We have amazing MarriedPeople partner churches. These marriage champions are taking the MarriedPeople resources and doing things that are above and beyond anything we dreamed about.
We want you to meet them. So once a month, well spotlight a different church that is impacting not only the marriages in their church, but in their community. We want you to meet people from churches of all sizes, large and small, in various types of communities, whether urban, rural or suburban, with budgets big and small and volunteers plenty or scarce. Regardless of how different these churches may be from yours, we think youll find some relevancy to where you are.
We gave them a list of questions to find out more about their church, their team and their ministry. This month, we would like to introduce you to Ashleigh Patterson at Lakeshore Church in Rockwall, Texas.
Church: Lakeshore Church (Rockwall, TX)
MarriedPeople champion: Ashleigh Patterson
Size of your church: 1000+
Approximate number of married couples: 300-400
Describe the area you are in: suburban
Tell Us About . . . You and Your Team
I am full-time on staff (as Nursery Director).
How did you get involved in marriage ministry? I was asked.
How many people are on your marriage ministry team? Five totaltwo on staff and three spouses
How did you recruit your team? They volunteered.
Tell Us About . . . How You Use the MarriedPeople Resources and Strategy
What resources do you use from MarriedPeople? Strategy Pack
Larger Group Experiences, Small Group Experiences and Date Nights
What does the calendar year look like with your marriage strategy? (How many one-night events do you do? Date Nights? Small groups? Do you send E-ZINEs out every month?)
We do an annual Marriage Seminar using 2 large group experiences and 2 separate one-night events throughout the year.
What are some of the unique challenges to planning events in your community, and how have you worked around them?
Youth sports are a big deal, and other large community events. We just try to be aware of what is going on when planning for the year.
What has been one really great thing that has come from using MarriedPeople resources? Tell us a story. We had a small group that was formed after our Marriage Seminar this year and it has really taken off. They finished the Married People small group materials and asked for more curriculum so they could keep meeting. The participants of the group are building stronger marriages and having a lot of fun!
What has been your biggest success so far? I would just say that all the events have been great because of the resources provided! It makes it hard to fail!
What has been your biggest fail and what did you learn from it? We didn’t have much success the first time we tried to get couples to hashtag a photo, so the next time we did it we REALLY emphasized it and had more participation.
Whats your dream to happen next? I would like to do bigger date night events!
Thanks, Ashleigh, and the awesome team impacting marriages in Rockwall, TX!
For more about Lakeshore Church, check out their website.
To connect with other MarriedPeople leaders, request to join the MarriedPeople Leaders Facebook group.
Tim Walker is an editor on the MarriedPeople team, and blogger at timswords.com.
