Tag: women’s ministry

By Elizabeth Prata

Ladies, as a New Year approaches, you might be thinking you’d like to change up who you follow for women’s ministries. Or maybe the Spirit grew you in discernment and you’ve abandoned some less solid ministries but aren’t sure who to turn to next. I can recommend these ministries of women by women, though you’re certainly NOT restricted to women only! I do encourage women to follow solid men too.

I personally follow WWUTT.com (Pastor Gabe Hughes at When We Understand the Text, DB Harrison and Virgil Walker at the Just Thinking Podcast, and anything from The Master’s University or The Master’s Seminary. There are so many other male-led podcasts I can recommend too, Reagan Rose at Redeeming Productivity, the guys at Ligonier and Ligonier Connect, Chris Hohnholz and Rich Story at Voice of Reason radio, Nathaniel Jolly and Ekkie Tepsupornchai at Truth be Known podcast, Andrew Rappaport’s Striving for Eternity, and so many others.

If you’re looking for solid discernment ministries, there are several I trust. Chris Rosebrough-the Pirate Christian, Justin Peters Ministries, and Steve Kozar at the Messed Up Church. I also enjoy videos from the BTWN guy Tim Hurd, and Polite Leader Alan Hunter.

Here are some ladies’ podcasts I think you may enjoy:

The Women’s Hope podcast, with Dr. Shelbi Cullen and Kimberly Cummings. “Join Dr. Shelbi Cullen and Kimberly Cummings as they bring hope and encouragement through 25 years of combined experience in biblical discipleship and counseling as ACBC counselors.” 

Susan J. Heck With the Master. “Susan is a certified counselor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (biblicalcounseling.com) since 2003.  She is also the author of With the Master Bible study series for ladies and many books. She has memorized the entire New Testament along with two books from the Old Testament!”

Martha Peace. “…Received training and certification from ACBC, which stands for Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. Martha teaches counseling classes and counsels in her church’s Certified Counselor Training Center. She has also written many books, most notably “The Excellent Wife.” She is a noted church and conference speaker, too.

Amy Spreeman and Michelle Lesley “A Word Fitly Spoken“. Each of these women have separate ongoing ministries in the form of blogs, Bible studies, and other written material, links to which are inside the podcast link on their About page. Michelle has a long-standing blog of discipleship and discernment issues, has written Sunday School curriculum for publishers, and has authored a book, in addition to traveling for speaking engagements. Amy also has much written material on topics of discernment and discipleship and also founded Naomi’s Table Bible Studies for women, and participates in speaking engagements.

Brooke Bartz, founder of the free online annual conference, Open Hearts in A Closed World Women’s Online Conference, Brooke has authored “Chronic Love: Trusting God while suffering with a Chronic Illness” and the Christian teen book “Godly Ever After (Fiona’s Faith, 1)”

These women are solid.

What I look for in a podcast, either from men or women, is a serious podcast that takes on biblical concepts unafraid and unapologetic, in love and gentleness. If the podcast discusses cultural issues, do they do so in a tone of charity, yet being solidly informed?

I think too many podcasts from ladies send too much of the podcast time giggling, horsing around, and talking of inane things. It is insulting to me, to think that of a 40 minute podcast I’ve got 20 minutes to waste. I don’t. I have limited time and increasingly as I age, with limited mental energy to devote. My ‘think time’ has shrunk! If you’re a younger woman, you only have so much time before the baby wakes up, the dinner has to be cooked, the husband arrives home, etc. If I want to indulge in a mental break or some inanity I’ll watch Green Acres or a few kitten hijinks videos. Spending half your podcast time in personal conversations with each other, swapping in-jokes, and larking about, is self-indulgent! It also displays a lack of control and women who teach are supposed to display control. Titus 2:5, 7 says older women are supposed to teach the younger to “be sensible…dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach,” yet they themselves are not sensible or self-controlled. Ugh.

Secondly, I also think it lowers the credibility of a woman’s podcast to spend time with giggling and tomfoolery, and then turn to the word of God to share eternal concepts. A podcast to me, IMO, is kind of like a pulpit. If you’re going to relate biblical concepts to people, do so with gravitas and a commitment to the One who authored it, in seriousness and earnestness.

So look for podcasts from women who are sensible, self-controlled, dignified in speech, true to the word, and talk about Jesus more than themselves.

I know we are all crunched for time most days, and every minute is precious. If you don’t listen to many podcasts (or sermons, teaching series, audio books, hymns, or Bible studies) I ask you to consider doing so. In the in-between times, like when folding laundry, doing errands in the car, or over a quick lunch, we can fill our mind with Bible-based, edifying material. Even 5 or 10 minutes’ worth will be edifying. 10 minutes 6X a week is an hour. An hour a week is 4 hours a month, and that adds up to 48 hours a year of “extra” edifying material. After all, our mind is how the Spirit transforms us, through the Bible’s good word and through discussions over the Bible’s concepts and doctrines.

Happy New Year ladies!

By Elizabeth Prata

Lois and Eunice were Timothy’s mom and grandmom. They were lauded for teaching Timothy the Jewish scriptures well, and raising him as an obedient son of God. He was ready for the Gospel message when it came. We know where that ended up! Timothy became a pastor.

What if Lois and Eunice said one day “We believe in the passion, purpose, and potential of every woman everywhere. Let’s start a guild to activate every woman to make an impact in her world for the Kingdom”. And, what if, forsaking teaching the boy, Lois and Eunice cast their eyes on the wider world, abandoned their sphere of influence at home and instead struck off to focus on women everywhere ‘make an impact’? No Timothy, true son of Paul and pastor to many. The Lord developed spheres of influence and roles for each demographic, including women for a reason. The Lord puts us where we are for a reason.

