The RISE Leadership Podcast
The RISE Leadership Podcast is a resource for leadership development within Cross Church, specifically created to equip and inspire our dream team volunteers, seminary residents, and staff members, though other churches may find value as well. In each episode, we offer insights and actionable takeaways to help you grow spiritually, lead with confidence, and make a Christ-centered impact in your ministry and life. Whether you’re looking to enhance your leadership skills, deepen your faith, or navigate challenges with grace, The RISE Leadership Podcast provides the tools you need to lead yourself and empower those around you.
The RISE Leadership Podcast
Life After Yes, with Meredith Floyd
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She's the better half of our senior pastor at Cross Church — and today she's finally on the podcast.
Meredith Floyd joins Dr. Jeremy Dixon and Izzy Hoffarth for a fun, personal conversation about growing up on a farm in Florida, meeting Nick at Liberty University, and what life with the cookie-baking, song-singing Pastor Nick actually looks like at home.
She also shares her heart for the women of Cross Church, what it means to keep your priorities in order, and what's on her heart for our upcoming Women's Gathering.
If you've ever wanted to sit down with Meredith over coffee — this is the next best thing.
And he was wanting me to surrender all of my dreams, my plans, all the amazing things I had in my mind of the future and just hand those to him and to trust him that he knows best. Yeah. And so he really was asking me that question at about 19 years old, 20 years old, wrestling with that. But I'm so, so glad that I trusted the Lord and I said yes to him. And it's just been such a fun journey.
SPEAKER_04Welcome to the Rise Leadership Podcast, where we're equipping and inspiring the Crosschurch leader. Whether you're a dream team volunteer, a seminary resident, or a staff member at Crosschurch, this podcast is designed to help you grow spiritually, lead with confidence, and make a Christ-centered impact in every area of your life. Each episode aims to guide you to rise and kind of empower those around you. And now, here's today's episode.
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to the Rise Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Jeremy Dixon, joined by my co-host for the day, Roger High School's greatest living alumni, potentially, Izzy Hoffart.
SPEAKER_04I would say most definitely. Good to be back with you guys. So happy to be here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, today's guest doesn't need a whole lot of intro, but you know, doesn't do a lot of things like this. This might be her first podcast, definitely her first podcast with us, but it's actually part of making this uh conversation just so special. She's one of those people who leads um behind the scenes quite a lot in a major way in our church that most people don't even think about. But Meredith Floyd is with us today, the wife of our senior pastor, Dr. Nick Floyd, a woman of deep faith, a mother, and one of the most genuine people I've ever had the privilege of doing ministry around. We love you, Merida.
SPEAKER_03I did pay you to say that. That's right. I did.
SPEAKER_00I will take it. But we're so excited to have you on here.
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you, Jeremy. I uh I'm excited to be on here. This is so fun.
SPEAKER_00So we always start with a little bit of a hot seat question. Okay. And we've already had a lot of fun just talking before this even got started. That's true. Izzy, I want you to start with a hot seat question for Meredith.
SPEAKER_04Okay, Mared, give us a little behind the scenes. What is it like having our senior pastor, Nick Floyd? You know him as Nick. Nick. Maybe tell us maybe what do you call him? And what is life with like with him at home?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, I would say I call him Babe. That's probably my go-to.
SPEAKER_00I call him the I'm scared.
SPEAKER_03Um in my phone, he's just Nick. So I've thought about that. I'm like, should I change that? You know, and it's like it could be fun.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, but he has like a million nicknames for me. Um, and they're very weird and odd and just don't make any sense. So yeah, that's not surprising to our listening audience. He is a riot, he's always making jokes. Um, he definitely keeps me laughing. So I never know what he's gonna say. But um, time at home with him is just like you see in preaching, there's a lot of jokes. He's a singer, he's got a song in his heart. I can see that a lot of days. There's a song in his heart, and Maya follows suit. Maya and him are kindred spirits with the singing, and they are always just singing around, and now they start to harmonize. Now they'll start singing and they'll harmonize together, and it's just so sweet. So, yeah, most people probably don't know that, but he can sing, he loves to sing, he loves to follow like the worship music culture, he loves to know what's going on, and uh, so yeah, that's been a fun part.
