It’s with great pride that I get to tell you that my wife, Kristin, will be joining the team at Discovery Church in Broomfield, CO in early January. The opportunity “fell out of the sky,” so-to-speak, in early October.
She has relocated five times for my ministry assignments in Kentucky, Vegas, Michigan, Chicago, Omaha. Now it’s my turn, and this move to Denver is another in a long line of what we have always summed up as a Kingdom work in our 24+ years together.
I couldn’t be more proud.
Because of my work with Slingshot Group, I spend much of my time these days on the phone with those considering ministry moves. I find myself saying things like, “Of course you should do this! Who else is going to step up and do this? This position is perfect for you…” I could be speaking with a college sophomore or a 40-year-old, and the topic is the same.
I confess; it feels different as the spouse of the one considering a ministry position instead of being the “consultant” coaching from the objective chair. Here are some observations from my experience that I live everyday as the consultant and have also seen play out personally:
- Be prepared to be shocked when searching. Kristin stepped through the door to three opportunities. This was not one of them. She didn’t pursue this one; it literally fell into her lap at a happen-chance meeting over a breakfast.
- Self-awareness matters. Strength Finders, DISC assessments, Meyer’s Briggs, Paterson’s Thinking Wavelengths, and several years of experience will help candidates know a great fit when they sniff it. Kristin had looked at three other roles, and while the addresses were just as good, and the staff just as fun, this was the role that made the most sense.
- Team fit is everything. Kristin will be joining a team whose senior pastor we have known a long time. With long friendship comes trust, and with trust comes the opportunity to really lean in to the new role.
- With a ministry comes responsibility beyond the job. While Kristin is no Saint Paul (no I’m not going to expound on this), she’s the type of leader that resonates with a passage in II Corinthians 11 where Paul says I feel a burden for all of the churches. She not only sees the big C in church, but she sees the significance of being a female in a servant-leadership role on a church staff. She has recruited and encouraged many who are two decades younger to do this with their lives. She now has the opportunity to model it.
She could have stayed where she is in a very comfortable life, at an address she really loves, or she could answer the call to jump in to her new assignment.
Here we go…
I guess I need the sign-up sheet for the pastors’ wives club ;)