Welcome to our first issue of Real Women!, a ministry for women in ministry. We hope this newsletter will be an encouragement to all women who are involved in any level of ministry to the body of Christ. Some of you pastor churches, some of you co-pastor with your husband while some of you simply consider yourselves, “Pastors Wives“. Some of you are leaders in various ministries in the local church,. We have women who are involved in traveling ministries, while others are in international mission works. God has His women doing a variety of jobs for His Kingdom’s sake!

This summer, Darryl approached me with the concept of writing a special letter, just for you. An encouraging word to those who have been standing in place for a long time—but which would help to meet the needs of many women struggling to find their place in the body. Some of you are in your position because your husband was called into the ministry after you married and you feel like you are playing “catch up. Maybe you are struggling with or wondering is it his call...or is it my call...or is it our call? Most of you are wives and mothers as well as being involved in ministry. You may be just starting your journey into ministry and are trying to chart your way, or you may be an “old timer” and .have wonderful input and faith -filled testimonies to share with your sisters in Christ. Others may be weary and need refreshing to continue their journey.

All of your lives are full but I also know you are desiring to grow in your relationship with God. I don’t have all the answers—neither do I even know all the questions that you may be asking...but my desire is to provide a format that will be an encouragement to each of you and that it provide an interactive opportunity to help you encourage your sisters in Christ!

Interactive in that I would like there to be a dialog with space given for letters, comments and other ideas. We have a vision for encouraging the whole woman—physically, spiritually and emotionally with practical suggestions, that hopefully are God ideas, not just good ideas; sharing together God’s answers to life’s real problems, challenges and opportunities. We declare we serve a REAL God in a REAL world—that has REAL wisdom for us to discover.

I would like to include prayer requests and a place to share answers to prayer!

How much of the interactive part of the vision is fulfilled will be determined on how much response is given from you!

I randomly asked different ladies we ministered with this summer about their desire for this—and everyone went YES! so here we are testing the waters! Martha Rodman