SPEAKER_00Anything surprising that they might not expect the listeners here today?
SPEAKER_03Um, yes, I was I'm gonna go with um Nick is has become the baker of chocolate chip cookies at our house. He's completely taken the roll over from me. In fact, I don't even yeah, he's stolen the job of like the baking of the chocolate chip cookies because he has refined it so much. He has certain things he does. It's about temperature, it's about the butter, it's about how many chocolate chips. I'm pretty sure he doubles the chocolate chips, probably, but they are so good. And he's mastered from A to Z the chocolate chip cookie, and so he does like to show off a little bit um when people come over. And I just let him get on the calendar for the flood house. Yeah, yeah. That's fine because I don't have to to do the baking of a chocolate chip cookies. You just get to eat and enjoy. I'm like, this is amazing. I love it. Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you grew up on a farm. Yes, you know, and so you have you have a little bit of ruggedness to you. You know, there's I do have a little country in between.
SPEAKER_03There's a little country people don't know.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And it's the Florida kind of country.
SPEAKER_03It is the Florida country, which is you know, most people don't know there's country in Florida, but in the middle of the state, there's a lot of country folk.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And that's where I come from.
SPEAKER_00That's good. So, you know, and you're part of the bone family. I love the bone family. I love Bill, I love Sandy, I love all the bone girls. It's a good time. And so here's my here's my hot seat question for you. Okay. So I know you all like a little bit of homestead kind of stuff. You all try to have your little chickens or you know, whatever, you know. So so I want you to pull some you know deep bone history here too. You're starting a homestead archives. Okay, you're starting a homestead.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay, with your family. Okay, yeah. We've talked about this. Nick's not gonna make it very well on the homestead.
SPEAKER_03No, but we've said he can be in it because he's gonna be like the minister. Yeah, right. He's gonna you everybody has to contribute something. That's what my brother and sister have already told me. Right. And so if our family's allowed to come, we've got to have something to contribute. So we're gonna be, you know, spiritual encouragement. Nick's gonna be, you know, prayer pastor. Yes. He's not gonna be doing anything out with the farm.
SPEAKER_00So here's the curveball. Here's the curveball.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00So you have a homestead.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Now you have to pick one family between the Dixon family and the Hoff Art family to join your homestead.
SPEAKER_03I can't do that.
SPEAKER_04No, I know who you're picking. I can't do that at all. All are welcome. It's the Dixons, honestly. The Hoffarts are not built for the homestead live. We're too bougie.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's hilarious. No, I can't pick I can never pick. I love both of you guys.
SPEAKER_00But hey, listen, I'm very- No, the Bone family's picking the Yeah, the Bone family's picking.
SPEAKER_03Let's be honest. I I will have no say in this. It's my brother and my sisters that actually can actually do all the things. Um, and they're just gonna let me come in because they're nice like that.
SPEAKER_00But see, I was good to myself of just not adding the McKinney family. That's where I would lose. We'd we'd lose quickly to that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, McKinney's they're they're always a part of whatever homestead future there is.
SPEAKER_00No doubt. All right, hey, but let's talk about your background. So talk about you growing up and just your your your faith background, okay, family background, and just kind of what brought you, let's say, to Nick, right? Everybody knows that part of your story maybe a little bit better, but like before.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, let's see. I grew up in Sebring, Florida, which is, like I said, right in the middle of the state. And I grew up in a godly Christian home with an amazing mom and dad. Um, I have an older brother and two younger sisters. We grew up out on a farm, which was just the absolute best way to grow up. I highly recommend it. Um, we are not doing that because if you know my husband and his white pants on Easter, there's enough scent. Okay, that's not that's not our calling. That's not our calling, but I'm okay with that. So um Nick's been so sweet to just let me, you know, dip into that however I can. That fits our lifestyle. So, anyways, grew up out in the country um with cows and um just outside every day, growing up outside, playing imagination, playing in the creek, riding four-wheelers, raising animals for our fair. I did FFA, I did 4-H. Wow. Um, I did, you know, Nick's shared this before, but I did steers, I did cow, I mean, I did steers, I did hogs. That's not a that's not a steers is it's like a male, a young male cow.
