Subject: Who or what is your priority?

April 2022 | Issue 47

Heather Crews

Pastor Heather Crews will offer her experience at AWL's Virtual Mentor Series event, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Eastern, April 26. Register today!

Heather Crews is amazed at the doors God has opened in her life, continually “handing me my dream job.”

Crews, who has spent more than 20 years in ministry, is currently an associate director of Pastoral Ministries for the Potomac Conference and an associate director of the North American Division Ministerial Association. She coaches pastors and helps congregations find new pastors and connect with the Potomac Conference in Maryland and Virginia and supports women pastors across the United States, Canada and the Guam-Micronesia Mission.

As busy as her jobs may be, she’s learned “to put the first things first.”

“There will always be more to do. There will be always more things at the end of the day that I wish I had accomplished or that are sitting on my to-do list saying, ‘See you in the morning. Bright and early, please,’ " Crews says. “I want to put in the things that are most important first and that is time with God, time with my family. They actually come above my calling.”

Coming to that realization — priorities being God, family and then the calling — took some time and is still a work in progress.

“I want to put in the things that are most important first and that is time with God, time with my family.”

“At first, that was just words, it was just something I had heard and it sounded really good,” Crews said. “I started pastoral ministry when I was single, so family looked very different. I could work all day and nobody said, "Why didn't you come home for lunch or answer my text message?"

As she married and then had two children, she realized she had to create space and time to keep the connection going.

“If I don't have that connection [with God], why am I doing this?” Crews says. “I am going through the motions, I am doing something devoid of the power that allows me to do what I do. … when you look at wife and mother to my amazing family, I'm irreplaceable there. If I lose them in the process or set them to the side ... I won't have the close relationship.”

Crews will talk about managing your time and energy to get the most out of your day at the next Virtual Mentor Series event, 1:30 p.m. Eastern, April 26.

Consider This:

What are you allowing to fill your day?
Do certain activities or events leave you energized? What are they?
Do other activities leave you drained?

Pastor Heather Crews would like you to review your calendar with these questions in mind to prepare for our next Virtual Mentor Series event on managing your time and energy.

— Michele Joseph, managing editor, Adventist Women Leaders newsletter

The Art of Leading Group Decision-Making

Do groups make better decisions than individuals?

Gina Creek, executive director of AdventHealth’s Leadership Institute, posed this question to women attending the second Virtual Mentor Series event on March 24. Attendees from Washington state to Nebraska, Kentucky, Maryland and Ohio shared their thoughts.

In truth, Creek said, it depends on certain conditions. They include:

Group members need to have unique and relevant information to share with each other.
Group leaders need to frame the discussion for problem-solving.
Group leaders need to understand that people work through problem-solving differently.

Creek explained diverse knowledge and perspectives are required, but this can bring contention. A leader must find ways to focus group members on the issue and away from pitting their ideas and personalities against each other. A leader must also recognize the ways people think about problems and accommodate for them.

She used a personality assessment tool called Everything DiSC, to describe the different ways people approach problem-solving: direct, influence, steadiness, conscientious. People may have more than one decision style, Creek said. For example, a person might be direct and influential or steady and conscientious.

To learn more about the essential conditions needed in group decision-making and problem-solving styles, watch Creek’s presentation. It will be posted soon on the Adventist Women Leaders website.

Did You Miss It?

If you were unable to attend the Virtual Mentor Series event with executive leadership coach Leah Dean or would like to watch it again, you can!

Dean's presentation, Assemble Your Tribe, is now available on the Adventist Women Leaders website.

Up Next

When are you most productive? Is there a point in your day when it is really hard for you to focus? Are there certain tasks that drain you?

Join us at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, April 26 as Pastor Heather Crews, an associate director of Pastoral Ministries for Potomac Conference and a North American Division Ministerial Association associate director, shares her tips for getting the most out of your day.

To stay informed about upcoming topics and meeting dates, check the AWL newsletter, website, Facebook and Instagram pages.

To suggest topics, email us at connect@adventistwomenleaders.com.

— Michele Joseph, managing editor, Adventist Women Leaders newsletter

"Silence is where God waits for us so we can listen to His promises, not the voice of our fears."

— Olga Valdivia, author

You can find quotes like this and so much more on AWL's Facebook page.

Celebrate the Achievements of Women Leaders

Prudence LaBeach Pollard, acting vice president of Oakwood University, was awarded the President's Lifetime Achievement Award in Washington, D.C.

Let’s celebrate God’s work and blessings in the lives of Adventist Women Leaders. Please share links to articles and social media posts announcing promotions, honors and achievements that we can share in this newsletter. Email info to connect@adventistwomenleaders.com.

Meditations

"For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' "

— Acts 17:28, NIV

AWL's Prayer Circle

Christina Coston

Communication Director

Iowa-Missouri Conference
West Des Moines, Iowa

communication@imsda.org

LuAnn Davis

Vice President for Advancement

Union College

Lincoln, NE

luann.davis@ucollege.edu

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AWL is now on Instagram and Facebook. Like, subscribe and share your advice. Enjoy our Women's History Month tributes to early Adventist women leaders, encouragement from powerful quotes and beautiful reminders of God's special gift — the Sabbath.

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AWL Committee: Wendy Eberhardt, committee advisor; Celeste Ryan Blyden, founder/chair; Brenda Dickerson, Carolyn R. Forrest, Ann Roda and Michele Joseph, communication manager

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