Deanna Doss Shrodes

I'm writing this post today because I don't personally need more income. Don't get me wrong, I could always find uses for money. But my point is, our family income is just fine. But at one time, it wasn't. And only someone who is making a decent salary can write this kind of post, otherwise it's taken as  begging for money. Photo Credit: ccstbp, Flickr Many years ago a woman in the church  where we were pastors at the time came to me with a box of things and said, " Pastor Deanna, I want to donate this to a family in need at the church, and I know you'll know exactly who needs it and who to give it to..." I thanked her. Once she left the room I peeked inside the box and said to myself: "We are that family." I took the box home and our family utilized the contents. At the time we may have been the most financially disadvantaged family in the congregation. We qualified for food stamps. Our kids qualified for free school lunches...

My Celebration Church ladies pray for me.  Fierce 2013 -- our Fall Breakaway for the AG women and teen girls  here in Florida kicks off today!  I'm the rep for the Tampa Bay area and even more than the privilege of serving on this great leadership team, I love being away with our church women and girls.  There is nothing like being a "church mama," and I am one. :)  Have been for 26 years. There is nothing that compares to investing in the lives of people and seeing changes in their hearts. There is nothing I want more than to see our ladies and girls walk in the fullness of God. I'm ready for all that God has for us the next few days. Those of us on the leadership team have been here since 4 pm yesterday, setting up. There's so much amazingness in store for almost 1800 women and girls, they have NO idea!!

This week we've been on vacation near my hometown and also the place where we pastored for ten years.  Each time we return, we have the privilege of enjoying a gathering with those we formerly pastored for ten years, at the church here. Tonight there's a special event -- a dessert and coffee fellowship, to share and catch up. We are always so excited to reconnect. It's been eleven years since we moved to pastor in Tampa, and yet these folks remain precious in our hearts, never forgotten. We had some amazing years together - memories none of us will never forget. We reminisce a lot at the gatherings when we return, and I'm sure there will be a lot of that going on tonight. Speaking of that, I just noticed that yesterday, Enrichment Journal published this article I wrote for their summer edition: Leading People Through Change Without Losing Them . The situation I reference in the article happened when we were pastoring the Maryland church.   I share about how we can...

One thing I love about traveling to different places to minister is the learning factor. When I travel to speak somewhere I have three goals. The first is to give 110% to what I've been brought in to do. I want to give above and beyond what is expected. The second thing I love is encouraging and affirming the leader(s) publicly as well as privately in between sessions. And the third thing I love is learning all that I can from others. I'm like a sponge! When I travel somewhere as the speaker I usually come home with pages full of notes of what I've gleaned from other people.  When I travel alone it's always a challenge to come back and try to explain to Larry whatever it was that I experienced and learned. During times like this weekend, it's great that we are together and there is no explaining to do.  I have always loved North Carolina and in recent years it's become even more special to me with the connections and reconnections I've made with pe...

Lest anyone think I needed the spirit of "Bah Humbug!" cast out of me, I've waited to say this. Now that it's December 26, here goes. Was anybody else but me totally exhausted this season? Do you wonder why you continue year after year on the treadmill of holiday seasonal stress disorder? A few years ago I read this article, Let's Fast Christmas , by an acquaintance in the ministry, Dr. Carolyn Tennant . I've met and talked with Dr. T several times and highly respect her. When I read this article back in 2008, it resonated with me. In fact, my heart leaped within me to do just as she suggested. I felt as if she had given me a personal altar call. But I feel powerless to respond. At a loss to do anything different than what I've always done. And four years later I'm still there. I'm just being real here. Please hear me out before thinking Scrooge might need to be my new nickname. What would it be like to "fast" Christmas as w...

Today I'm blogging at the Pastoring Partners Network on the topic, "Pastoral Pride Will Kill You." I invite all of my friends who are pastoring a church to learn from my mistakes. :)  Have you heard the definition of wisdom? It's the benefit of experience without the pain of mistakes. I'd much rather learn from other people's mistakes than go through the pain of my own. Okay, so the topic of pastoral pride is heavy. I'm glad today's my day off!  :) It's Fun Friday and my man and I have plans for some much needed down time. It might be just a few hours, but it will be soooo good. We've got some work to do around the house to prepare for some company we're expecting for Thanksgiving, and we're so blessed to be spending time today with our former children's pastors, Trinity and Misty Mackley, who are coming into town for the weekend. Oh how we looooooove our Mackleys!! They might have left Tampa but they never left our hearts ...

