The Woman Beside the Man Meet Georgia Jan!
I am out-of-my-mind thrilled to introduce our first ever Woman Beside the Man. She is none other than our beloved Georgia Jan. Jan, thank you so much for playing along with us! For those of you who don’t know her, she is the epitome of all a pastor’s wife should aspire to be – joyful, gracious, loving, crazy about her man and most of all – she’s crazy about her Jesus
I don’t want to steal Jan’s thunder so here’s what she had to share with us in her interview:
1. Please share your Real Name and Blog Name:
My real name is Jan Maloy Morton
My blog name is “Georgia Jan.” (Not very creative – I live in Georgia and my name is Jan!)
My blog name is “Georgia Jan.” (Not very creative – I live in Georgia and my name is Jan!)
2. In what area/areas of ministry do you serve alongside your husband?
My husband is the Worship Pastor as well as Church administrator (www.sbcwr.org). I am my husband’s favorite first soprano and have been singing in “his choir” for over 33 years…we were high school sweethearts! We also teach a Sunday School class together that is for new/prospective church members that is a covenant class required for church membership, called “Second Life” (our church is Second Baptist….hence the name). We love to mentor young couples and we love the younger pastors and wives on our church staff as well.
How long have you been in ministry? 32 years
3. What is your favorite part of being a ministry wife?
I can truthfully say that my favorite part about being a ministry wife is serving God’s people alongside my husband. Girls, we are blessed to be partners WITH our husbands as ministry wives. Many women have no clue as to what their husband’s jobs actually entail, yet we are blessed to actively participate with our men! It isn’t always easy…this I know, but it is a privilege!
4. Describe your personal giftedness. How do you exercise that within the church?
I love to lead and teach and use these gifts as Women’s Ministry Director and have served in that role for 12 years. I could not do this without the great team of ladies helping me! I teach women’s Bible study classes every Sunday night and have done that for almost 18 years. That is my favorite! I love to plan events and love on the other pastor’s wives on our church staff. I am the “Titus” staff woman in both age and experience. I am also a soloist, but my greatest joy is singing in the choir. God has given me the gift of discernment – that is a great blessing in ministry…
5. If you have children, what’s the most embarrassing PK thing they have ever done?
We have two sons, ages 27 and 24. Our oldest son was only 6 and we had JUST moved to our church – had literally been here less than 4 weeks. We were living in an apartment complex and he had been exposed to some new things, primarily some new words he had learned on the playground. During circle time at Vacation Bible School he asked a college-aged young man who was interning that summer if he had “sex”…OH MY GOODNESS…it was horrible…funny now but at that moment I knew I should have kept the boxes to start packing again. This son is now a Pastor, working on his doctorate. God reigns!
6. What is the single most important piece of advice you would like to offer other ministry wives?
Love the people and be yourself, and remember that battles are won on your knees in prayer.
7. Do you have a question about ministry life you’d like answered by those who reading this spotlight?
Do you make friends easily with women in your congregation and have “best friends,” or do you not have close friendships with them?
8. Where can we visit you on the web?
Now don’t you girls just love this? I feel like I know Jan better already. :)) I want to point out question 7 to you because each week, we’ll be asking one another for input on any number of issues. I hope you will take a moment to respond to this great topic of friendships within the church in the comments whether you are a ministry or layperson!
Happy Friday! Visit here to learn how to be featured on The Woman Beside the Man.
It is my joy to know Jan and she is my mentor or Titus 2 woman! Jan, you are an amazing woman and I am honored to call you friend!
Love you!
I hope I am reading right to respond to question 7. I definitely am friends with other ladies in the church, but my very closest friends are outside of my church. This was not necessarily on purpose. I feel like I can 100% confide in a few friends who are godly women but not in my church, while I am a bit more guarded with the women in my church (with one exception).
I do love all the women in my church, and I definitely do not act like I have it all together. I share weaknesses and things, but when it comes to deep matters of the heart, I am a bit hesitant to be fully open. Fortunately, God has given me amazing friendships that I can be vulnerable.
That is my experience, not saying it is right or wrong.
I ditto what Sarah said above…I feel like I can’t confide in the women at church very much and I keep in touch with some old friends back home and even some strangers on a blog that we keep together where we study in the Word and pray for each other. There is safety in that. I think most pastor’s wives find it difficult to really have close friends in the flock they are ministering to….we are always seen as the “spiritual professionals” and so my new friendships usually end up becoming discipleship or counseling relationships. =0( But, God knows this struggle for us PWs and so I pray that we can each find kindred spirits out there to connect with that don’t threaten our flock relationships…like this blog! Thanks Lisa for providing it for us!
It was great to get to know you Jan! My husband does the same ministries as yours!
So great getting to know more about Ga Jan!
I agree with Sarah too, I do make friends easily within the church but my best friends remain those outside the church, both from back home and 2 who happen to go to other churches in our town. I didnt seek out these friendships but I believe God blessed me with a friend outside our church I could share honestly with without breaking any confidences.
It was great to ‘meet’ you Jan! :)
Hi Lisa,
I want to thank you for your kind comment on my blog regarding keeping me in prayer. It really meant alot. I also love this post.
My husband is studying to be a pastor and so I think it will be an added blessing to hear and develope friendships from experienced Preacher Wives and God Bless you all!
Lisa: Thank YOU for your ministry through the world-wide-web. I love your blog and I love you! Thank you for “this feature.” As a Pastor’s wife – you know how that is sort of awkward – but here it is a safe place…and I count it a privilege among friends and sisters (siestas)…
I wrote a tribute to my sweet husband because of what you did for me, because he is truly THE MAN IN FRONT OF THIS WOMAN!
