[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Arkansas Baptist Women podcast. This year we are focusing on what it means to be an Arkansas Baptist woman. A woman who loves the Lord, lives on mission for the gospel, is present in her calling, is trained and equipped to lead, and is sold out to Jesus. I'm excited to talk about life, ministry, and our relationship with Jesus. So grab a cup of coffee and join the conversation.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Hey, sweet friends, it's Andrea. I hope that your day is off to a great start. I am on the podcast today with a very sweet friend. You know her, you love her. Welcome Rachel Levingood to Arkansas Baptist Women podcast.
[00:00:36] Speaker C: Yay. I'm so happy to be with you, Andrea. It is always a pleasure to get to see my friend Andrea, but also to get to talk to this specifically the women in Arkansas.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Oh, we love you so much, and we know that you love us, and so that makes it a great relationship.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: It's not unrequited love. This is mutual love.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: That's right. And let's just, let's just walk down memory lane for a minute. I remember the first time that I called you. I've told you this before. I was getting an oil change. I will never forget where I was whenever I first talked to you. And I was just sitting there, my phone rang. I saw your name pop up, and I'm like, can I talk to Rachel loving? Good. As I'm getting an oil change, this is just not the right setting for such a profound and important phone conversation. And so I remember stepping outside and talking to you, and it was just immediately our hearts connected, just the length of our hearts together. And I'm not kidding you, Rachel. Every conversation since then has just built on that strong foundation. So I love that we have such a great history of ministering together, of building a relationship, but also of doing just effective ministry, just really getting into the word with women. And so we are so excited to have you back in Arkansas. You've spoken at what was formerly known as inspire a couple of different times. And so we're having you back to our new and improved conference called Arkansas Baptist Women Conference. So we can't wait to have you.
[00:02:05] Speaker C: Well, I'm super excited to be there. I love that you picked up on, it was so funny, too, because there are those people in life sometimes that you meet and you feel like, oh, my gosh, are we related? Were we separated at birth? You know what? And for you, Andrea, you've always been that person for me. But honestly, I've met a lot of women in Arkansas that I feel that way about. Because, I don't know, maybe it's just the similarities of our southern upbringing or our accents or something, but I have always loved my times in Arkansas, you know, from doing inspire, which we used to call it inspire, to doing the conference years ago. It's been a hot minute. Yes, it has. Getting to hang with. Remember the time that we got taught how to do the right ponytail? Were you there that time?
[00:02:54] Speaker B: I was.
[00:02:55] Speaker C: I love her so much. She's Susan Goss. She is a. Just a gem of a person. But she literally said, y'all, I just have to take a minute and show y'all how to do my ponytail, you know? And she did that. And one time I gave everybody my eye cream, and everybody was like, okay, we have to pause the spiritual. And everybody gets out their phone and order the stuff that takes the bags out from under your eyes and Kelly stamps. And then getting to meet, like, sweet friends like Tammy White over at TSBC and. Is that in. Is that in watch?
[00:03:28] Speaker B: It's in Arkadelphia.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Arkadelphia. Yeah. And I've been at their church a couple of times and then getting to speak up in northwest Arkansas. So it has just been like. Like anytime anybody from Arkansas calls, they go to the top of my priority list.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: How about that? And just so you know, within our team, you know, we always have someone come to the airport to pick up our speaker. They are fighting over you, Rachel. So I don't know what we're going to do about that.
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Let's bring a band. Let's just all get together and do it at the same time.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: So we are so looking forward to having you in Arkansas in September, but let's go back and let's catch everybody up. There may be some women who are listening who haven't had a chance to meet you. So tell us about you, your family, your ministry. Just. We want to get to know Rachel.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Sure. Well, I'm still married to Jeff, so we've been married for, like, 37 years this year, which is a hot minute, right?
Got married when I was, like, 20, and we've been doing ministry ever since. So it has been just like this journey that I could never have predicted.
And it's been good, bad, hard. You know, all of those things have been in there just like everybody else's lives.
But God has been so faithful through all of it. So, you know, he's just been that, you know, that cord or that woven strand all the way through our lives. We were just talking about the other day. Wow. Some of the things that he's allowed us to do have been mind boggling, and we couldn't have predicted that, but so we got married 37 years ago, been doing ministry ever since. And we have three kids, grown kids.
All three of them are married, which is not. That's new from the last time I spoke with you guys.
My oldest son and his wife, though, have three littles, and they just a year ago, answered a call in ministry to go plant a church in Denver. So they moved to Denver, Colorado, the heart of Denver, like downtown Denver, and are planting a church. And literally, in 13 months, they've been there now about a year and a month with their three little kids. They have baptized over 90 something people in a year. Isn't it incredible?
