Feed My Sheep Pastors’ Wives Conference: Rooted in the Spirit, Bearing Fruit Together

September 16th, 2026
by Grace Fellowship

Four sisters in Christ from Grace Fellowship attended the Feed My Sheep Pastors’ Wives Conference on Friday and Saturday, September 11th–12th, hosted by Mount Vernon Baptist Church. Approximately 175 pastors’/elders’ wives, future pastors’ wives, and women serving in ministry united to form friendships, study the Word, and worship. All parts of the event were encouraging, exemplified kindness and hospitality, and gave grace to those in attendance.

Keri Folmar, whose husband John is the Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai, was the guest speaker, sharing insights from her book, The Good Portion: The Holy Spirit — Delighting in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. A copy of this book is now available in the library.

The insights shared by Keri were reminders of God’s presence through His Spirit in our lives in whatever struggle, challenge, or daily circumstance we face.

Key Takeaways

The Holy Spirit's Work: The Holy Spirit is a person, not a “force” for our own purposes. He is a Helper that does His work, over time, in daily study, conviction, fellowship with the body, and prayer. He enables us to experience God’s love and gives us fellowship with God, which brings peace.
Suffering and Strength: No suffering is stronger than the Spirit in us!
Root Before Fruit: The character and fruit of the Spirit must have the “root” of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which gives us a new nature to bear fruit. “Root” must come before “fruit!” (Titus 3:5–7).
Our Orchard: We must be part of our “Orchard,” a church where love and truth can surround us, where we share the “nutrients” of the Word, where we can serve one another, grow strong, and allow our “fruit” to flourish.
Bearing Fruit (Galatians 5:22–24): We were recreated to live in His LOVE, delight JOY-ously in Him and His good news. We are to be PEACE-makers as His peace has been extended to us. Live in PATIENCE as we face suffering and extend patience to others (as He exhibited and extended to us). We are to be intentional in KINDNESS so that God’s Word is not reviled (Titus 2:5). Kindness is to clothe us! As His children and created in His likeness, we are made to exhibit GOODNESS and live to His glory. Our GENTLENESS should be walked out to bring unity (Ephesians 4:1–3). Our SELF-CONTROL should be a daily part of our life as we crucify the flesh and are not driven by our emotions or passions.
Pruning the Flesh: We should “prune” the flesh through study of the Word, fellowship, body support, and being conformed to Christ’s image.

Our worship together melodiously echoed the theme of the sessions as we sang the words from All Praise To Him by Bob Kauflin and Matt Merker:

All praise to Him whose pow’r imparts

The love of God within our hearts

The Spirit of all truth and peace

The fount of joy and holiness

To Father, Son, and Spirit now

Our souls we lift, our wills we bow

To You, the triune God,

We raise With loving hearts our song of praise

Additionally, we, as sisters, were encouraged to develop strong, growing friendships in the church, which Satan loves to attack. We need one another to bear burdens, encourage, and walk through life together.

A counselor at Capitol Hill, Tina Pritchard, shared valuable steps to encourage us personally and to use in helping others who are facing anxiety over the struggles and difficulties of life. These principles point us to the importance of speaking the truth of God’s Word to the situation. While worries give us tunnel vision, Christ has solved our greatest problem—sin. He promises to be with us as we face fears, and He can identify with our temptations and weaknesses. We serve a God that can give daily grace and peace to help in our time of need. As sisters, we can all share in the ministry of encouraging those around us with biblical truth.

Worship, again, beautifully reminded us of the truths of God’s power to restore and work in us in every situation:

I am not my own and now my heart is free

O Maker, come and make what You will of me

There is nothing broken that You cannot repair

So Lord, I leave my life in Your loving care

(— “I Am Not My Own” by Skye Peterson, Keith & Kristyn Getty)

Of course, you can’t attend a pastors’ wives conference and not discuss ways to support our spouses in ministry. Prayers for husbands to be strong leaders, to be protected, to be pure, and wise are essential. Being a friend and giving words of affirmation were mentioned, as was expressing gratitude and ways that you see God using or growing them. Physical intimacy is a way that a husband can be encouraged which can only come from you as a wife. Serving together and supporting his ministry by being involved in the church is a valuable encouragement and necessary example. Turning to him for wisdom when trying to balance being a “help-meet” and being involved in outside ministry/activities is an encouragement to our husband. Our priorities need to be correctly and divinely balanced by keeping our family and church family as our primary focus. These truths can help each woman encourage and support her husband whether in ministry or not.

Finally, the attendance at a conference with sisters from our fellowship was a priceless blessing and privilege as we rejoiced in knowing one another and spent time together in God’s Word and worship of Him.

This article was written by Ann Jones.