Reflections on Ministry

I grew up in a small town in California, the granddaughter of a the area's local minister. My grandfather, John Carl Wainwright, or "Brother Bill," as they referred to him, was the minister there in a community called Delft, just a few miles from Dinuba, California. My grandmother, Robbie Jean Williams Wainwright, was a GREAT woman of faith and example of what a godly mother and grandmother and pastor's wife should be.

My Poppa was my pastor until I was 26 years old. A few years after we moved from Dinuba to a community called Liberty, in Oklahoma, he and Grandma followed. After pastoring for a short time in Skiatook, OK, they transferred to the Muldrow church, as pastors there. When I graduated from college, I began attending Poteau First Assembly of God (OK). In 2007, I was given the opportunity to become the youth pastor there.

Just before I became youth pastor, my Poppa had to step down from ministry position there at the Muldrow Church of God. His health had been rapidly declining, and after nearly half a century as a pastor, he and Grandma retired. (I have no doubt that they would still be in the ministry today had it not been for their health. For them, the ministry is a life calling.) Shortly after my Poppa made the announcement, the congregation voted my Mother in as pastor. In the years and months prior to Poppa's resignation, she had gone ahead, in faith, and gotten her credentials. She was taken aback, to tell the truth, when she discovered she had been voted in as pastor, almost with a 100% vote.

My mother is a great pastor and woman of God. She is a GREAT and LIVING example of what FAITH is. Like her father and mother before her, she LIVES the life, "walks the walk," not just "talks the talk."

I think, certainly, the most important things I learned under their leadership included the following: a firm trust, faith, and knowledge of the Word of God; I have seen them, their example, and they should me how to "LIVE the FAITH"; they taught me to be disciplined, determined, always seeking the Will of God in everything, in every part of my life.

I have great examples.

I have had the opportunity to be under the leadership of great pastors at Poteau First Assembly. I think one of the most essential things I learned sitting under the pastorate of Keith and Cathy Williams was that it was "okay" to "BE REAL"--with yourself, with people, with the congregation. In my own work in ministry, I get that comment A LOT: "You're so 'real'!" "You just say what you're thinking, what you're going through!"...Yes, I guess I do. But that's because I saw my pastors, how open they were with us, and how much I truly appreciated the fact that they let us know that they were REAL PEOPLE with REAL STRUGGLES too. Watching them has inspired me in so many ways...But with regard to what God is calling me to do? I believe that the FREEDOM to worship, the FREEDOM to "be REAL" or be who God has called me to be has been their single greatest influence on my life.

Enough for now...But as I read over this, I am reminded of how BLESSED I have been in my lifetime to be shown the Truth...I appreciate, so much!, God's mercy and grace and love.