[00:05:35] Speaker B: That is incredible.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Just sharing the gospel, just. And it's just very lifestyle evangelism kind of thing. It's not like sitting down with somebody, and there's nothing wrong with any kind of styles, but what's been working for them is just. Just talking to people as they're at a coffee shopper, you know, that kind of thing. So it's been really cool. We just got back from there, visiting them, and are just blown away at what God's doing. Our daughter and her husband used to live in northwest Arkansas. We miss him.
Another reason why I love your state. Two of my babies grandbabies were living there, but they had recently just answered a call in ministry to move to where my son in law, Luke Harper, is now the senior pastor at first Baptist Bradfordville in Tallahassee, Florida. So, Kelsey, my daughter, she still does.
She's a pa. She used to be a neurosurgery. Now she's kind of doing, like, a pain management clinic. So a lot of the same kind of things, but just in a different venue. And they have two littles living in Tallahassee, and we just got back from missing them about a month ago because, you know, summer, you got to try to go catch up with everybody in the summer. And then my youngest son, Riley, and his wife, they've been married two years, or. Yeah, two years. And they are still currently in Knoxville, Tennessee. She's an attorney. He was in politics. He started his own business, so he's kind of doing entrepreneur business work stuff. And they're expecting a baby. And so grandbaby number six is coming the end of August, so we have lots of fun things going on. Um, and again, God is just, you know, he just does all the good stuff, and. And we're grateful. Super, super grateful. So kind of the same kind of ministry stuff where I just get to go and, you know, speak or teach or, um, share. I do some leadership conferences, a lot of women's conferences, like y'all's conference statewide things or ministry wide things. I get to go to Oklahoma, which is close to you guys.
And I think. I think the weekend after I met your house, I can't remember, but going to Oklahoma and getting to do a ministry wives weekend, which is always really special, too. You know how I love to do that.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Absolutely. We love our Oklahoma Baptist women, too. Such sweet sisters and ministry going on in Oklahoma. I'm very grateful for that. Okay, so you are definitely in the empty nest. You definitely are in that next season of life. Tell us your grandmother name. That's a big deal.
[00:08:00] Speaker C: I debated long and hard because, girls, listen, you got to pick a good one because that's what everybody starts calling you. The people at my church now that are not even blood related to me at all. Call me this, but it's Ray Ray.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. That is so perfect for you.
[00:08:14] Speaker C: It's. I was almost lovey because our last name is loving. Good.
But somehow I ended up going with Ray Ray, and the kids kind of like to say it, so it's kind of like fun.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. It can have a little sass to it.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: There's a lot of sass in our family. Lot of sass in those grandbabies. They got lots, lots of personality.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: That's so fun. That's so fun. We're excited. We're excited just to see how God has developed your family, and really, you can see, you know, you and Jeff just live on mission and how your kids have just absorbed that, and now they're living on mission, and that's just encouraging to all of us. Just keep on keeping on. Keep your eyes focused on the Lord, whether those ups and downs focused on Jesus, and just trust God with the outcomes. And so I see that demonstrated in your life, and it's so encouraging to me as I recently have two, you know, kiddos who've gotten married. We're now brand new in the empty nest phase, and, you know, it's a new season, and I think new seasons are so exciting. That means God has something more, which is what we're actually going to be talking about at our conference. I want to give a little background on the theme of more, and then I can't wait to hear your thoughts. Our conference coordinator, Laurie Orman, who you've been talking with, we settled on you as the speaker just very early on in our process. We knew it was time to bring you back. It's been a couple of years. We just need to reconnect with you and note the Lord just put you on our hearts. But we didn't have a theme. Typically, we have a theme, and we kind of think about that as we're thinking about our speaker. But it was different this time. We knew that the Lord had you for us, and so we asked you, what is God speaking to you? You know, what's a theme that's on your heart? And you were the one who came up with the theme of more. So tell us about more of Jesus, what that means to you.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: Just.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Just kind of what the Lord's been stirring in your heart.
[00:10:04] Speaker C: Okay. I love wordplay. I love fun. I'm not, like, it doesn't have to be perfect, but I love fun phrases. And when you think about the year 2024, the Lord just kept bringing the word more to my mind. So more in 24, obviously. Sounds like an election campaign or something. Definitely not politics, but mostly is because I am super passionate about teaching, speaking, or sharing about fresh what God is doing in my life. What? He's staring at me because I feel like he's doing that for a reason. Does that make sense?
