Your offering helps pastors, wives connect

Leading a church can be lonely.

At the Pastors and Wives Retreat in July, data shared with ministry couples highlighted to what extent — “half of clergy claim to be frequently or often lonely,” according to research conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

That’s why the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists puts on a retreat for ministry couples every three years. It’s a chance for them to connect with God and make friends with other couples in ministry.

The Pastors and Wives Retreat is one of eight ministries supported by the Arizona Mission Offering. This year, the Arizona Mission Network hopes to see at least 200 churches contribute a total of $200,000 to the offering, equating to $25,000 for each ministry. There are more than 460 churches in the Arizona Mission Network, says Monty Patton, associate executive director of the network.

To put on the 2024 retreat, the network puts aside funds from the offering each year for three years. The total cost to put on the retreat was about $150,000, Patton says.
“We have to take care of the souls of our pastors,” says Patton about the value of the retreat. “This is just one of the ways that we’re able to do that and help minister to the soul of the pastor and wife.”

This July, 164 ministry couples from 108 churches participated in the two-night retreat at The Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park.

Scheduled programming was light, including a Thursday evening game night; times of worship, prayer and teaching on Friday and Saturday morning; and a movie on Friday night. The band from Tierra Fertil in Yuma led worship in English and Spanish.

That left plenty of time for rest and connection.

“I love connecting with other pastors’ wives,” says Elesea Russo, whose husband, John, is lead pastor at Sabino Road Baptist Church in Tucson. “Sometimes we end up on an island kind of by ourselves … and so it’s refreshing to be around people who just understand.”

To further facilitate connections, the retreat provided fellowship opportunities for chaplains and Hispanic ministry couples.

Hispanic Ministries is another ministry of the Arizona Mission Network that receives Arizona Mission Offering funds. And this year, some of those funds were also used to facilitate a fellowship opportunity on Friday afternoon and provide scholarships for Hispanic ministry couples who otherwise would have missed the retreat.

“The Arizona Mission Offering allows our Hispanic pastors to be part of the Pastors and Wives Retreat,” says Josue Castro, AZMN Hispanic Ministries Facilitator, in an email. “We know that we advance better together. Together we are stronger, and in this retreat, we intentionally lead them to connect with each other, strengthening ties and friendships”

Elesea Russo points out that supporting pastors not only helps couples stay in ministry long term, but it also enables them to then encourage their own churches.

“I think when you pour into your ministers, then your ministers go back home and pour into your people,” she says.

Friendships among pastors also make way for ministry partnerships. At a past retreat, a connection made between ministry leaders ultimately led to two churches merging. One needed a building and the other needed people, Patton says.

“Those are the God things that just happen,” he says.

For John Russo, the time with other pastors at the retreat is rejuvenating.

“It’s beneficial for the church in Arizona for us to be connected to one another,” he says. “There are a lot of practical and spiritual benefits that come from that. And I’m just overwhelmed by the generosity of the churches to do this for pastors.”

Johanna Willett, a freelance writer living in Tucson, is a member of Mountain View Baptist Church, Tucson.