Ministry wives were the guests of a special weekend retreat, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, at Oklahoma City, Southern Hills. With 200 women in attendance, the retreat focused on the theme, “Growing spiritually and emotionally healthy,” with the anchor verse being Prov. 4:20-21.
Christine Hoover was the main speaker for the retreat.
Christine Hoover was the speaker for the retreat. She is the host of the North American Mission Board’s “The Ministry Wives Podcast,” and author of six books, including “How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife.”
Hoover taught two sessions about spiritual and emotional health. The first session on Friday night, Sept. 30, centered on bringing emotions to God, looking at Psalm 142. The second session on Saturday morning, Oct. 1, looked at how to release bitterness with Hebrews 12 as a focal passage.
Amy Petersen, ministry wives ministry partner for Oklahoma Baptist, planned and oversaw the weekend for ministry wives. She shared some takeaways from Hoover’s talks at the retreat.
“Christine knows how to communicate to ministry wives and what is important for their role,” Petersen said. “She gave some excellent talks about spiritual and emotional health. A few points I got from her were: ‘God created our emotions. As we are honest about how we feel, emotions can become beautiful vehicles to intimacy with God by believing the truth of who he is in that emotion. Bitterness often stems from misplaced desire and comes from an I-want-it-now attitude. God’s grace meets us in those broken places. When we forgive ourselves like He has, we can extend grace and forgiveness to others.’”
Petersen and licensed counselor Tara Matlock gave a presentation on Saturday morning about what to do when someone finds themselves in an unhealthy place and the peace God’s presence brings.
Worship through music was led by Jami Smith, well-known Christian artist and worship leader. “Jami was amazing,” Petersen said. “She led us into the presence of Jesus.”
The retreat ended with a Q&A session with Hoover.
Many attendees shared on social media their experiences at the ministry wives retreat, including the following comments:
“It was such a blessing to me and our staff wives! Thank you! My heart is FULL!”
“I love the way Oklahoma Baptists partner and support one another! What a great ministry wives weekend. I went this year without knowing a soul and left with some new friends!”
“The Oklahoma Baptists ministry wives weekend has refreshed my soul, and I’ve so enjoyed quality time with my friends.”
Petersen also shared her appreciation for volunteers who served during the retreat.
“Oklahoma Baptists are family,” she said. “We partner together to love our ministry wives. So many of the leadership wives came to serve (plus women leaders). Also, some regional ministry partner wives and many director of missions wives came to love on and serve these women who have valuable roles in church ministry.”
For more on how Oklahoma Baptists support ministry wives, visit oklahomabaptists.org/ministry-wives.
