Brianne Henry

F or the last two weeks, my kids have been sick (insert all the frustrated and sad emojis here). This was my first experience with two sick kids and Becca's first illness. It was terrible. On Day 10 or so of being at home and not exposing our germs to anyone, Cooper looked at me and said, "Mom, it's been a long time since people came over!" I wasn't sure what he meant so I asked if he was talking about his grandma and grandpa  - they were supposed to come over but couldn't because of said sick kids. He replied, "No I just mean any people. No one comes over to eat dinner with us anymore." Practicing hospitality is one of my favorite things. I love to have people over, gather around the table, eat yummy food and have real conversation. And while we do have guests in our home often, I didn't realize what an impact that made on Cooper. I didn't even realize he would notice if we didn't have anyone over for a couple weeks. My heart filled...

A s women, we want our husband's full attention. We long to be their #1, to know we are their top priority. And I can attest to the shift that occurs when a man takes over a congregation, as it has happened to me quite recently. Our pastor husbands have a deep responsibility, a deep burden, for the people that walk through the church doors (and rightfully, thankfully so!). But sometimes, figuring out where we (and even our kids) fit into all the things he has on his heart is hard. A few weeks ago, I woke up around 1:45am and noticed Luke was still awake watching Netflix. The next morning, he had to wake up super early to head to the hospital for a couple of surgeries of church members. I know why we was still awake at 1:45...he had church on his mind. Whether it is inability to sleep because a sermon illustration pops into mind, heavy burdens laying on them that church members are facing or the stress of a complaint or confrontational conversation weighing on them - our husbands...

O ne thing about walking into a new church is the excitement that you feel from its members. Anytime we've been the new kids on the block at a church (four times over guys), it's been refreshing to feel the excitement ooze out of the folks waiting for you to plunge into ministry. Shortly after that excitement comes the list of needs...we need a pianist, we need a children's ministry volunteer, we need a secretary, we need someone to clean the toilets, we need... And suddenly you feel as though you are expected to do all the things. We feel like we must fill in all the gaps. Sometimes our church expects us to fill in all the gaps. Jesus, the guy we are all chasing after, was the perfect Servant. He embodied the fullest aspects of servanthood. His serving abilities were perfection. If we want to be like Jesus, we will serve. Joyfully. He wasn't "just" a servant and neither are you. We are servant leaders, just as He was. We are all servant leaders in the chur...