A bunch of women have blown me away with their feedback to my Fifty Shades of Grey message . I have a follow up today on my weekly ezine , featuring some of the response. Today's message is: "Should you listen to God...or your husband?" Go here to read it, and better yet you can subscribe here so you can get my ezine in your box weekly. (Just go to the little box in the bottom left hand corner and put in your e-mail address. Once you click the link, check the "cup of coffee" to receive it.) Also, my dear friend, Dr. Donna Sallee shared a post yesterday on Pastoring Partners Network, on the Leviathan spirit . I asked her to share this because it was such a help to me personally. Learning about this has rocked my world. Did you ever deal with something and have no idea what it was until someone educated you about it? This happened to me recently. I thought the Jezebel and Absalom spirits were pretty fierce until I came face to face with Leviathan.  Dr. Don...

  I was looking forward to bringing the teaching, "Fifty Shades of No Way," at the Pen-Florida Women's Breakaway, yesterday. (If you missed it, you can read the manuscript of my message here . ) But even more than that, I was excited to have the opportunity to spend the weekend with our Celebration Church women. I got to be with them for three whole days at this conference! Enjoying God's presence together! What tops that?  Anyone who has served as a pastor or pastor's wife can tell you, there are some challenging days. But then there are times like this that you really look forward to. You worship together, you invest, you impart, you spend extended time together in conversation, you make memories, and you laugh and laugh, and laugh some more. And most of all, God changes lives around the altar. What's not to like? As much as I've loved spending time with the women this weekend, I'm glad to be returning home today. I love home! I've miss...

Someone can crochet. That doesn't necessarily mean they should.  Before you do something, make sure it's more than just do-able .    Years ago my husband and I were pastoring a church where a few people were obsessed about starting a building project for a Christian school. These few folks with a personal agenda  would stop at nothing to make this happen. Not gonna lie, it got UGLY. My husband often said to those involved, "I never said we can't build a school. The question is, should we?" More important, what does God want?

Years ago there was a man in the church who served in one of the ministries I directly oversaw who would exhibit abnormal childlike behavior when he didn't get his way. Being the direct overseer of the department, I had a front row seat to his tantrums. Actually I would characterize them as reminiscent of "rebellious pre-teen behavior". It wasn't just me who noticed this. In frustration, other church members would sometimes quip, "would you please grow up?!" when he'd have a meltdown.  We'd endure behavior resembling that of a young teen boy who had his video games taken away. One day in staff meeting, our children's pastor mentioned a psychological issue with some adults who were abused as children. They become developmentally frozen --"stuck" at a younger age -- the one at which they were abused.  These adults usually don't progress emotionally beyond that age, unless they undergo therapy or God does a miracle. When our child...

If I could have a do-over, I would do all three of these things MUCH quicker in my 25-year journey of leadership.  1) Exercise daily.  I'm not a work-out-a-holic by any means. Anyone can tell that from even glancing at me. But, the fact is, for a few months now I've been exercising even if just for 15 minutes a day. The majority of the days I do 30 minutes. And it is absolutely life-changing, particularly related to stress. Some days even if I've already exercised, I go back and do a bit more if something comes up. It helps a lot! Lately I've said to myself, "why didn't I start doing this sooner?" Exercise has been called, "the best drug in the world." 2) Be happy while waiting.  Are you waiting for challenges to be worked out, before allowing yourself to be happy?  The truth is, things will never be perfect until heaven. If you are leading a church or an organization, few easy problems come to your desk. By the time they get to you, ...

Social media is a power tool and quite frankly, some people aren't mature enough for it. Would you allow your two year old to use a chain saw? Surely not. Growth in age and wisdom must come before properly and safely using a power tool.  In the hands of the immature, power tools are dangerous. All maturity does not automatically come with age. It must be cultivated.  Social media is a power tool that some full grown adults are not ready for.  Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and texting opened a whole new can of worms for those who serve in leadership. The changes have been mostly good. These tools have made my job 100% easier in so many ways, not to mention ripe with unprecedented opportunity. At the same time these wonderful tools have also become platforms for bad behavior and perhaps the worst display of immaturity throughout the annals of history. People say things through e-mail, text, Facebook and Twitter that they would probably never say in person. Sitting beh...

This may just be the strangest thing that has EVER happened to me in an elevator. Why am I including an elevator story among the "True Church Stories" series ? Because I include things in this series that go on in the course of ministering in the "church world", not just in the church building or office. In addition to pastoring at our church I also travel and speak. The past few years I've traveled an average of about one weekend a month doing that. Many times I've been asked to speak about marriage. In fact, at our district Experience Conference, I've taught the session on married sexuality for many years. I asked not to have that assignment this past year, because I was kind of tired of being known as "the sex lady" at least as that particular conference is concerned. I enjoy teaching about biblical sexuality, but I also like to share on a plethora of other topics. So... At a women's conference years ago here in Florida, I was as...

