News / Education
Ministry is a Shirer family affair
Husband and wife team combine talent to spread the Gospel
Neither would have it any other way. For Priscilla and Jerry Shirer, ministry is a partnership.
Priscilla is a Bible teacher and author of Can We Talk? Soul-Stirring Conversations with God, He Speaks to Me, Discerning the Voice of God, And We are Changed, and A Jewel in His Crown. She is also the headliner for the Going Beyond Bible study events and shares the platform with fellow Bible teachers and authors Beth Moore and Kay Arthur for the Deeper Still events (see LifeWay Women's events), both sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Women who have studied her resources or attended one of her events know her face and recognize her anointing.
While Priscilla is on stage, her husband, Jerry, is working behind the scenes to make sure everything on the business side of the ministry is handled appropriately and professionally.
She has the theological background, with a master’s degree in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. He has the business background, having worked in the corporate world as a vice president for Hilton Hotels.
“We met when I spoke to a group of business executives and Jerry was in the audience,” she said. “The woman who invited me introduced me to Jerry. We began talking and discovered we had attended the same church for several years, but had never met. At that point I was a motivational speaker, and I guess I motivated Jerry more than anyone else there, because 11 months later we were engaged.”
After they were married, Priscilla continued with her speaking engagements, but found her heart telling her it was time to turn her talents exclusively to ministry. She and Jerry founded Going Beyond Ministries and her Christian speaking and writing career began.
A little more than five years ago, Priscilla realized she was spending so much time dealing with the phone calls, speaking requests, writing assignments and the business aspects of the ministry that she didn’t have the time she wanted to devote to the ministry she did best.
She and Jerry talked, prayed and felt God telling them it was time to step out in obedience to His call of full-time ministry for both of them.
Jerry’s business background makes him uniquely qualified to take over the business side of Priscilla’s ministry. He accepts or rejects appearance requests, deals with publishers, oversees interviews and handles all the financial situations.
“I see my job as being her protector,” he said. “I want to protect her from the business of ministry so her heart won’t be tainted by that side of it. When she gets on stage to speak I want her heart to be just as pure as it can be.
“My doing this allows her to not have to be concerned or even aware of that side of the ministry,” he said. “This allows her to only focus on what God is saying to her. There is no motive for her to make one decision over another.”
Jerry is a self-proclaimed detail person. He said that while he protects her from the business, he is well aware that he needs to be realistic and practical.
“I created a notebook that has every detail about what I do,” he said. “If anything should happen to me, she could go there and see the need to do this and do that, go here and go there. She would have all the information she needs.”
Priscilla said she is thankful God placed Jerry with her as a husband and partner. “His strengths are my weaknesses, and my strengths are his weaknesses. I don’t want to do what he does and he doesn’t want to do what I do.”
Looking at him, she asked, “Don’t you agree?”
He does.
“She does not want to be in my office and I do not want to be on her stage,” he said. “And that works out great.”
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