IBSA’s annual gathering of ministers’ wives will focus on cultivating contentment in the place and circumstances where God has positioned you. The IBSA Ministers’ Wives Fellowship is Nov. 6 at Cornerstone Church in Marion.
The theme “Bloom Where You’re Planted” speaks specifically to ministry wives and women in ministry, said Brianna Trowbridge, president of this year’s meeting.
“Sometimes as ministers’ wives we are uprooted and planted in places out of our comfort zone,” said Trowbridge, whose husband, Nathaniel, is pastor of Samaria Missionary Baptist Church in Albion. “We will be taking a look at how to use this opportunity to bloom where we are planted by using the gifts God has given us.”
Robin Dickerson will be the meeting’s featured speaker, and Alyssa Caudill will lead women in worship. Both leaders are ministers’ wives—Dickerson’s husband, Bob, pastors First Baptist in Marion, and Caudill’s husband, Drake, is pastor of First Baptist in Carmi.
Along with Trowbridge, planning for this year’s luncheon has been led by Jeanette Cloyd and Sara Hallas, both of North Side Baptist Church in Fairfield. The meeting, which also serves as a networking opportunity for Illinois Baptist women, will emphasize the role of contentment in ministry, and the struggle to pursue it.
“It can be easy to feel discontented where God has placed us,” Trowbridge said. “No matter where God puts us, we can focus on what we don’t have or how things are not working the way we believe they should.
“We long for a women’s ministry like Becky Sue, or a support system like Tammy Jo. We desire to be accepted and loved by the church.”
The words of Philippians 4:11 are Scripture’s encouragement to be content, and will serve as the foundation for this year’s ministers’ wives meeting. “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (NKJV).