Ministry – Page 4

Church is for the Whole Family, or Why We Took our 1-year old on a Mission Trip

July 16, 2014 by Ann 5 Comments

A few weeks ago, we were getting back from Tijuana, Mexico and our church’s family mission trip. Those words don’t always go together–“family” and “mission trip.” But our church is committed to ministry that is done with the entire family, which I love and which also makes me feel like we are slightly crazy. Crazy because we had children from six months of age to fourteen on this trip–and between the three Antioch churches that connected together to serve our sister church in Tijuana, there were nearly 100 of us in Tijuana. With lots and lots of small kids running around in a foreign city, in a place where most of us don’t speak the language, there was bound to be some chaos. Some kids got sick, some kids got really tired, some kids got really cranky (let’s be honest: a lot of us adults got really cranky).

And that, I found, is ok. Church is for the whole family, not just those who are old enough to sit quietly or travel well or eat whatever is put in front of them. Being on mission–serving others and sharing the Gospel and intentionally seeking to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a place where you don’t know your way around town–this is not just for people who are old enough to tie their own shoes and talk about faith competently and theologically.

Nope.

Church is for the whole family. Which means that being on mission is for the whole family. Which means that it is worth it to take my one-year old on a trip she will not remember to a nation where we know no one and share the Gospel with people in a language we barely speak. Because we are a family. And I refuse to keep my child out of church and out of doing what the church does until she is “old enough.”

Was it challenging and difficult at times? Yes. Was it fun and exciting and rewarding at times, too? Yes.

I want church and ministry and mission to be so woven into the fabric of our life as a family that it is Ella’s baseline for normal. And so she does church with us now. We show up every Sunday for service, even when it interrupts her nap. She comes to small group and plays with the college kids on Tuesday nights. She dances while Mom and Dad play worship music in the house. She listens while Daddy practices his sermons. And she comes with us when we go on mission trips.

And she is learning a lot of things, even now, that she doesn’t have words for. And it is worth it. Because He is worth it.

(And, praise God for the Ergo. And for squeezie pouches that make it through customs. Amen.)

Filed Under: Baby, God, Ministry, Writing Wednesdays Tagged With: church, family, family mission trip, Mexico, ministry, mission trip, Tijuana, traveling as a family

Why Your Pastor Needs a High Five and a Cup of Coffee

April 28, 2014 by Ann Leave a Comment

I love church. I really do. I love the Church with a capital “C”—the church universal that Jesus died for, filled with every tribe and nation and people and tongue. And I love our particular church that meets in a gym every Sunday and has so many new babies in the congregation that our nursery is overrun. I’ve written about it before, but I care about the church, and I believe that every person who follows Jesus is called to love and serve a local church body.

With my favorite pastor and our baby girl

One of the many things I have realized, since becoming a pastor’s wife, is that most pastors live in the simultaneous reality of 1.) loving what they do and 2.) being tired. Sometimes, they are just kind of tired. But other times, they are very, very tired. Getting to pastor the people of God is an incredible gift, but it is also a job that doesn’t have very clear start and end times. Ministering is messy; people don’t have important questions and life crises only between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm. Work and ministry and life bleed into one another. And yes, sometimes pastors need better boundaries. But sometimes life and ministry are one and the same thing—and that’s ok. But it can also be tiring.

I don’t know who your pastor is (unless you go to my church, and then I do! ::hi!::), and I don’t know what kind of season your pastor is in. But I can guarantee that every pastor appreciates encouragement. Your pastor probably loves pastoring, but is probably kind of tired on some level, too—as most of us are. Here are some simple ways to encourage the pastors in your life:

1. Say thank you. Say thank you on Sunday. Send a quick note of thanks to their office. Write an email thanking him or her for a something specific. This will go so, so much farther than you think.

2. Drop coffee–or food–off at the office. Find out when the weekly staff meeting is and drop by with donuts or coffee. You just made the staff’s entire week. They will know they are loved and thought of other than just on Sundays.

3. Invite the pastor’s family over for dinner. They may not be able to come, but either way they will feel loved. And, if they can come, great! Get to know each other a bit better.

4. Speak well of them behind their backs. There’s a lot of pastor-bashing out there, and every pastor knows it. Having someone who will say something nice about you to others–that’s a true gift.

