Ever stood in front of your closet and realized you weren’t just picking an outfit—you were trying to protect yourself from criticism?

In this episode of the Ministry Wives podcast, host Amy Petersen talks with author and Bible teacher Caroline Saunders and fellow pastor’s wife Catherine Renfro about the pressure many ministry wives feel to look and act a certain way. Drawing from Caroline’s book But What Do I Wear? The Biblical Story of Clothing, they talk honestly about the “cookie-cutter ministry wife” image, the motives hiding behind our wardrobe choices, and how the Bible’s story of a God who covers His people frees us from legalism, comparison, and the need to impress.

What You'll Learn in This Episode with Caroline Saunders:

• What the “cookie-cutter ministry wife” looks like—and where those expectations are really coming from
• Why the Bible’s story of clothing is about the God who covers, not just women who cover up
• How remembering we’re clothed in Christ changes the way we see ourselves and others
• How to talk with your kids about why we dress the way we do, beyond “because I said so”
• And more!

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• But What Do I Wear? The Biblical Story of Clothing by Caroline Saunders
• Check out Amy’s Easter hat!
• NAMB Women’s Evangelism
• Planting Wives Resources
• Want to give a shout-out to a ministry wife in your life? Tell us about her by emailing us at resources@namb.net.

CONNECT

Connect with Caroline
Facebook // Instagram // Website

Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast

Connect with Catherine
Facebook // Instagram

Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram // Email

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The people around us often see us as strong, put-together, and endlessly available—but what happens when the walls come down, and we admit we're struggling to find real friendship?

In this episode, host Amy Petersen talks with Carolyn Fountain, the newly elected president of national WMU, and fellow ministry wife Rivers Partin about a question many ministry wives quietly carry: Can a ministry wife have real, close friends? Drawing from Carolyn’s decades of ministry alongside her husband through church planting, pastoral ministry, and missions, they talk honestly about the isolation that can creep in even when you’re surrounded by people, the walls we build for self-protection, and what it looks like to risk vulnerability again.

What You'll Learn in This Episode with Carolyn Fountain:

• Why ministry life can feel so isolating
• The difference between being known and telling someone everything
• Why your friendships do not all have to carry the same weight or fill the same role
• How Matthew 28:20 reframes loneliness through the promise of God's constant presence
• And more!

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• National Women’s Missionary Union
• Planting Wives Resources
• Want to give a shout-out to a ministry wife in your life? Tell us about her by emailing us at resources@namb.net.

CONNECT
Connect with Carolyn
Facebook
Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast
Connect with Rivers
Facebook // Instagram
Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram // Email

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The needs around us are real, and they often belong to people we genuinely love. But does recognizing a need mean God is asking us to meet it?

In this episode, host Amy Petersen talks with Amanda Hadden and fellow ministry wife Rivers Partin about what to do when everyone seems to need something from you. Drawing from Amanda’s years of ministry among the Oglala Lakota people in South Dakota, they talk honestly about limited capacity, discerning your “best yes,” and learning to trust God with the needs you cannot meet.

They also share practical ways to say no graciously, warning signs that you may have taken on too much, and why faithfulness at home matters just as much as the ministry others can see.

If you feel pulled in ten different directions, this episode is a reminder that you can love people deeply without carrying everything. God sees you, knows your limits, and will help steady your feet.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode with Amanda Hadden:

• Why recognizing a need does not necessarily mean you are the one to meet it
• How to discern your “best yes” in your current season
• Practical, gracious ways to communicate that you do not have the capacity
• Warning signs that you may have taken on too much
• How Romans 12:1 reframes both visible ministry and unseen faithfulness as worship
• Why overwhelm may be an invitation to stop and depend on God again
• And more!

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Chanku Waste Ranch (Amanda’s Ministry Center): Website | Facebook | Instagram
• Want to serve alongside Chanku Waste Ranch? Explore mission trip opportunities.
• Planting Wives Resources
• Want to give a shout-out to a ministry wife in your life? Tell us about her at resources@namb.net.

CONNECT

Connect with Amanda
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast
Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Website
Connect with Rivers
Facebook // Instagram
Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram // Email

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you’ve ever felt the weight of discipling your kids—but struggled to stay consistent—you’re not alone.

In this episode of the Ministry Wives podcast, host Amy Petersen sits down with Melissa Kruger, Vice President of Discipleship Programming at The Gospel Coalition, to talk honestly about a common tension among many ministry families: wanting to lead your children spiritually while feeling overwhelmed, inconsistent, or simply worn out.

Together, Amy and Melissa share how to move from guilt to grace in family discipleship—and why faithfulness, not perfection, is what truly shapes your home.

Whether you’re a pastor’s wife, ministry leader, or parent longing to build meaningful spiritual rhythms, this conversation offers practical encouragement to help you take simple, sustainable next steps.

Because every prayer, every conversation, and every moment spent pointing your kids to Jesus is forming a spiritual legacy—one God can use in ways you may not see for years.

• A healthier, grace-filled approach to family discipleship (without feeling like a failure)
• How to build simple, sustainable rhythms of Bible reading and prayer with your kids
• Practical ways to respond to resistance from your children—especially teens
• What it looks like to make an eternal impact in your child’s spiritual life, one day at a time
• And more!

