Have you ever had a day when you didn’t know what to wear?  There have been days I have tried on so many different outfits. I would end up so frustrated trying to pick just the right one. God’s Word tells us what not to wear today!

Colossians 3:12-14 says, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”

God wants you to take off depression, fear, anxiety, anger, resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness.  He is calling us to clothe ourselves with kindness, mercy, humility, gentleness, patience, and love.  Many times our frustration comes from not wearing the right garments spiritually.  If you need to change your outfit, I encourage you to do so.  Clothe yourself in what God has for you today.

Lori Champion

About Lori

Wife • Mother •  Pastor • Cancer Survivor • Church Planter • Worship Leader

Lori Champion’s life experiences fuel her relational style of communication.  She combines her rich ministry heritage with her personal depth in Christ to boldly encourage women that, no matter what crisis they’re facing or life-stage they’re in, God will use all things for His glory to impact eternity.

Her greatest passion is to see God’s House and people grow and flourish.  Her leadership strength and creative investment is seen throughout Celebration Church, the church she co-founded and co-pastors with her husband, Joe Champion.   Lori lives in the Austin area along with her husband and their three boys — Mason, Connor and Jackson.

Web: www.lorimchampion.com/

Twitter: @lorimchampion

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lchampion

Leading Ladies  Interview Questions



1.  Lori, what brings you the greatest joy?

 Lori:

Ministry:  We planted Celebration Church 11 years ago with very, very little funding in a city we’d never been to (Austin, TX).  Needless to say, we struggled and did everything ourselves! Then and now, my greatest joy is seeing people connect to Christ, to our church family and to their calling — especially those I’ve personally reached.  After 11 years, many of those people, once far from God, are vital members of our staff and core leadership team. There’s nothing better! It fuels my passion to continue to develop relationships outside of the church and to relationally lead people to Christ! Two months ago, we baptized 382 people, including five WHOLE families that we personally developed relationships with through our kids’ schools/sports.

Family:  Seeing my kids, ages 19, 15 & 11, serve God and lead in their public schools and at church is my very greatest joy!  Our oldest son, Mason, is now a freshman in college and narrowed down his college choices based on what great churches were close by.  (He picked our alma mater, LSU, and serves at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge.)  It’s such a reward, since there were many times when I probably didn’t get the “balancing act” right!  Our kids are “church-aholics” and, more importantly, passionate Christ-followers!

2. What is your biggest challenge?

Lori:  “Growing pains have truly been my biggest challenge.  I was raised in and have always been a part of small churches.  I’m very relational and when Celebration started taking off in growth, it meant personal changes, staff changes, and congregation changes.  It also meant the BIG “C Word,” CRITICISM.  We have the same heart for people that we had when we were a start-up, but when you’re successful others’ perspective of you changes (especially highly insecure people’s perspective).  That can be very painful and, if you allow it, distracting.  The key for us is to keep seeing lives changed and to outlast the critics!  Nehemiah is a great biblical example of continuing to build the testimony of God, despite the voices of criticism.”

3. What 3 books have impacted your life (besides the Bible)?

Lori: “It’s not too spiritual, but I love Jane Austen!  My more spiritually impactful book choices include:

Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Chambers

Marriage on the Rock by Jimmy & Karen Evans

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell”

4. Lori, what are a few tips you would give someone to maintain balance with their family, career, and/or ministry?

Lori: “Balance is over-rated!  I’m 6th generation ministry and everyone in our family is in ministry.  I’ve slept under church pews many times growing up.  Sometimes pastors’ wives (or Christian women, in general) believe that “too much church” will make kids rebel…yet, no one is worried that “too much little league baseball” will make the kids grow up and hate baseball!  So, get rid of that guilt!  We used to pick our kids up from school and take them back to the office with us because we couldn’t afford childcare.  They would still love for us to do that!

I do believe that there needs to be intentional connection points spent with your kids every day – in the mornings, debriefing and connecting as soon as they get home from school (I get off the phone/computer when they arrive), and at bedtime!  Even teenagers are chatty if you take the time to tuck them in!  Getaways with the family are huge too.  We sacrifice and prioritize financially to make memories with our kids on trips.  We do that for our marriage as well — overnight date trips, on average, every month work better for us than weekly date nights at this season of our lives…and we don’t run into church members ”

Lori, Thank you for taking time to share your insight! You are a true blessing. – Beth Sargent

FREE Subscription to Beth’s Monthly Encouragement Email plus receive Beth’s FREE Audio Teaching “Shame Off Us!

Join the hundreds of ladies on my “Beth’s Monthly Encouragement Email”.  Receive FREE messages, encouragement, and blessings every month.  Just enter your email address in the form below & hit “enter” on your keyboard to get started.