SPEAKER_04What do you do with them?
SPEAKER_03Well, you raise them for the and for the fair and you show them. Oh so you have to walk them around the ring. Uh-huh. And you're being graded on your showmanship, and you're being graded on the cow is being graded. And so it's both of those things, and it's a whole situation. It's hilarious. I believe it. Um, but so yeah, that was me and my siblings. We all did that. And then, but the sad part is at the end of the fair, you sell it at the auction.
SPEAKER_00Oh, and you, you know, look at Izzy's face, realizing what's happening here.
SPEAKER_03It is sad.
SPEAKER_04Um, but it's you probably have to do so much to train it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you do a lot of work. It's a great work ethic for children, and hard work, and it was something I had to do every day, take care of that. That was so cool. So it was fun. So yeah, I loved it. So that was that was my childhood growing up, and um then I got saved. I got saved at a young age. I forgot that part. I got saved young, genuinely, I believe, when I was four or five years old. Um, my dad used to have us sit beside our bed and pray at night. I remember I'd be annoyed that I had to get out of bed and get on my knees. But I am so thankful for him and how he modeled that for us. And I remember one day I just one night when we were praying. I don't think he was leading in a sinner's prayer or anything, but I remember that that particular moment I asked the Lord into my heart and gave my life to him. And I was so young, but I believe that's when I was genuinely saved. And um just started on my path with the Lord there, and the Lord used lots of different things in my life to grow me, my family, my church, my youth pastors, you know, our pastors, just all the people I look back that were so faithful Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday. And at the time you don't realize how important it is, but they're making such an impact on your life, and so I'm so grateful for God's grace in my life looking back and the people that influenced me. Um, from there, I felt the Lord leading me to Liberty University, and that was just a total God Holy Spirit thing because nobody I knew went there. Um, it was just literally I wanted to do co-ed cheerleading and I wanted to go to Christian school. I was feeling called to ministry. I didn't really know what that was or what that was called. It was not maybe as specific as it is here for our teenagers, you know. Like we I think we do a good job of like calling out the called. Um, but at the time I didn't really know, I just knew that ministry was me and I was ministry. Like that's what I wanted to do. And so that's why I wanted to go to Christian school. So I found Liberty and I was like, I think this is where the Lord wants me to go. My parents were so gracious to let me go all the way to Virginia from Florida. Yeah, that's it. Um they are so supportive, and so I'm thankful for them looking back on that, just letting me follow where I felt like the Lord was leading me. And um a couple days into Liberty University, I'm 18 years old and I meet Nick and he was in my friend group, and uh so it's crazy to look back, but yeah, I mean I was we were only 18. I met him right when I got to Liberty. We became friends, hung out in the same friend group, and um for the first year we were just friends. But um, a lot of people don't know this. But I actually came and I interned here the summer after my freshman year at Liberty. Nick said, Well, why don't you come work at my church? And I was like, Okay, I will do that. And um, and so I came out and I interned. Sean Smith was my boss, and I'm trying to think who else would there's still people here that kind of have the overlap, but um, I worked here and got to know his parents. I say now that I was on trial, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you're being evaluated.