By Elizabeth Prata

This past week Andrew Rappaport of Striving for Eternity ministry asked me to come on his show which is a live show broadcast on Thursday nights with Anthony Sylvestro. It’s called Apologetics Live and people call or write in with comments and questions. The topic they’d asked me to speak to is women in ministry, women talking theology, and discernment. Did I mention it was live? And two hours long?

I was honored to be asked and also nervous. But it turns out I can talk about Jesus all night long. The time flew. I’ll leave it to you to decide if it was a good talk. If it wasn’t, that’s on me, the two gentlemen are personable and knowledgeable with a long history of preaching & teaching, apologetics ministry as well as evangelism and discernment.

My podcast is The End Time Blog Podcast, available on Apple and all the rest. Also it’s a direct widget on my right sidebar at the blog, https://the-end-time.org

Welcome to new folks who heard about this site from the show and checking me out. I appreciate it! If you would like to know a bit more about me I wrote about why I named this blog The End Time, a few nuggets of quirky info about me, and my doctrinal stance, this information is here at my ABOUT page.

I’ve been writing here at The End Time since 2009. I started the podcast 6 months ago. It’s just me reading what I wrote that day on the blog, lol. Nothing fancy. The longest one was I think about 25 minutes but mostly they last between 5 and 10 minutes long. A friend of mine said that is a great length because she can listen to two or three episodes while driving in to work. I had busy women in mind moms at home, busy working singles, who might not have the time to sit and read, but can listen while they do something else like fold laundry or drive. I’m pleased to report 10,000 listens already. Thank you!

One of the questions Andrew asked me on Apologetics Live was who I thought credible and solid women’s ministries are. I shared a list of several I enjoy, my list is certainly not exhaustive. Quite a few of these are pastor’s wives. Though that certainly isn’t a requirement for a women’s solid ministry, I believe it helps. Many men do not pay attention to what their wives are reading or the conferences they attend. Pastors have a higher diligence in protecting the flock and that includes their wives, as well as striving to maintain an orderly household as the scripture says they must.

Another thing that helps is if the woman has a long track record of being in the public eye without compromising their message nor becoming immoral in any way (in other words, fame or influence hasn’t gone to their head). There are many other solid ministries by women too besides the ones on my short list, who are proclaiming Jesus and honoring His name by being a diligent daughter of the King.

You can find many of these women in their blogs, on Youtube, Instagram, etc. The links I offer are just one of their many presences online. I’m listing women, because the topic I was asked to speak on was women doing theology and women in ministry, but at my blog there is a blogroll that contains many great men’s ministries. I don’t feel that women must listen to women only. In fact, I encourage women to listen to men.

1. Dr. Shelbi Cullen & Kimberly Cummings– Women’s Hope Podcast, part of the Master’s University. https://womens-hope.masters.edu/

Shelbi and Kimberly have 25 years of combined experience in biblical discipleship and counseling as ACBC counselors, and their content deals with both theology and practical life issues for women.

2. Susan Heck– With the Master. https://www.withthemaster.org/

Susan is a certified counselor with the ACBC, recently widowed after 46 years of marriage to her husband- who was a pastor for 50 years, an author, and serves in her church as well as online and at conferences.

3. Martha Peace– https://www.facebook.com/marthapeaceofficial/

Martha is also an ACBC counselor, speaker, and author. Her books The Excellent Wife and The Exemplary Husband are in 3^rd printings and translated into many languages.

4. Brooke Bartz & Erin Coates – Open Hearts Podcast; Open Hearts in a Closed World free online annual conference- https://www.openheartsinaclosedworld.com/

Younger and newer to the scene are these two ladies. Brooke is Founder of Open Heart’s in a Closed World Conference which is now featured on American Gospel TV, and author of “Chronic Love: Trusting God while suffering with a chronic illness.” Co-Host, with her husband, of the “LIT” (Lead in Truth) Podcast.

Erin is wife to Canadian pastor James Coates, conference speaker, and Bible teacher of women. https://www.instagram.com/erincoates80

Erin and Brooke just started a podcast together which will be dropped for the first time in November, and available on AGTV, the BAR Network available on all major podcast streaming and on the YouTube page-Open Hearts in a Closed World. They are also starting an online woman’s book club in November!

5. Amy Spreeman & Michelle Lesley – A Word Fitly Spoken https://awordfitlyspoken.life/

Amy helped launch a discernment radio program called Stand Up for the Truth, speaks at conferences and women’s groups and is the founder of Berean Research and Naomi’s Table Bible Studies for Women. She is married with two grown children.

Michelle is a family-focused stay at home mom of 6, home school veteran, is active at church and in women’s ministry, and trains Christian women through her blog, speaking engagements, and the podcast with Amy.

6. Lauren Hereford – Host of Tulips and Honey Podcast, and Technical director of Open Hearts in a Closed World. Lauren is married, and is a Reformed, Christian blogger/podcaster who also homeschools her daughter. https://afterthoughtbybiblicalbeginnings.podbean.com/

7. Robin Self – A Worthy Walk- https://aworthywalk.com/

Robin Self is a Baptist pastor’s wife in a tiny town in Oklahoma, serving alongside her husband in church ministry for 28 years. She has 3 grown children.

The key for me is in this set of verses. Older women are to be reverent, younger are to be subject to their husbands, for the sole purpose of NOT dishonoring God. And isn’t that our chief aim? Whether we’re in a ministry or enjoying the benefits of someone else’s ministry, we women should honor God. It is our chief end in life.

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. (Titus 2:3-5)