Songs of worship continued as people streamed forward to receive personal prayer from the pastors and prayer team. This is customary in our church services as we believe in divine healing and miracles and we pray for them. My husband Larry, the lead pastor, was going from person to person, anointing their heads with oil and praying over their needs. As he approached one man, the gentlemen leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Pray for me, pastor. I've been struggling a lot with diarrhea." Larry leaned in and said, "okay... do you want me to bind it, or loose it?" I can't remember what the guy's answer was, as all I have remembered over the years is what my husband said. Either way, it's hilarious. In case you've landed upon this series for the first time, you might notice it's story number 41. I share 40 other "True Church Stories" from our pastoral ministry. Just go to this link and you can enjoy all of them. Many people ...

Would you like to know how to lead a church prayer meeting without flakes, fruitloops and freaks taking over and holding it hostage? It's not easy, especially if you're a pentecostal. I understand your dilemma. We've finally managed to have pentecostal prayer meetings that aren't hi-jacked, at Celebration . It took a while. I was asked to teach on this subject at the Experience Conference , which is a district event today and tomorrow in Lakeland, FL. Larry and I are teaching sessions both days. I'm speaking on leading pentecostal prayer & JUGGLE , and he's speaking on leading the church through change. In case you are interested in the basics of what I'm going to cover today about leading prayer meetings minus the flakes, you can find it in my 5-part series here on the blog on the same topic. My Journey to Making History Through Prayer - Part 1 My Journey to Making History Through Prayer - Part 2 My Journey to Making History Through Pra...

Photo credit: Savanna Shrodes How or why is pastoring more challenging than any other profession? I'm about to answer that question today. I'm blogging over at Pastoring Partners Network today and if you're interested you can read my post, Why Pastoring Is Harder, there. Speaking of hard things...we have been without A/C for four days now. In temperatures up to 91 degrees. It has rained some this weekend which made it somewhat more bearable. Our A/C needed to be replaced. It has already been repaired twice and this time it couldn't be. So, we are supposed to get it installed today. I am hoping the family can sleep well tonight. In the meantime I have counted it all joy and kept my mind on friends in other countries, and even one friend in the USA, who does not have A/C. What new compassion it has given me for them. Right now it's 89 inside our house and even the dogs are just laying here, tongues hanging out, although I have given them plenty of ice water. Co...

I begin this post by giving a disclaimer that it's not about anyone specific at the church where I serve as a pastor.  If you're among the many people at Celebration Church who have recently experienced a breakup, this isn't about you personally.  I could have waited to write this post until no one at Celebration is breaking up but the truth is, if that was the case I'd never write the post. Breakups happen in our church body all the time. I'm sure it happens at your church too. So let's unpack this issue that all of us who are Christians and a part of a local church, face. Dating stinks for the church. It's only a win if the people actually get married, and well...let me ask you...did you marry the one and only person you ever dated? A few of you will be able to say yes to this question. For most, the answer will be no. And in some cases, it's not a win for them or the church if they get married but aren't really right for each other but ge...

Do you ever have days where you can’t remember what the name of the thing you use to attach papers together is? (Stapler) Do you draw a blank when you look at your own family members and you try to remember their names…and you aren’t 85 years old, you’re 45? I understand. Maybe it’s time for a change of scenery.     Not a move across the country and nothing earth shattering or major, but a change of scenery even for just a few hours or a few days. I understand.  Larry got us this place for the first few days of our vacation that is honestly not much more than staying in an economy motel room but it’s exquisite! This is the view from our balcony where I’m eating breakfast this morning…   Savanna found herself a special spot to sit and think for a while in a tree…  Sometimes we just need to look at things from a different angle. My good friend Sue Duffield talked about that this week in one of her “drive by devotionals...

Today I'm blogging over at the Pastoring Partners Network with a post I've written called, "Pastors' Wives Dealin' With the Holy Ghost Paparazzi!"  If you're a pastors' wife, I hope this is an encouragement to you. Happy Friday, everyone!  

Years ago here at the church we now pastor we hosted an event for women that specifically focused on married love. As the women came in there were mannequins dressed in wedding gowns, and a beautiful wedding cake at the center of the room, and bridal bouquets were the centerpieces. It was a lovely night and the place was packed with women eager to hear my message about what the Bible says about the blessings of married love. After the message we featured a panel discussion/question and answer session. The ladies asked a lot of candid questions and we did our best to answer them. I was delighted by how some of the older, even elderly women, contributed with their advice. One lady who was in her eighties (we'll call her Sis. Blanche), shared a memory with the women from the early days of marriage. She said, "Girls, back in the day we would go to the beauty shop once a week to get our hair done. We'd get our hair teased and styled up and sprayed real good. Then we...