Audio from our
2023 Shepherds Conference: Hope in God: Bearing the Burden of Ministry. Women's Breakout Session: "Helpmate to a Dispirited Husband" by Mary Lee Bayly & Sarah Dionne. October 5, 2023.
Women's Breakout | Helpmate to a Dispirited Husband
Mary Lee Bayly & Sarah DionneThe pastor has barely enough to give the church and comes home depressed most days. His children and wife only receive the leftover fumes, if any. Sometimes the deteriorating state of her husband’s heart, mind, and faith concerns her. What is the wife to do when the burden of ministry is crushing her husband?
Mrs. Mary Lee BaylyMary Lee is the wife of Tim Bayly and has been serving alongside him in ministry for 40 years. She is mother to five and grandmother to 28. She has cared for the women and children of their congregations, including spending many midnight hours as a doula to church mothers. Back in 1992 when the Baylys moved to Bloomington, there was no Christian school for her kids to attend, so she worked to found and served as a board member and principal for a decade of Bloomington’s Lighthouse Christian Academy.
Mrs. Sarah DionneSarah Dionne used to wear high heels and rhinestones, but 24 years ago she traded those in for more sensible attire, so she could marry Andrew Dionne and tackle the raising of their 6 children. This year 2 of her children are off to college, 3 will attend a local Christian school, and 1 will be homeschooled. When she is not doing laundry or packing lunches, she enjoys serving the women at
Trinity Presbyterian Church in SC, teaching voice lessons, and reading books way too quickly so she can get to the plot.