Jean Stockdale and MOMS ministry at Bellevue Baptist Church

Bellevue Baptist Church is a megachurch (30,000 plus members) here in the Memphis area. Adrian Rogers was the former pastor, and since his retirement and subsequent passing there have been a lot of changes and media attention. Many churches and Christians love to talk badly about Bellevue because of their size, saying that such large congregations are not Biblical, they are too big to truly care for their congregation and other nonsense. I could go on and on about how people get only as involved as they want to in any church, and how tearing down another congregation does not lift yours up, but instead I would like to share the positive experience I have had with Bellevue and more specifically their Women's Ministry.

We have attended exactly 1 worship service at Bellevue, the obligatory visit because we just moved here and Shane's cousin is a deacon there. This was back in the day of Dr. Rogers and the sermon was great, but the service itself was much more formal than what we were accustomed. So, we were happy to worship with family for that Sunday, but we eventually settled ourselves at another church in the area that is the polar opposite in style, Highpoint Memphis.

After we finally realized that we needed to go to church closer to home in order to be plugged in and serving as we should, we ended up at another church in our small town that was again, the other end of the spectrum from both other churches. Since we had moved to our little town and I still didn't have a lot of friends in the area, a friend who is also not a Bellevue member suggested I go to their MOMS ministry, which meets on Thursday mornings. I figured I had nothing to lose, so gave it another try.

What wonderful advice! The MOMS ministry is marvelous. Small groups of about 15-20 women meet from 9:30-10:30 for Bible discussion, and then head to large group from 10:45-11:30. This group is lead by Jean Stockdale, who also writes the Bible Studies for each semester. Jean is incredible. Each semester's study deals with becoming a more Christlike woman and how that applies to our roles as both Mom and Wife. We have studied the books of James, I and II Peter, Proverbs and II Timothy. Next session will be a study of the book of Ezekiel. I am excited to see what God and Jean have in store for us.

Jean is dynamic, expressive, hilarious and full of wonderful insight and wisdom on the word of the Lord and raising a family to grow into Godly adults. She has gone on to publish several of her studies, which are available on Amazon.com, and you can hear her on demand on Bellevue's site HERE. (I warned you- she is very expressive!) You can search through there and see several of her sessions from the study. (Also, check out some of Donna Gaines' sessions. She is the pastor's wife and also a dynamic speaker.)

Would I become a member of Bellevue Baptist Church? Probably not, primarily because of our location compared to theirs, the worship style and sheer size of the congregation. Have I learned a lot and heard from God as a result of their women's ministry? You bet I have! But because of their size they are ableto reach out into the community and open their doors daily to spread the gospel, even to us Mommas who are in a new city and in need of a friend.