SPEAKER_03I was being evaluated, I didn't know that. But um hanging out with old Ronnie and Gina, hanging out with them, and uh Nick and I started dating that summer, and um the rest is history. We've been doing ministry together ever since we met.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's amazing. So did you always like when you met him or maybe those early years in college, did you ever picture yourself wanting to marry a pastor or another person in ministry, or were you thinking like that's that's my thing? I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I didn't that was not like uh something in my mind. I mean, I knew our pastor and our pastor's wife, but I didn't know her very well. So that definitely wasn't something in my mind that was an option.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah, I just felt called to ministry and knew I wanted to do that. So when I met up with Nick, um, Nick and I had to really pray through that because I thought I was probably doing foreign missions.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so that's a big part of our story too. If you've heard us share a little bit. Um, I was headed to China and uh and Nick's like, well, I'm feel called a pastor, and I feel called a pastor in America. And so I really wrestled with that. I was like, Lord, how can you be telling me two things at one time? And I started praying about it, seeking the Lord, and he was so faithful to um just morning by morning, just spending time with him in his word through prayer, through the Holy Spirit. He just um made it clear to me that that was a great idea I had and it was awesome, but it wasn't what specifically he was wanting me to do now. And he was wanting me to surrender all of my dreams, my plans, all the amazing things I had in my mind of the future, and just hand those to him and to trust him that he knows best. Yeah. And so he really was asking me that question at about 19 years old, 20 years old, wrestling with that. But I'm so so glad that I trusted the Lord and I said yes to him and um I said yes to Nick. And it's just been such a fun journey. He truly the Lord knows how to use us better than we know. You know, we think, especially young in ministry, you think you're so ambitious, you have so many goals, you have so many dreams. But the Lord was just so kind to say, you know, I'm the potter, you are the clay, and like I know best how to use you, I know best how I've created you, even better than you know yourself. And he was just so kind to just uh speak those things into my life as I at such a young age. That's so good. That's so good.
SPEAKER_00And I know that even there, you know, as a young kid, you could not have pictured, and probably if you could have pictured what you're doing today, how you're involved today, your influence today, you'd probably be terrified.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. I would have never never pictured that. I didn't have a box to put a cross church in. Like I grew up in a small, I mean, for my town, it was big, first Baptist Church of Sebring, Florida, and um lived there, you know, grew up there my whole life. And um, and so to me that was a big church, and that was like maybe 300 people. Wow. Um, and so but that was big to me. So uh no, I didn't have a concept of a church like this or different campuses. All of that was very new to me when I started visiting home with Nick. He never really told me about Cross Church. At the time it was First Baptist Springdale, and they were planting their um the church at Pinnacle Hills. Yeah, I don't know what it was called then. Yeah, but that's when I kind of arrived into the family. They were in, they weren't even in their new building, their building now. They were in their rental building, and that's when I came on the scene. So, no, I it was big to me to start with, and then now I'm just like it's hilarious. The Lord has this sense of humor, but we act we love doing exactly what the Lord's called us to do.
SPEAKER_00And you know, it's just like the Lord to I mean, He only gives you so far ahead. Yes, thank you. Because also, like, yeah, you'd be you'd be scared to death.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Of like, I can't do that. I'm gonna go, I am gonna go to China to crawl in a hole so that nobody can find me.
SPEAKER_03That's exactly right. Exactly right. And it's funny because I've thought about this, you know, thinking about ministry and missions and God's call on our life for so long. Um, I just thought, Lord, well, why don't you want me to go to China? You need missionaries, you know. We always have those big mission pleas, and we need people to go to do things like that. But I was like, well, why don't you want me to do that, Lord? And we'd have that conversation um early on. And the Lord took me to the scripture in Isaiah that obedience is better than sacrifice. And um he just was calling me to trust him and obey him. And so it's funny now to see where what we're doing in ministry because it fits us like a glove, you know. Like I just love doing every part of what we get to do, you know, um, as his as his wife, you know, as the pastor's wife. I didn't even have a box for that, but I love getting to do, I feel like what God's called me to do. Um, and where I'm gifted, I get to do that within the the frame of cross church, which is amazing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And I feel like, you know, so many people view you and and look up to you so highly at our church, you know. Um, and you obviously p play a really important role being both Nick's just supporter, prayer partner, wife, and just partner in ministry throughout this season. Um, but here's another little fun question that I just want to know. Maybe everybody else does too. In the last, you know, y'all's tenure at Cross Church, which has been a while, is there anything that you would say, like anything we've seen or done as a church, that you would say, that was my idea? That was all me. That was my idea.