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: And I always tell people that you speak and teach most effectively and passionately or most effectively when you are most passionate and you're most passionate about that which you've experienced. And so you're passionate about things you care about, or that if you've been forgiven for something huge, you're passionate about forgiveness. We all have been forgiven. But if you've been pulled out of a pit of addiction, you're passionate about addiction recovery. That's a good thing. And so it's kind of that whole concept of using our stories as ministry opportunity or teaching moments or whatever. And. And lately, in just the past year or so, God just keeps bringing more is one of my favorite words. I've written two books that have the word more in them. Like, they're just favorite. It's a favorite of mine, and God has kind of drawn it back to me full circle in reminding me of this. Andrea, sometimes when we're in the church, we're in ministry, or we're around spiritual things, we.
Oh, I just read something this morning that totally applies to that. I was working on something in Matthew chapter.
Where was I? Matthew chapter 13.
And it was talking about the soil of your heart, the parable of the sower. Well, no offense to anybody, but I've heard a million sermons on that I've read it 75 times, whatever. And so I can easily just kind of read it and go, yeah, check, check. You know, but I was looking at something, and I was researching something, and it was talking about how the soil of your heart and the word was translated can become dull, but it also means fat. And. And I just kept, I was like, oh, my goodness. That is how our hearts can be.
I think there's an old saying that says familiarity breeds contempt, and I would never have contempt for God's word, but anytime that I hear it or read it or pretend to study it and then just go on as if it was nothing, that is contempt, right? Does that make sense? And so I wouldn't do it on purpose, but I can inadvertently show contempt for God's word by not really, you know, taking it in. And I think sometimes it's easy to miss that God has more for us in it. And so, yes, I could have read that passage 100 times or heard 75 sermons on it, but today it's different because God's word is living and active, and he's got, get this, he's got more for me in it. And I need to be sitting here going, what? What ways am I being dull? Where in my spiritual life am I just getting fat and lazy, you know, about certain things or whatever. And so it's that concept of no matter how much I've read the word, there's always more for me in it. No matter how much I know Jesus, there's always more I can know about him. No matter how much I love him, there's always more I can love him. And so I love the concept of more.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: I love that. And I love the, how it just draws us into a forward progress in our walks with God, into that sanctification process so we're not becoming, you know, contempt or complacent.
I think that is so exciting. And I don't know about you, but, like, I wake up in the morning and I pray, that's my heartbeat, Lord, today, show me more of you. Show me something in your word, and then let me live that out. Let me experience that. And so I'm so excited for the word that the Lord is going to place on your heart and the work that he's going to do through that word in our lives. I love that you mentioned stories, because all of us are entrusted with a story. And actually there's going to be a component of conference that really focuses on the our stories. And so I think that that's just so powerful. Like, you know, what is God doing in your life? How are you experiencing more? So let me pitch this question to you, and you can talk present or past. How have you experienced, or how are you experiencing more of Jesus in your life? Give us an example.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: Gosh, there's about a million.
Well, currently, even as. As early as this morning, when I was working on something for a project for somebody else, you know, God was like, no, no, no. Don't miss what more I have for you in this. And I think I've experienced in the past, say, three years, especially knowing him. This is not good English, but sometimes it works good this way. Knowing him more differently, does that make sense?
Like, I always knew he was in control and I always. He taught me that one. That's a story that I'm probably going to share at conference that I've never shared with y'all. That goes all the way back to the first week I was married. So I'm not telling it to you right now because I think we're going to go there.
But he's always shown me that he was in control and that he has the plans. In Jeremiah 20, 911, all that's true.
