Side by Side

The fall season is once again upon us—a time of colorful changes. If there’s anything we learn as pastors’ wives, it’s that life and ministry, too, contain many seasons and changes. Not only does each one have its own beauty and benefit, but each is integral to the next. In other words, we must learn the lesson of one season before moving on to another.

Our interview in this issue comes from a pastor’s wife who not only lives in a place near our nation’s Capitol, where the fall colors can be spectacular, but also offers a “seasoned” perspective from her own personal life changes.

Meet Joy Reddin Neubauer

Joy grew up in Arkansas where her parents, Thomas and Opal Reddin, ministered. She has one sister, Naomi Brewer, and a twin brother, Michael.

Joy has been married to Richard Neubauer for 40 years and they have two children, Aimee and Adam. Aimee and husband, Felix Colfer, have blessed them with two wonderful grandchildren—a grandson, Ethan Grey and a granddaughter, Misha Snow.

The Neubauers have been pastors in Alaska, Ohio, and Virginia, serving the last 27 years as senior pastors at Arlington Assembly of God in Arlington, Virginia. While there, Joy has had the privilege of ministering overseas in Chile, Russia and Ukraine, where she was blessed to help design and build the House of Joy Orphanage.

Here’s how Joy responded to our interview questions:

How did God lead you into ministry?

I was born into ministry. Both of my parents, Thomas and Opal Reddin were ordained Assemblies of God ministers. But when I was 17 years of age, I knew God had called me into personal ministry.

What area of ministry stirs your deepest passion?

Sunday School, because my greatest desire is for children and new converts to truly understand the love of God and His Word. I received Christ as my Savior at a very young age because of teaching in my home and church, and realized in my later years what a wonderful privilege this was.

What do you find most rewarding about the ministry?

I like teaching a Sunday School class of any age, because I always learn more about God’s Word in the process. I enjoy preaching and singing. Also, I find writing a wonderful way to express life and hopefully minister to others in sharing my experiences.
The opportunities I have had traveling on overseas mission trips have been especially rewarding.

What areas do you find most difficult?

Dealing with disgruntled people. (By the way, this includes me!)

How do you balance ministry, family and outside responsibilities?

By striving to set a standard for what is family and what is ministry. Growing up as a minister’s child I understood, to some degree, how the home and church can overlap in a healthy way, but also in an unhealthy way. I’ve tried to keep home for the family and church for ministry. I’ve also tried to help my children understand that what their father and I did as far as ministry might have required some sacrifice on their part, but it was out of our love for the Lord.

What is your favorite way to relax?

I enjoy playing with my grandchildren, doing crossword puzzles, watching the Food Network, reading, and some sewing.

What do you know now that you wish you had known when you began?

Not to worry about failing. I thought my mother was just about perfect in everything she did. She was a preacher and also an educator. She was my standard and I knew I could never reach her level. What I had to learn was that she was faithful to her calling and I had to be faithful to mine.

What changes have you seen since you first started in the ministry?

It is difficult to say. Being in the ministry my whole life makes it hard to have a sense of starting out in the ministry. It seems, though, there isn’t currently as much emphasis on Christian doctrine. That is why godly teaching is so important.

What one thing would you like to share with every young minister’s wife?

Several years ago, I began going through a trial from Satan. At night, when retiring, my mind would begin rehearsing embarrassing situations throughout my life. This went on for weeks, off and on. I began saying to myself, “I’ll not teach or speak publicly any more, that way I won’t say or do anything that might be an embarrassment.” Then God reminded me I had been called to minister for Him, not myself. An old song came to mind one night, ‘A Child of the King.’ I began singing softly at times and other times just thinking the song. Through this trial God taught me that first, I am His child, and that is how He sees me—not “His child, the minister’s wife.” Secondly, I’m not the minister’s wife to my husband or children; I’m a wife and mother. The place where I am a minister’s wife is the place where God can use the calling on my life to do whatever He asks of me.