SPEAKER_03That's hilarious. Yeah, I think um, I would like to say that I talked to Nick's ear off for a while about the topic of heaven. Yes, um, I'm gonna give a shout out to Abby, my sister, Olivia, my sister, Bone Girls, the Bone Girls, um, my mom, because um, I don't we were talking, we were at lunch, we were talking about something, and we started talking about just the topic of heaven, and that kind of just got me really interested. I read Randy Alcorn's book. Um, I'm I think it's just called Heaven. I think it's called Heaven, yeah. Um, and it's a great resource. Um, and so I love Randy Alcorn. Then I started like just get taking in as much stuff as he can of as I can on him. And um, and so I was driving it crazy probably to ask him about heaven and just so excited and I couldn't believe about all the things I was learning and how different it was than I thought in my mind. And I grew up in church, you know, and so um so yeah, I'm so thankful that he decided to do a series on heaven. Yeah, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_04I still send it to people awesome every now and then I'll send them a whole series or one of the sermons or whatever.
SPEAKER_03Now I can't take any credit for the actual sermon series. That's all Nick. It takes me about 40 years to write one lesson and he can do that in 40 minutes. So um we're very we're gifted very differently in that. But I'm so thankful that he took that and did that because he um it was one of his most well-received uh series that he's done, you know, out of all the series. He had so much feedback on that, and so that was just really fun. So I'm gonna say that, and then I'm gonna say I definitely try to keep the fun flowing for the staff culture. Yes. I um I definitely am always in the back of his ear saying, Well, we should do that, or that would be fun. That would be funny. You should do that, you know. And so a lot of our church doesn't get to see those things that we do behind the scenes for the staff. But um, that is something that I really enjoy and um I try to, you know, pull the fun out of Nick. And he has a lot of fun in there. Yeah, sometimes you just gotta pull it out. Exactly. No, that's so good.
SPEAKER_00That's really good. All right, I want you to now kind of fast forward. Uh we kind of started going towards today, of all the different ways that God has equipped you to both, yeah, be a behind-the-scenes support and you're prodding in all the different ways from fun to spiritual.
SPEAKER_03Heaven and fun, those two categories.
SPEAKER_00That's good. But also, you know, how you have a major influence and impact on just the women at Cross Church. So I want you to share a little bit about just your heart for the women of Crosschurch. And obviously, we have a lot of people that listen who don't go to Cross Church and they're all over the place. But like, what's your heart for women? What's your heart for women at Crosschurch? And just share a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, I would say, you know, I really early on, about the time I was meeting Nick, and I um also did biblical studies at Liberty. And so I remember early on um being faced with priorities of a woman, priorities of a godly woman, priorities in ministry, and how does that all fit together? And so from early on, I knew that I wanted to keep my priorities in order. So the Lord is number one, absolutely, my walk with him, every that is the foundation of everything. Um, and then secondly, my marriage to Nick, and then thirdly, parenting my four children. I say that is my first ministry, and I tell women that like those children are your first ministry, no matter what else you want to do, like they are your greatest calling, your first ministry. And um, so the Lord, my marriage, my children, I'd say our home with that, and then I'd put ministry down at the bottom of that, you know. Um, and not that I don't love ministry, I love ministry, but all those things have to be the foundation of the overflow of the ministry that we do because ministry is ministering people's lives, their walk with God, their marriage, and their parenting, and then that's something. Other things, but that's a lot of what you're talking about. So you want to be um having those things in order in your own life so that you can share out of a genuine place your struggles, the things that God's done in your life, your victories, um, how the Holy Spirit is working in your life. And so a lot of our ministry, I think to other people overflows out of our personal walk and relationships that we have in our life. So um, so then you take that into ministry. And um, I just love doing women's