But he's really taken me in the past three years on this journey of knowing him more differently and not defining who he is today by who he has been previously. Does that make sense? It's good to remember who he was, but I never want to limit who he wants to be, be in my life today by, oh, this is what Jesus is going to do, because this is what he did before when he's like, no, no, no. This is a. This is a different situation, circumstance. So, so don't limit. And a lot of times I'll talk about expectations have a lot of power in our lives. And I've been convicted a lot. Um, and once God stirs up something to me, like, to the point that maybe I developed a resource or something on it, I'm never through with it. He always brings it back to keep it fresh. And so that's something that I had experience, that I had developed a resource on years ago. But he brings it back to my mind over and over again with that concept of, I don't ever want to limit God's activity or power in my life by low expectations of him. And he's like, I'm still the God of more. I'm still Ephesians 320 and 21. I'm still Romans 1513. Ask that God will fill you more abundantly with his hope. You know, like, he doesn't ever he keeps challenging me to not limit my expectations of who he is and to not try to define him or put him in a box so that I miss what he might be doing more or more differently. If that makes sense, it makes perfect sense.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: And I think there's such a battle between the spirit and flesh that we can really resonate with that because we really have to actively engage our faith in those moments and say, you know what? I do want more to the point that I'm willing to push past wrong expectations or limiting beliefs in the midst of this moment and truly seek to know who God is and how he's at work and then live out of the overflow of that. And I think that, to me, Rachel, is the full, free, abundant life. Like, that's really more than we can ask or imagine, that our freedom and our purpose and our hope and our power is really housed in our relationship. And I am so excited that you're going to be bringing that message, because it's just. It's such a life giving message. And so I can't wait. Now that that brings us to our next question, and I'm excited to hear your answer for this one, I want you to share with us. Like, what do you hope women gain from attending conference? Like, there's maybe someone out there listening right now. They're on the fence. They're not sure, is it worth the time? Is it worth the dollar? 35? Which we all know it's worth the time and $35. But maybe their life is busy. They're not sure if they can squeeze one more thing in. Maybe there's been a difficult season and not sure that they have the energy to take something else on. Speak to that woman and encourage her.
[00:18:37] Speaker C: Yeah, that's big. And that's a good question. And you know what? There's a really short answer, and of course I will make it longer because that's what I do. The really short answer is that every woman who comes gets more of Jesus. Now there's a woman who's tired, and it's like, yeah, no, I need more time, not more of Jesus. I need more money, not more of Jesus. I need more something. Fill in the blank.
I would just submit this challenge to you that, oh, you know, Matthew.
Oh, you know, the one where you sing seek ye first the kingdom of God. Matthew 633. But seek first his kingdom, and all these things will be added it unto you. And I would just say to that woman out there that God cares about every one of those needs that you have. You may think that nobody else knows. You may think that nobody knows your struggle or your challenge or your hardship or your circumstance, but God specifically sees it, and he says to you, come and meet me. And if you seek me, you will find me. And then, like we see in Matthew 633, go look it up. Is that when we seek him first, then he will take care of all of the other things. And my life has been a testament to the truth of that scripture, and so many other people can testify to the same thing. And I would say this is that never has God. It is not in God's nature or character to let us down. And that if we will approach the Lord, if we will seek him like scripture tells us, we will find him. And if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. And then you said a word a second ago that I want to focus on really quickly, and it was this. You said, the freedom of the abundant life. And, Andrea, what I see about women today everywhere is that we are not living in freedom and we are not living in victory.
And I think that that breaks the heart of God.
And it so weighs on my own spirit when I see this happening. I can see it happen in my life at times, too. So zero judgment. I'm saying this is something that we all struggle with, and it can be the cares of the world or the weight of the world, or, you know, going back to the parable of this, or it can be the rocky ground or the thorns that are growing around us, but the whole thing is that very few of us can raise our hand and say, I'm living a free and more abundant life. And the truth is, that is the life that God wants for us. But. But the reality is that we're not living in it. And I would say that if we could sum it up, I would want every woman who comes to experience more and then to see what that more abundant life looks like and the freedom that it comes from, because I think there's a whole lot of us who are just. Who are just inches away from reaching for that key to unlock the cell door and step into the freedom that God has for us, but are just missing it out because of fear or, you know, whatever it is that that's weighing them down. And I hate seeing women living in defeat when they could be living in victory.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Amen. Oh, I am saying amen to that. That is, you know, in that I hope that as you're listening to this, friends, that you're hearing our heartbeat, that we're praying towards that end, we're preparing towards that end. We invite you to pray and prepare towards that end as well. Come with an open heart. Come with an expectation to hear from God and know that, you know, by God's grace, he's going to allow us together, to gather together, and he's going to speak a word of truth. So make that commitment. Decide right now. I'm going to mark it on my calendar. I'm going to jump online. I'm going to register. I'm going to bring a friend, you know, because I want my friend to experience this freedom as well. And so I'll give you the details on registering at the end of our podcast. But Rachel, let me ask you this. When you are, as you are praying about our time together, what are you praying for? The woman who, who will be there. You know, I know that your hardest for her to have that freedom, are there any other specific handles or prayers that you're lifting up on her behalf?
[00:22:54] Speaker C: There's a couple I. And what you just said struck me.
I would even challenge you ladies who are still trying to stop, whether to come. I would challenge you and I would ask you this. Can you identify one thing that you need? And, girl, listen, some of you are just going to say, I need to laugh.
I need to make a friend. I need to eat food that I didn't cook and I don't even have to clean it up. Right.
