m determined to just listen! loving this discussion!
Jan Owen?s last blog post..You Don’t Have the Cojones for That!
I’d love to hear some insight about ministering in various environments where the views on women in ministry are so radically different. Also, what scriptures form the basis for your own personal conviction regarding women and their role in the church?
I second Michelle and Meghan’s comments and questions. I am married to a youth ministry guy, and used to be involved with that too. Now with my own kids, it’s harder to do that effectively. They need to go to bed when most youth stuff is happening. So, how do you deal with the expectations that come w/ being married to a church or ministry worker? I find some expectations to be totally warranted, but I have to put my family first. Right?
I do feel a call to ministry in some way though, but it seems near impossible for us to be traveling two separate ministry paths w/ young children of our own at home.
ps – I live in Baton Rouge & I’d love to see/hear y’all when you’re in town. Details?
Ashley?s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
What do you feed your spirit with besides the Bible and classic Christian lit? Is there a network of females in ministry trying to make a difference in the world? How do you keep personal ministry #1 – to family, neighbors, those in need and public ministry #2?
Thanks for asking tough questions everyone!
Amber?s last blog post..Funny Photo…
Hey Anne,
OK, so i am a womens pastor with 4 years full time ministry under my belt, but i STILL struggle with finding the right balance between ministry and maintaining a personal life. I struggle with setting boundaries. I’ve already burnt out twice in four years. Yeh, not proud of it, but I’m still learning how to balance my passion to bring restoration to broken women’s lives through ministry and having one (a life!) of my own!
I am a single 31 year old woman who travels extensively with my families church and global ministry (I am also a PK!) and so have no real ‘home’ base, but instead a global family comprised of other young pastors and missionaries in various nations. This is an awesome privilege and i wouldn’t trade it for the world. But my lifestyle DOES present me with some challenges. At the moment, these are the things I’m struggling to solve;
1. Where do i call home? (I was born in the UK, raised all over the mission fields of africa, us, canada, etc.. and just spent the last 2 years planted in the US. We all know that Jesus said he didn’t have one place to call home, so do i need one? Should this lack of one identifiable place bother me or no?)
2. I am a womens pastor and work with women of all ages, but i find it hard to maintain strong female friendships. Right now, I have one friend. That’s it. Every time I make friendships I think will last, they end up distancing themselves because I am AIR MILES away. How can i do friendship in such a way that I am seen as a great girl-friend that can be trusted and included in the group and part of the conversation, instead of the last resort?
3. In light of the above question, how do i stay connected to other young women my age? I feel like I’m 31 going on 61!
4. How will I ever meet my marriage partner if I never get a chance to form long-term friendships or connections with people my own age, never mind of the opposite sex!? I spend ALL DAY with women and have no male friends whatsoever. And what happens when i get married? Have children?
5. How do i reconcile my passion for what I do (which can weigh heavy and sometimes be depressing because of the seriousness of the cases I see) with my need to fully experience joy in life? Cause I recently realized i don’t laugh as much as I did as a child. I am always sensible – how do i learn to understand its ok to be unreasonably happy and joyful and sometimes for no reason whatsoever? Especially in ministry!
I hope all of the above made sense. If not, email me and i’ll try to explain better!
Any ideas? Answers? Resources? All would be great! I am subscribed to your blog and Chris’ podcasts ‘Coffee With Chris’ have proved a lifesaver already – so I’m really excited about this joint project you are working on. Please hurry! I need you.
Passionate But Hurting
5. How will marriage and family (both ) fit into the lifestyle described above?
6. Where are all the resources to help us women in ministry
How do i live for God
Passionate But Hurting?s last blog post..Mother(Lov)ing Day
God has just recently (within the last two years) opened doors for me to become a travelling preacher chick & I love it! It’s my dream and what an honor to meet such amazing people along the journey. I’m 30 years old & pregnant with my first baby…I’m excited that God is leading me into this new season but I also know that I’m also meant to continue stepping through some of these doors that He is opening…would love some feedback on balancing motherhood with ministry. I have ideas of what it will look like (and I say things like I’ll just strap the kid on my back) but I’m sure that I’m in for a shock…I”m still traveling to India at 5 months pregnant almost as my way of saying “let’s do this God…” Yet, I want to be wise & would wecome andy wisdom.
hey paige, love what you had to say. will you email me? I am also involved in ministry in India and would love to connect with you!
p.s. Any other women reading this blog can feel free to contact me too – we need each other!
Love this blog, love these comments and discussion! It is truly difficult to stay on the balance beam . . . and it is simply easy to burn out.