ministry here. When we first started Fayev Campus, they didn't have a women, a woman for women's ministry. So I volunteered. I say that was quickly realized that that is not my gifting. Administration is not my gifting, and thank goodness the Lord brought Jennifer Francis because that is her gifting, along with many other things. Um, and she was able to take that over for me. But I realized then that teaching is what I love. Um, I love pouring into women, discipling women, uh, teaching. That's where my passion is. And so I think thankfully was able to hand the leadership of that off to Jennifer. And throughout the years, I've done some teaching, some Bible studies. Um, I did a Bible study for some coaches' wives at the university for a season. Um, when Nick became pastor, I stepped back from that because I felt like our kids were getting so busy, you know, they don't get less busy, they get more busy. And we have four. So about seven years ago is when Nick took this role. And so I pulled back from that and I have not had, you know, a weekly commitment just because our kids have, you know, required so much, and which I love. Like I that is my first priority. So um now these days I'm just doing the women's gathering once a year and then doing whatever else people ask me, stuff like this. Or, you know, um, a lot of times that's Nick and I meeting with somebody, or you know, me meeting with a woman that would like to meet, or if someone like would want me to teach in one of the settings of Cross Church, if I can, I definitely would say yes to that. So um it's really the season of life that I'm in. Yeah. Um, and then what what can I say yes to? You know. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I'll say like every single year, our women look so forward to getting to hear from you. Obviously, be at the women's gathering, we do a lot of fun things at our after party and everything. But truly the highlight of the night is just getting to sit under your teaching. Um, and I will say getting to sit under your teaching as well as getting to sit under you teaching about teaching in my preaching and teaching class at seminary was so fun because in both scenarios, I got to see that your teaching really does come from what you're saying, of like the overflow of what you're experiencing in your walk with the Lord. And I think that's what people love about getting to hear from you. Every single woman, like we'll have over 2,000 women at the women's gathering, and we're leaned in, and it feels like you're just one-on-one with us because you are so intentional, so just real. You're very you, very authentic. So it feels like I'm just at a coffee with you and I'm just listening to you pour into me. And I think our women absolutely love that, and that's why every year our women's gathering has grown so much because of the city.
SPEAKER_03Okay, well, I love doing it, but I keep telling Jen, like, Jen, if we need to switch it up, just tell me.
SPEAKER_04No, no, they look forward to it.
SPEAKER_03But I I love having that opportunity, and I'm thankful for you guys to give me that platform. Um, I don't take that for granted. Thank you for that opportunity because it is an opportunity for me to since I can't sit down one-on-one with every woman, I would love to do that. That would be fun to me. I'm an extrovert. Um, since I can't do that, it gives me an opportunity to share my heart and you know, disciple really a big group of women during one hour, which is so fun. And just to kind of share, usually I'm speaking about something of where I've been, you know, where the Lord's had me. And I find that's the easiest to share from is you know, where you've been with the Lord.
SPEAKER_04So and I think both you and Pastor Nick do such a great job of you lead out of where you've been or where you're currently at. And I think that's been, I think that's what helps our church really rally around you guys because you're real and you're easy to rally around because we want to pray for you guys. We want to be there, we want to support y'all in this, you know? And and I feel like for the for the common, just like church member, it's really easy to forget to pray for our pastors and our pastors' wives and their families. But you you guys do carry such a big weight and burden for one, just the responsibility of leading our church, especially a church our size, um, but also for the ministry of you're carrying out a ministry of we want to live a life of example to our church members, but also we want to have God's hand upon our church. So what are a couple ways that our church members should be and you desire for them to pray for you guys?
