3 Ways to love your spouse well on the church planting journey
What’s at stake if we plant a successful church, but fail in our marriage?
Resources for Relationships
Bearing burdens in a Pacific paradise
California church cares for a family facing a life-threatening pregnancy and a recommended abortion.
What does it mean to give grace to one another?
I’ve heard that phrase a thousand times but, for some reason, this particular time stuck with me for several days.
Creating Connections Beyond Sunday Morning
Relationships are critical for leaders. Our culture is crying out for authenticity, community and transparency. As...
What I Wish I’d Known — For Planters’ Wives
https://vimeo.com/176785694 Seasoned church planting wives share what they wish someone had told them as they began...
The Most Common Vulnerability for Church Planting Wives
Christine Hoover asks experienced church planting assessor Cindy Lake what she sees as the most common...
Thriving in Marriage While Church Planting
Speaking to both the planter and the planter’s wife, Annie Garman, Christine Hoover and Amy Rager...
What I Wish I’d Known — For Planters’ Wives
Seasoned church planting wives share what they wish someone had told them as they began the...
Fears That Church Planting Wives Face in Church Planting
Annie Garman, Christine Hoover and Amy Rager describe the fears they faced in the initial stages...
Messy, beautiful friendship: An episode from the Flourish podcast
Based on her recently released book, Messy, Beautiful Friendship, Christine Hoover unpacks realities about friendships that...
Three actions to take when others disappoint you
The phrase, “Don’t let the disappointment in a few keep you from loving the many,” comes...
Four keys to healthy interpersonal communications
Every relationship in life is built on a foundation that cannot be ignored. This foundation affects...
Friendship and the pastor’s wife: Help others have a healthy perspective
I was standing at the door after church, talking with folks, when a woman who’d been...
What to do when you get unfriended
We were friends. Good friends. Our daughters played together and enjoyed sleepovers. We laughed at the...
Friendship and the pastor’s wife: A Healthy perspective
My husband and I have been in full-time vocational ministry since the day we were married....
How to respond to those who hurt us
Have you heard the old joke that ministry would be great if it weren’t for all...
Four ways to lead our children toward bravery
A new year provides a time for reflection. We recount the stories that make up the...
Four steps to take before confronting others
In my last post, we talked about everyone’s favorite topic, receiving reproof. I mean, who doesn’t love a hard...
Three reasons to be receptive to reproof
I can remember clearly where I was standing the first time it happened. I was engaged,...
How to handle a one-sided friendship
I was asked, “Why does friendship at times feel one-sided?” That question, of course, could mean...
Four ways to deal with annoying church members
It happened almost every Sunday morning. His cell phone would ring loudly in the middle of...
The year was 1990. It was the month of March, and I had been diagnosed with...
Community requires vulnerability
For the first eight years of our ministry, I didn’t have a friend to my name....
What I wish I had known about moving
Most of us in ministry will move several times during our careers and lifetimes. We will...
What I wish I’d known about friendship
As a young ministry wife, I was totally unprepared for the requisite sacrifice required of me...
What I wish I had known about forgiving others
I never thought I had an issue with forgiveness. I mean, in my sheltered life, I’ve...
The life-preserving comfort of a godly friend
“When we arrived in Macedonia there was no rest for us. Outside there was conflict from...
Showing up in both the joyous and the ugly
Just show up. Ministry life can be joyous. We have the privilege of being present at...
Looking at the true root of relational stress
For a long time I have allowed myself to become extremely emotional as I have parented...
Confrontation, Speaking the Truth in Love, and Unity
Recently I disappointed a friend. We have all been there for a hundred different reasons. She...
“You will have to be his advocate.” Those words echoed ceaselessly through my head for the...
A Heart Strategy for Dealing with Difficult People
Recently a blog posted on Desiring God by Stacy Reaoch caught my attention. There isn’t a space...
Redefining the Netflix Generation
Two small children sit entranced in front of a big box tv set. The doorbell rings...
Why Some of Us Are Loners (and Why That’s Not Good)
Though this article is written with pastors in mind, there is much for each of us...
Confessions of a People Pleaser
Confession: I am a people pleaser. Wanting people to like me or approve of me as...
“It might be cancer.” When those words were spoken, it wasn’t clear who was more stunned—Michael...
“Love your enemies” — Jesus. Perhaps this is among His most revolutionary statements and certainly most humanly...
I was sitting by a hospice bed set up in dining room of a friend’s house....
For When You Wish You Had A Mentor
Relationships are sticky. Women are complex beings, and even without the added layer of the pressures...
It’s February, the LOVE month. You know “Roses are red, Violets are blue…….” We either dread...
When Intimate Friendships Seem Elusive
College dorm life was a dream come true for an extrovert like me. Coming from a...
Five Types of Friends Ministry Wives Should Pursue
Friendship is tricky for us. It’s a much-discussed topic for our tribe. Under the heading of...
I often find myself privy to the secrets of a woman’s heart. Simply because I am...
Five Great Questions to Deepen Small Talk
Small talk—the very words paralyzes some. Others have mastered it. Meeting new faces and striking up...
Friendship is Hard (and How to Make it Easier)
It seems I am not the only one who struggles with friendship. On my blog, I...