Tag Archives: Jessica Cornelius

Just A Few PKs…

What do you get when you throw six PKs together? A rip-roaring good time.

We happen to be out of town spending some quality time together and were fortunate enough to start our vacation with dinner by the pool with Jessica and Bil Cornelius. Jessica and I met back in March during our little Leading and Loving It pow-wow, but it was the first time for Pete and Bil to connect.

Discussion during the evening included everything from books to multi-site strategy to reality television! One of my favorite parts of the evening occurred as we were saying our good-byes. Jessica stopped our first-born, Jett, and asked him what was his favorite part of being a PK. His response didn’t surprise me one bit… He loves “that everyone knows who I am.” I’m sure his opinion of being so “known” will change as he gets a little older!

What happened next made my love for Jessica deepen even more. She told Jett she knew how busy it was being part of a pastor’s family, that sometimes your family had to make sacrifices other families didn’t and that our weekends looked pretty different from everyone else’s. She and Bil both thanked him for being part of a family who is trying to make an impact for Christ. I loved that when most people’s attitude toward being a PK is negative their attitude toward being a PK was totally positive, full of opportunity and hope. They left our whole family with a charge, a reminder in the importance of what our family has been called to do.

Once again I was reminded how thankful I am for the opportunity to be able to have community with other pastors’ wives… people who walk in my shoes. Ladies who truly feel our struggles, celebrate our joys, lift us up in prayer and encourage our families.

Mentoring … for Church Planters’ Wives

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Interested in a Church Planters’ Wives mentoring group?

Jessica has two upcoming opportunities to join her and other Planting Wives at Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, TX on April 20th and May 18th. This is a free event for Church Planting Wives … all you have to do is get there. (If husbands attend there is a fee for the coaching session with Bil.) You won’t need a car; they have transportation for you.

At the April session, they will discuss roles in the ministry, family life in the ministry, leadership with the women on your staff/ staff wives, keeping your passion for ministry fresh, conflict, and the big question about balance. The mentoring event is from 10am-5pm with dinner following.

If you want more information about these upcoming events, fill out the registration form. In this case, the registration form won’t actually register you for the event, but will allow Jessica to connect with you about further details and answer any questions you might have.

What’s Your Flavor … How We Got Here

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I’m wondering how you guys linked up originally? Did you meet in person, was it purely from blogging? Did your husbands meet first? (@koalainscotland)

Once upon a time in a land far, far away …

I actually met Donna first about 5 years ago when we went on little mini-roundtable ski trip in Colorado with our husbands who were already friends. Truth be told, I’m sure Donna wasn’t at all impressed because I was sick, grouchy, and I don’t ski. So I was pretty anti-social. But we did talk to them about a job opening which they later took at our home church, which then allowed us to see them several times a year when we go home.

About 3 years ago, Jessica and Lisa met at c3 in Dallas. Lisa is the first “conference friend” that followed up with Jessica by phone, and they started chatting and becoming real-life friends.

A year later, Donna and Jess met at a Fellowship Church marriage retreat. And that same year, I met Jessica when she and Bil came to Vegas for an ARC Roundtable. We went shopping and hit it off.

June 1, 2008 Brandi randomly found my blog somehow and left a comment. I know that date because I just went back and looked it up … not because I’m super freaky. I then started following her blog and we began chatting it up on Twitter.

That Fall Lisa, Jessica, Donna and I met in Miami for a Pastors’ Wives Roundtable. Donna and I met Lisa for the first time there. I actually tried to get Brandi invited because I wanted to meet her in person, but it was all full … so sad.

At that Roundtable I met a super sweet PW named Robin Mitchell who went home and told Tiffany about my blog. So, she started following. Soon, we were chatting in 10 minute increments because it is hard to chat for long with so many kiddies around.

Then, while at a coaching event in Oklahoma City, Tiffany met Jessica. I remember Tiffany and I talking about their meeting later that week. See, Jessica is the most well-connected person we know. Everyone seems to know her.

Last summer, while they were on Sabbatical, Pete and Brandi came to Vegas. We went to dinner and hung out. Brandi and I had a great time and pretty much ignored everyone else that we were with … sorry Catrons, Jud and Pete. We figured out very quickly how similar our hearts were for pastors’ wives. We started talking on the phone and dreaming about teaming up. And I quickly charmed her into jumping on board around here.

In September, we piloted our first Virtual Roundtable with the 6 of us. The 2 hours flew by. We had a wonderful time together. After that I started the arm twisting via phone and pulling everyone onto the team.

In February, we had our 2nd Virtual Roundtable together. The only problem was that we needed more time! Thankfully, March 1st everyone flew out here to Vegas to meet and be together. For many it was the first time to meet face-to-face.

And that, my friends, is the very convoluted story of how we all met … how we got here.

I’m curious: how did you originally find your way here?