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. That's so kind. People are so gracious. So many people, you know, I will hear from them. It was a note or a text, and just that they're praying for us. And honestly, that is the greatest gift that people could give us. And I've said this a million times at the women's events, but you know, prayer truly is the most important thing. One of the greatest works of our life is prayer. And so um, it's not lost on me. If someone says they're gonna pray for us, I know that that's the best thing they can do for us. So praying for us, yes, absolutely. Um, if you would just pray for um our family, um, for our children most of all, I think Nick and I, our greatest desire and focus is um just leading our kids to the Lord. Um, they've all had professions of faith. Praise the Lord. Um, that's a work that only the Spirit can do. And so we praise God for that. And now we're just discipling them and watching them grow. And that I think that thankfully, you know, we have such amazing ministries here that are pouring into our kids. They had Beck and Nora had an incredible time at um camp. Yep. Both just we were so, I mean, I can get goosebumps right now thinking about how thankful I am that the Lord is so faithful to answer prayers and to capture their hearts and to do the work that only God can do. And I've shared with that, I've shared that maybe with Shiloh moms that you know, when we're parenting, there's work that we can do. And I stole this from uh Ruth Graham. There's work that we can do, but then there's work that only God can do, and that's a long list. And even as a pastor's wife, we don't get a special card and magic pill to give our kids, you know. That would be amazing. That'd be nice, but we don't, you know, all of our same thing for y'all. Like um, we're on the same journey as everyone else of just um pouring into our children, doing all the things we can do, praying for them, being an example for them, having those conversations with them. But really at the end of the day, the Holy Spirit is the one who draws them, convicts them, gives them a heart for him, gives them a hunger for his word, all these things that only the spirit can do. So I would just ask for prayer for that, for all the things for God to give Nick and I strength to do, keep going to do the things that we can do as parents to be the best godly parents we can be. And then that God would just abundantly answer those prayers, that he would do those things that only he can do in the spirit. So even this morning on my prayer list, I was thinking, like, Lord, I just pray that you would give each one of uh the people in our family, you know, all four of our kids, and Nick and I just a dynamic, genuine walk with you. Like if that at the end of the day, you know, in 20 years, if they are walking with the Lord and have a genuine relationship with him, yeah. What else, you know, what else is there? Like that is such a blessing. And so obviously we have the biggest heart for the church, but our primary focus is our children and wanting to disciple them and pour into them and then bring them along in the journey to serve Cross Church. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So good. As we can just kind of wrap up, I want us to talk about the women's gathering coming up. Yes. But first, so first give me a real short answer here. What is the women's gathering? They're listening. What is it? Give a short answer.
SPEAKER_04Izzy, you go first. What is the women's gathering? Okay, so our women's gathering is our annual time to gather all the women, ages, I would say preteens to however old you would like to be come on over. Yeah, so straighten up. Yes, we really just gather for worship, get to sit under the teaching of Meredith and whatever the Lord has laid on her heart. And then again, because Meredith prioritizes fun, also, we always have a really fun after-party and really get to enjoy just fellowship, community, and yeah, fun together.
SPEAKER_03And Izzy, let's tell them we try to do a little treat for everybody. We really want us, we want this night to be just a fun night for our women, a night out, um, fun with their friends, their daughters, and we like to give you some type of something yummy too. We tap a little treat. What do we have for them?
SPEAKER_04Knowing that Pastor Nick is the you just the connoisseur, the baker of all things chocolate chip cookies, and we've heard him countless times say that Half-Bake Goodness has the best chocolate chip cookie of all time. We will have uh chocolate chip cookies from Half-Bait Goodness as well as gluten-free chocolate chip cookies from them.
SPEAKER_03All of the gluten-free people have.
SPEAKER_04You know that you're out there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they're still gluten-free, right? Actually, you know, I'm back. I'm back in the gluten family. Oh wow. It's very strange. But I was gluten-free for about three years. It was a hard, it was a hard life. So I feel for all of my gluten-free people, but I'm entering back into the waters. And um, but for all of our gluten-free people, we will have some good. We'll have something for you. We'll have some food trucks.
SPEAKER_04We'll have some food trucks, and another one of our favorites will be there for purches, of course. Handles ice cream.
SPEAKER_03Handles ice cream. Handles would be there.
SPEAKER_04We've got some other fun surprises too, but we do.
SPEAKER_03We have a couple other fun surprises up our sleeves.
SPEAKER_00Can you please do a raffle for a dozen of Nick's cookies?
SPEAKER_03Ooh, that's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00Fun would that be?
SPEAKER_03Okay, done. Done. Yes, done. Fresh out the oven. Floyd, note to you you are making favorite things. There you go. Some cookies, and we will hand them away. I I'll get Nick to come on stage at the end because he's always up there in the balcony. He's so sweet to come. I think he's come to every single one of our women's events and so sweet to give me feedback and um just want to get better at teaching, and he's so sweet to help me with that and kind of go back through it. And um, anyways, supportive and he's there. So we'll bring him on stage and we'll get him to give somebody his chocolate chip cookies. I love it.
SPEAKER_00I love it too. This this episode's sponsored by Pastor Nick and his cookies. Toll.