• The Good News Family Devotional by Michael and Melissa Kruger
• Women’s Initiatives at The Gospel Coalition
• Turn Your Eyes: TGC Women’s Conference 2026 (June 11–13 in Indianapolis, IN)
• Send Relief

Connect with Melissa
Instagram // Website

Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast

Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you’ve ever felt the tension between ministry demands and soul-deep exhaustion, this conversation is for you. In this episode of the Ministry Wives podcast, host Amy Petersen sits down with worship leader, songwriter, author, and podcast host Christy Nockels for an honest conversation about burnout, calling, and what it means to move from living for God to living from God.

Join Christy as she shares her personal journey through a season of extreme exhaustion that led her to step away from her career for five years—and how God used that interruption to reshape her understanding of identity, rest, and what it means to truly receive the love of her heavenly Father.

Together, Amy and Christy unpack what it looks like to slow down in a life that still feels full, how to discern the yeses and no’s of ministry, and how to practice simple, daily rhythms of consecration, confession, and communion with God.

If you’re feeling tired, overwhelmed, or are quietly wondering if rest is even possible for you, this conversation will help you re-center your life on the “bullseye” of God’s presence—and lean into His grace in the middle of the unknown.

• Why rest often feels impossible in ministry life
• The difference between living for God vs. living from God
• What it means to feel like a “commodity” in ministry—and how God restores identity
• Simple, daily practices for abiding with God in the midst of a full life
• And more!

• The Life You Long For: Learning to Live from a Heart of Rest by Christy Nockels
• The Glorious in the Mundane Podcast
• Christy’s Substack—launching soon!

Connect with Christy
Facebook // Instagram // Website

Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast

Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Waiting is one of the hardest parts of following Jesus… especially when you know you’re supposed to trust God, but your heart is struggling to catch up.

In this episode of Ministry Wives, Amy sits down with speaker, author, podcast host, and ministry wife Rebecca George to talk about what it really looks like to trust God’s timing in a hurry-up world. Drawing from her book You’re Not Too Late, Rebecca shares how seasons of waiting—whether in singleness, marriage, ministry, or motherhood—can shape our faith, reveal our hearts, and deepen our dependence on God.

If you’ve ever wrestled with comparison, felt forgotten by God, or wondered why your prayers seem delayed, this conversation will meet you right where you are.

• Why trusting God’s timing is a lifelong struggle—even in ministry
• The danger of tying God’s goodness to our desired outcomes
• Practical ways to build resilience in a “hurry-up” culture
• Why God’s work in others is not at the expense of His work in you
• And more!

• You’re Not Too Late: Trusting God’s Timing in a Hurry-Up World by Rebecca George
• Radical Radiance Podcast

Connect with Rebecca

Instagram // Website

Connect with Amy

Facebook // Instagram // Podcast

Connect with NAMB

Facebook // Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this powerful and deeply relatable episode of the Ministry Wives podcast, host Amy Petersen sits down with ministry wife, author, and speaker Rachel Lovingood to talk about the tension we so often feel between knowing what God is asking—and actually stepping out in obedience.

For many ministry wives, the struggle isn’t whether God is calling—it’s navigating the fear, discomfort, and uncertainty that inevitably come with saying yes.

If you’ve ever thought, “I know I should step out in faith, but…”—then this conversation is for you.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• What’s really happening beneath your hesitation, fear, or resistance
• How to step into new seasons, transitions, and unknown spaces with faith
• Practical ways to initiate friendships and build relationships in new environments
• Why not every step of faith leads to visible results (and why that still matters)
• And more!

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• In Our Shoes: Real Life Issues for Ministers' Wives by Ministers' Wives by Rachel Lovingood and Jennifer Landrith
• Playbook for Parents: Praying Powerful Prayers Over Your Athlete by Rachel and Jeff Lovingood

CONNECT

Connect with Rachel
Facebook // Instagram // Website

Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast

Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What does it look like to stop striving for perfection and start living in the freedom of Christ? In this honest and encouraging episode of the Ministry Wives Podcast, host Amy Petersen sits down with mom, Bible teacher, and pastor’s wife Annie Locke to talk about the tension many women feel: “I know I shouldn’t strive for perfection, but…” Whether in ministry, motherhood, marriage, or leadership, the pressure to perform and “get it right” can quietly steal our joy and leave us exhausted.

Annie shares vulnerably from her own experience as a pastor’s wife and ministry leader, unpacking how perfectionism often disguises itself as faithfulness. From the expectations of church life to the desire to model authentic faith at home, she speaks to the weight many ministry wives carry—and the freedom found in remembering that our identity is rooted in Christ alone, not in our performance.

Through biblical truth and personal experience, Annie reminds us that we were never meant to be perfect or to be everything for everyone. Instead, we are called to abide in Jesus, allowing His love to shape our lives and overflow into the lives of others.

This conversation offers hope for ministry wives, leaders, and women who are tired of striving and ready to experience the grace, rest, and joy found in simply being with Christ.

In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Why perfectionism often stems from a desire to be faithful
• How performance-driven faith leads to burnout and comparison
• The difference between productivity and true faithfulness
• What it means to live from your identity in Christ, not for it
• And more!

CONNECT
Connect with Annie
Facebook // Instagram // Email

Connect with Amy
Facebook // Instagram // Podcast

Connect with NAMB
Facebook // Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.