Bless you my friend, I hope to connect with you soon about a women’s event at our church.
Much Love,
Georgia Jan
This made my morning:)
I love you not-so-ordinary-from Georgia-Jan;)
If you haven’t had a chance to meet this lady, let me tell you you’ll laugh and you’ll cry:)
She’s an amazing woman of God:)
P.S- I am trying to get my Pastor’s wife to come to Deeper Still:)
Great getting to know more about you GA Jan! Lisa, I don't know if I am considered one of your bfs, but I love you and I'm so proud to call you my friend. I'm also proud of you for the work you do (in & outside of the church)and for the example you and Luke set for other young couples!
p.s.-the word verification for me is socool-that pretty much sums you up Lisa McKay!
I love this Lisa….
and after all this drama in my life right now… I want to “join”.
love you girl and thanks for this new “ministry”.
Great to know more about Jan… and I plan to visit with her (later also…)
love you girls!
How fun is this?! Thank you, Lisa, for this new adventure. I had just started visiting Jan’s blog a week or two ago and we’ve
been “talking.” We are both going to he Minister’s Wives conference in Nashville next weekend and are going to try to get together. How fun to see her as the first PW featured!
Jan is just the most precious lady that loves God and God so uses her in our lives as an example.
Lovingly,
Yolanda
Georgia Jan was the perfect PW to start us off! Thank you for your answers.
As far as question 7 goes, it’s taken about a year of being in a bible study small group for me to become good friends with some women in the church. I felt like at first, the “pastor’s wife” title did create a little bit of a void between us. But I think that was the enemy trying to make me feel isolated.
My two closest friends are long distance friends. We’re pretty new to ministry so I’m not sure how helpful that is!
Funny you should ask about friends in the church… Just today my pastor-husband and I were talking about this. Yes, I make friends easily. But, no, I don’t feel I can be open and honest as much as I would a “normal” friend. Unfortunately, I moved away from all my “normal” friends and find it hard to stay connected long distance. I have a pastor wife friend in the area, who knew me in college, so she and I can be REAL with each other. But we find it impossible to get together. It’s frustrating and lonely sometimes. But, at the same time, I could probably call any lady at my church in a time of need, and she would be rushing and willing to get here. (the question is – would I ever?!)
Thanks Lisa for this great spotlight!
I so enjoyed getting to know Ga. Jan better!
It’s not difficult for me to make friends with the ladies in our church but my closest friends are ladies outside of our church (my sis and mom specifically!)
I’m looking forward to meeting others soon!
Now I am anxious for each Saturday to come!
I’m wife to an assistant pastor. All my life I heard or was told that a pastor’s wife should not have close friends withing the church. However, I can’t remember where or whom, but in the past few years someone said how it was important to be friends with the woman in your church…including having some that are close. I can honestly say I have a whole array of friends in the woman at church. One in paticular I am really close to, and then others I’m not at all. BUT no matter who they are I am FRIENDLY to them. We are human, too, and it’s part of life to have some woman you are closer to than others. I think it helps that I am one of 3 pastor’s wives at our church and that it feels more “spread out” because I’m close to some of the woman that the other wives are not and vice versa.
I’m still trying to find my way with this one. Like someone already mentioned, the new friends I make end up being mentoring or counseling relationships :-( Even the closer friends outside of church I don’t seem to have the freedom with I would desire. I have to be real careful not to get isolated. We live in a small town in the northeast corner of Germany. There’s just not a lot of lively christian activity here, and everyone I know lives so far away. I would LOVE to have an AMERICAN friend nearby! Thank you for this site – it helps me feel connected!!!
No, I don’t think you can be friends with women in the church as far as close friends go, with whom you can bear your heart. It would surprise and confuse them if I did.
I do feel I can call them for help, though, like prayer, or assistance at a potluck, and they can call me for help, too.
Really, I have nobody nearby that I can go to for spiritual help or if I have a problem and need to bear my heart. I call up old friends for that, and even then, that is hard, because they remember me back before I was a pastor’s wife and cannot “see” me in their mind’s eye as a pastor’s wife now.
I call my Jewish friend who has known me since I was 13, and who is out of the whole church thing, for REAL advice. She is never sanctimonious with me like, “Don’t you just trust God?” like many of my old Christian friends are.
I have made some Christian blog friends with whom I have bared my heart, even though they are not pastors’ wives. I have gotten a lot of help from them and am so thankful.
I live in an area where their are very few evangelical churches. The pastors’ wives around here are in mainline denominations and are ordained pastors themselves, with their own churches, or they are their husbands’ official, paid, ordained associates, which is how they have solved the pastor’s wife problem. Not my solution.
Oh, and I absolutely cannot be myself — at least not openly. People expect a sort of Pollyanna person, and are confused if you are not like that, so I try my best to be like that, but I am not always successful!
My main ministry is praying for my husband and keeping the home. I occasionally do some music, and LOVE doing the church bulletin. I love picking out all the pretty bulletin covers! I have also done Beth Moore studies, which I like.
Overall, I really like the church that we have been pastoring since August.
Thanks for the opportunity to get to know Georgia Jan. This was really great and I’m looking forward to getting to know more pastor’s wives.
I’m friends with the ladies in our church and can share with them. Some more than others. But I love them all and could call on any one of them in times of need.
Thanks for doing this WBTM series, Lisa! It’s so great to get to know other women who are “married to the ministry”. I went over and checked out Jan’s blog… what a jewel!! Thanks again for introducing her to us! Have a great day!!
I love Georgia Jan and what a blessing she is to any and all that know her. Keep on Georgia Jan! We love you so much!