SPEAKER_03Shout out to chocolate chips. He he goes through a lot of chocolate chips. Yeah, a lot, guys. It's uh yeah, it's it's a lot.
SPEAKER_00Okay, can't wait to try them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I hate you with this too. So for the church that's out there, maybe they don't have something like the women's gathering. Yeah. Why should their church consider doing a uh an event, something to pull all the women together? What's like the high value of our church doing this?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think there's so many. I think for us, our heart was just to pour into the women of our church, to bring to have some event where we can bring them together for community. That's one of our goals. Um, discipleship to pour into their spiritual life. And then thirdly, just to bless them that night. We want them to feel like, oh my goodness, I had so much fun. Women really don't need much, they just want to hang out with people. And so we could we could give them nothing at the after party and they would have a great time. They would be there till we close the day. They would, they would, but we don't do that. We're gonna, we're gonna have some fun things. But um, yeah, I know every church can't do that. Um, but I think you know, anything you do for your women, you do it at your own scale, and it could be so fun. Um, I do love getting to share with the women, share my heart. Um, just on behalf of Nick and I, just connect with them because maybe I don't get to have a one-on-one conversation with every woman. But hopefully after that night, she feels like she knows us, she knows our family, she knows our heart a little bit better, just the heart of our church. And so that's a win to me. Um, and so of course, anybody's welcome to come. Um, but we do this just to bless the women of Cross Church. But anybody's obviously welcome to come.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, we love it and we love you and Nick so much. We again, you guys are both so easy for us to rally around and to support, and we're so grateful to be led by you guys. I look forward to the women's gathering every single year. Um, getting to play a part in it, getting to just sit again under your teaching, in fellowship, in worship with so many women. Um, it is just such a blessing. And I would love to just encourage you with the fact that the way that you live your life, the way that you parent your kids, the way that you pray for your husband, the way that you partner with him in ministry, the way that you, you know, even just the way that you go about ministering within the crowd as a pastor's wife, I think has led and just encouraged me so much in the fact that my home, my private time with the Lord, my intentional just like journey with Jesus, that is what's going to bleed into everyday life, you know. I think it's so easy, especially in an age of social media and you know, the people that people that are most known or those that are most seen. And I think I would rather know you guys because I know y'all, not because I just see you from afar. And I think a lot of people know you and both see you from afar, yet know you personally, whether that be from a stage and they know you personally because you you are that personal. Both of you are so personal that it just connects with people, and we really appreciate that, and that really just changes the game for all of us.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's really sweet. So I'm gonna jump in here and say we have the best staff ever. Our people already know that. But I'm here, I'm here with Jeremy and Izzy, two incredible people. But we we are so blessed at Cross Church with the people that God has brought to us. We couldn't do it. We could not do what God has called us to do 110% without the team that he has brought. And he continually is so faithful to do it. And so we thank God for that. We know it's a work for God's glory, and he is faithful to provide everything he calls us to do, and he's done that. So also, I can't not say that the real people that make the women's event happen are our staff team. Izzy is a creative brain behind that, works so hard, and um, our other girls on staff uh pour a lot of time and thought into that, and we really appreciate it. So we're just grateful for you guys. Uh Meredith We've got to be.
SPEAKER_00Both y'all's friends, but also y'all are great leaders. And so respect you guys a lot. Appreciate y'all being on the podcast today. And if you're listening and this is helpful, um, it'd be great for you to review it. It also would be great to share it with somebody. Share it with somebody who needs to hear this and needs to come to the women's gathering. Or they send your wife to the women's gathering.
SPEAKER_03They're welcome to come. They're welcome to come.
SPEAKER_00Or they need to start their own women's gathering. Whatever it is, share it with someone who needs to hear this. But we love you. We're praying for you. All those that listen to this podcast today, so appreciate you for listening today. And we'll see you on another episode of the Rise Leadership Podcast.
SPEAKER_04Thanks for listening to the Rise Leadership Podcast. If you found today's episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with others in your ministry or community. Let's equip and inspire more leaders together. We'll see you next time on the Rise Leadership Podcast.