5. Give your pastor a break. Was the sermon *not the best* this week? Did he seem a little grumpy after service? Extend grace. You never know what was going on behind the scenes. We all have rough days–or weeks–at work. It’s just that, as a pastor, lots of people expect you to be really good at what you do all the time. It’s not possible. Acknowledging that your pastor is a broken human gives him the space he needs to extend grace to himself, too.

Filed Under: About, Ministry Tagged With: Christian, Christianity, church, encouragement, faith, Jesus, life in church, ministry, pastor, pastor's wife, pastoring, simple ways to encourage your pastor

Seeing Burdens as Blessings

March 26, 2014 by Ann 1 Comment

In a season in which I am busy—and tired—it is easy to look at my life and see burdens. It is easy to feel annoyed by things that cost me in time and energy. This Lent, I am trying to see things from a different perspective.

That pile of laundry that is sitting wrinkled and wet in the washer? It’s not a burden. I have clothes. I have a washing machine. That is a pile of blessings.

The messes my young daughter makes as she eats? Those aren’t burdens. I have a daughter. She is learning how to eat and swallow and feed herself. Those abilities are blessings.

The water pump that broke in my car last week and cost a wad of cash to fix? It’s not a burden. I have a car to drive. We had the money in savings to pay for a new pump. That car is a blessing.

The hours of work I will spend grading papers in any given week, rounding my shoulders over stacks of essays? That’s not a burden. I have a job. I get to think about words and give feedback to students who love to write. That work is a blessing.

The nights that my husband is at work and doesn’t make it home until Ella and I are both asleep? Those nights aren’t a burden. I have a husband. He spends his nights loving and serving the people in our church. I get to be his partner in ministry. That is a blessing.

During this season of Lent, I want new eyes to see my life for what it really is—a blessing. A gift. I woke up today with air flowing through me like a river. I am living. What do I have that I have not been given (1 Cor. 4:7)?

Lord, help me to live my life with a heart that sees blessings rather than burdens.

Are you like me? Where do you need new eyes to see the burdens in your life as blessings?

Filed Under: God, Ministry, Truth-Telling

Pack and Pray: An Anti-Trafficking Event

March 1, 2013 by Ann Leave a Comment

Later this month, our church is coming together to help support women who are currently trapped in trafficked situations, practically and prayerfully. There are over 27 million slaves around the world, and multitudes of the women who are trafficked are coerced, tricked, and forced into sex slavery against their own will. These women, made in the image of God, are violated in every way imaginable–physical, spiritual, emotional, mental.

We can help.

There is hope.

In Christ, there is always hope.

On March 21st, from 7-9 pm at my house, women will come together to pray for those across the world–men, women, and children–who are trafficked. We will be calling out to God on their behalf for freedom, redemption, justice, salvation, and hope. We will be asking God to dismantle the gangs who perpetuate trafficking. We will pray that he will straighten the crookedness in governmental officials who look away when they know slavery is taking place. God hears. He is already bringing freedom and hope in pockets around the world. Just today, The A21 Campaign, one of my favorite organizations, mentioned that four more women were brought to one of their safe houses this week. Four more lives saved out of sex slavery. Four precious women who God dearly loves.

There is hope.

And we can help.

On the same night, we will also be packing up items to help launch a new safe house for trafficked victims that is starting on the West Coast of the U.S. (through our church organization).

If you would like to donate some items and bring them to pack that night, here are the needs:

-Neutral-colored towel sets
-Neutral-colored twin sheet sets
-Toiletries, including shampoo, conditioner, soap, makeup, and skin care items.
-Gift cards to Target

If you do want to donate something, here are some practicals:
-Please bring $3-5 extra dollars in order to help cover shipping costs if you are bringing a tangible item.
-Gift cards will travel better (and more cheaply) than liquids. Although it may seem impersonal, a gift card can go a long way for the safe house right now.

I am thrilled that we have the chance to practically and prayerfully parter with God’s work in the world! Please email me if you have any questions, need directions to my house, or want to drop something off earlier: ann.swindell@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Ending Slavery, Forfeited Life, God, Ministry

The Forfeited Life: Interruptions

February 1, 2013 by Ann Leave a Comment

One of the values of our church is discipleship. In the scriptures, we see that Jesus was intentional about his relationships with the twelve, and as he was leaving earth, his command to his followers is that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). It was important to Jesus that his church continue to make disciples—followers who reproduce the life of Jesus in themselves and help others do the same. This is how the church continues multiplying and growing across the earth—not primarily through programs or even Sunday services, but through life-on-life relationship that draws us closer to Christ and one another.