You identify whatever it is that you need. And I would just challenge you to begin to pray now that God would meet your needs and that he would do even more than you could imagine.
And just interesting, because, listen, sometimes we just need to laugh. And can I just promise you something? We will laugh. I know that's true, because God's people get together. It's a party. Like, we're. We're looking to have a good time. And so we will laugh and we will do all of those things. We will give you opportunities to make the friends or have the connection or talk to adults that don't need you to change, you know, a diaper or, you know, whatever those things are that you think you need or that you've identified as what you're needing right now, do that and then begin to pray that God would do that. And what I'm asking is literally all grounded in Ephesians 320 and 21 that says, now to him who is able to do, and this is my favorite phrase, exceedingly, abundantly, more than we could ask or imagine to him be the glory. And I'm praying for God to do exceedingly abundantly. More than you can ask or imagine, then I can ask or imagine. And I have a big imagination. Like, that's one of my things is like, is the creative process, but he's so much bigger than that. And so specifically praying that people would encounter Jesus for the first time, that's always exciting, that they would experience what it means to live in victory, freedom and power, and the abundant life, and just that the word more would become the reality in so many of our lives, spiritually speaking.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Amen. Well, we are joining you in that prayer for all of the women of Arkansas, and we're so excited to welcome them on September 21. Before we get to all the details, tell us how we can be praying for you as you prepare and as you spend time with the Lord, you know, soaking up the word that he has for you.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: Oh, I always welcome that. I always tell people, you've never wasted a prayer that you pray over me. It's never wasted. I needed it for something. I always really seek just his wisdom and discernment because I don't, I don't have, like, five or six things that are written out that I teach on. I will sometimes teach on the same topic, but I always pray through it fresh. And so, honestly, God has given me this. I didn't bring it out here, but this whole little notebook of fresh ideas for fall. And so I've literally got like, 20 ideas written down and just things that he's got me kind of chewing on. And so I'm just asking for wisdom and discernment and direction specifically as I'm just preparing the exact, the exact lessons in scripture and places and applications that God wants us to go. And so specifically on direction and protection over my family.
One of the favorite tactics of the enemy is to distract us from what God is trying and wanting to do in our lives by the cares and the weights of the world. And so my kids are out there on the front line doing all kinds of things, and so just protection over them, over our family. And, and then just that I would be super sensitive to the Holy Spirit and then filled with the Holy Spirit. I never want to stand up to open God's word and teach it on my own strength because he'll let me, and it won't be good, and it won't be powerful, and it won't be effective. And so I always have that little bit feeling of little unrest where I'm just like, God, don't let me do anything on my own strength. Let it all be under the submission to the to your spirit in me. And so that's always my goal. But you and I both know that it's easy sometimes to jump over and just start doing things because that's what I do. So I'm always kind of conscious of it.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: That's amazing. Well, and that's what, you know, that's what we want. We want to work in a move that only God gets the glory for in lives that are truly changed from the inside out. So we'll be praying for you. We're going to be praying for the women in attendance. We can't wait for September 21. It will literally be here before we know it. So friends, it is time to register. Tickets are already selling. We do anticipate a sellout crowd, so log on to absc.org abw conference. Find all the details. We're meeting at First Baptist Church Benton on Saturday, September 21. The doors open at 830. The conference will conclude by 03:00 the price is great. Dollar 35 for adults, dollar 25 for students. That covers everything. Your food, your resources, our time together. It's going to be a wonderful time. Just as a reminder what we seek to do at conference, we seek to provide you with a meaningful experience where there's powerful worship. Corey and Stephanie Epps will be leading dynamic teaching. Rachel Lovinggood as well as all of our conference team will be leading out in different ways and then meaningful times of connection. You can expect to make a friend. You can expect to hear from the Lord. So please, please gather your friends, register today and we will see you on September 21. Rachel, we love you. We are praying for you. We cannot wait to welcome you to Arkansas and it will just be here before we know it.
[00:28:32] Speaker C: I know. Can't wait to be with you guys. Praying for everybody also. And I'm really looking forward to seeing you all. So get your tickets and we're going to have a good time together.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thanks so much, Rachel. We'll see you soon.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Thanks for listening. I hope today's episode helps you embrace the full, free, abundant life that Jesus provides. Don't forget to follow like and subscribe to the Architecture Arkansas Baptist Women podcast. If you would like more encouragement to help you grow in your faith, visit our
[email protected], abw. Come back next time as we continue to talk about how we can worship, grow, connect, serve and share together. I can't wait to talk to you soon.