About Rita

Rita Springer is one of the most gifted worship leaders to arise over the last ten years. She believes that the joy of being a worship leader is to make those listening, jealous for what has been found in Christ. Making Christ famous through the art, act and physical sound of our worship is Rita’s anthem and her deepest desire is to see this arise in the body of Christ. Her motto is; “To make the Lord famous in whatever I do with my worship and relationship with Him”. Born out of that deep desire and to see women free through the tools of the Word, Worship and Prayer, she started her own women’s conference in 2000 called ‘Fragrant Oil’ it was an incredible season of 7 years watching God use worship powerfully to transform lives across the globe. In 2008 she began a worship school called DIVE. (Deep – Innovative – Vertical – Expression) The School trains and encourages upcoming worship leaders all over the world with weeklong intensive one-on-one courses. Staying true to her calling, Rita continues to write new songs and leads worship at churches, conferences and events around the country.

Web: http://www.ritaspringer.com/

Twitter: @Ritaspringer – http://twitter.com/#!/Ritaspringer

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rita-Springer/69487458946

Leading Ladies Interview Questions

1. What brings you the greatest joy?

Rita: “Staring into my son Justice’s face every morning.”

2. Rita, What is your biggest challenge?

Rita: “Being a single mother and trying very hard to find balance in road life and ministry while missing soccer games and time with my son!”

3. What 3 books have impacted your life (besides the Bible)?

Rita:

The Scent Of Water,

Crazy Love,

Facing the Sun

4. What are a few tips you would give someone to maintain balance with their family, career, and/or ministry?

Rita: “Ask God, Seek God and pray.  Pray that God shows you how to handle it all and how to father and mother those kids right.  I am always on God’s porch every morning with a pot of coffee and a lot to ask!”

Thank you Rita! You are a Leading Lady! Your music has been the soundtrack to my prayer time many times. “Worth It All” is one of my all time favorite songs.  Thank you! -Beth Sargent

Check out the link to Beth’s Other Leading Ladies Interviews: http://bethasargent.com/beths-growing-leading-ladies-interviews-list/

Watch this short video & hear my story of shame as a child. Did you ever do this?

About Margret

Margaret Feinberg (www.margaretfeinberg.com) is author of Scouting the Divine, The Sacred Echo: Learning to Hear God in Every Area of Your Life, and The Organic God as well as their six-week DVD Bible Studies. Her latest Bible studies, Pursuing God’s Love: Stories from the Gospel of John and Pursuing God’s Beauty: Stories from the Book of Genesis recently released from Zondervan.

Web: www.margaretfeinberg.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/mafeinberg

Facebook: www.facebook.com/margaretfeinberg

1. Margaret, what brings you the greatest joy?

Margaret: ” Seeing people grow in their relationship with God over the years. Whenever we have the opportunity to make the journey with people—many of whom live in different parts of our country and world—and see them year after year to celebrate their joys and losses, tragedies and triumphs, it places the greatest smile in my heart. Why? Because it’s watching the Gospel unfold in human flesh and men and women follow Christ and become more like him in the process.”

2. What is your biggest challenge?

Margaret: “Drawing healthy boundaries is a great challenge to me—learning to say “no” and knowing when to say “yes”. When I do this well, everything else falls into place much more easily.”

3. What 3 books have impacted your life (besides the Bible)?

Margaret: “The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White This skinny book improved my writing a hundred fold.

It’s Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong Long before his relationship ails and the drug doping accusations, Armstrong wrote about his battle with cancer and the way it reshaped him physically and emotionally. A powerful read about suffering and hardship.

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey stirs the desire to keep mining the rich wonders of Scripture.

4. Margaret, what are a few tips you would give someone to maintain balance with their family, career, and/or ministry?

Margaret: “First, don’t delude yourself into thinking balance exists. Picture yourself standing on a ball for a moment. How long can you stand there for? Exactly. Not that long. Instead, a more healthy and manageable perspective is rhythm. How do you maintain a healthy rhythm? The question implies that our rhythm changes. Sometimes our pace is faster and other times it’s slower, but we can develop a healthy rhythm in our life. Simple decisions like practicing and protecting a day of the week for sabbath and learning to turn off technology for periods of time are essential. In addition, setting a bedtime and making sure you’re getting enough sleep can have a major impact on developing a healthy and sustainable rhythm.”

Thank you Margaret for sharing your insight with all the ladies! -Beth

Check out the link to Beth’s Other Leading Ladies Interviews: http://bethasargent.com/beths-growing-leading-ladies-interviews-list/