It doesn’t always feel like a great cost to me, personally, to disciple other women—one of my strengths on the Strengthsfinder test (which I recommend!) is “Developer.” I enjoy helping others develop, grow, and live out of a place of vibrancy and health in their relationship with God. Meeting with women on a regular basis, asking them questions, challenging them, encouraging them in their walk with God—these are things I love. So it does not feel like a “forfeit” as much as other things in my relationship with God. But it is a cost. People are messy. I’m messy. Very messy. Bring two messy lives together regularly and there will be more to work through, more to grow in. This is where the cost comes in. Women need to talk when I don’t think I have the time to talk. Women want to get together when I don’t feel like having my schedule interrupted. Women need help with things that I’m not good at, things that take time and energy from me. These women—women I love and care about—they don’t live on my schedule. They have different relational needs than I do. They require sacrifice.

I’m nearly six months pregnant with our first child—a little girl who is coming in May. We couldn’t be more excited and, to be honest, I already feel a little mystified about how parenting will work. I have seen the transition in the lives of some of my best friends—I know that my life will change, drastically and dramatically, forever. Children are the most intimate disciples any person can have. They live with you day in and day out, they see you at your worst and best. They know how you really live.

I think about my daughter, about who she will be and how she will respond to God—and my heart is to be a mother who disciples her well. I want to be a mother who understands the messiness that she and I both bring to the table. I want to respond to her need for time and conversation and help when she interrupts my life—which she will do, beautifully, starting in May and then every day afterwards. Her life will be one giant interruption into my own. But if I will respond like Jesus, I think I will experience that interruption is an opportunity for life, true life. Because all life requires sacrifice. I see this with the women I disciple—if I allow my life to be interrupted by theirs, we both grow in our love for God and one another. The cost is followed by unexpected reward.

Life requires sacrifice—Jesus knew this best of all. If I am to follow him, to let my life be forfeited for His, to let my life be swallowed up by Life, this is one of the many lessons. The interruptions of discipleship, of parenting, of living, are some of the pathways to this fuller life—a life lived not for myself, but for the One who is Life itself.

Filed Under: Forfeited Life, God, Ministry

Why We Take Quarterly Marriage Retreats

August 9, 2012 by annswindell Leave a Comment

Life in ministry can tow the line between wonderful and draining on a daily basis. People want you, call you, text you, message you, and find you when they need you–which can be any time of the day. A pastor (and, by extension, usually his wife, who is also a pastor but often without a title) is meant to be the person who is available when no one else is.

Carrying the “pastor” title can lead to feeling like you are “on call” all the time. Whether someone actually needs you or not, it is easy to begin to feel like you always need to be open to the possibility of being needed. It is the complete opposite of the hourly job I worked right out of college. Then, I worked at a publishing house from 7 am–1 pm; when I got in the car to drive home, I turned my “work brain” off, and drove away. I rarely thought about work until I walked back through the office doors the next morning.

Michael and I have discovered that while we are not actually “on call” all the time with ministry (we take one full day off every week), it can feel like it because we care so much. If we’re not at a meeting or prepping for a Sunday morning, we’re still thinking, talking, and dreaming about what our people need and what our city needs. They need God, of course. We just want to be a bridge from the one to the other. And we want to carry that responsibility lightly but seriously.

The seriously part comes in most days of the week and weeks of the year. We disciple men and women, meet for unofficial marriage counseling, prep sermons and leader’s meetings, share the Gospel and serve the community. But the lightly part is just as important, especially for our marriage.

We take even ministry lightly in the sense that we are not the savior of anyone. There is one Man who is, and only He can save, heal, and deliver. So there is freedom for us to be unavailable from time to time, to go off the grid and be MIA. This is why we take quarterly marriage retreats. They are simple, often close to home, and times when we are disconnected from our ministry life. Because before God called us to official ministry, he called us to each other. And we know that our ministry will only go as far as our marriage. But getting away for two days, to re-focus on each other, makes a world of difference when we’re back to the daily routine.

We come back more present to God, one another, and our ministry. Getting away can be a small miracle in and of itself. We’ve just planned it so that we have these small miracles four times a year.

We are better spouses, friends, and ministers because we get away. Do you get away when you need to?