Speakers

If you are planning an event for military wives, we hope you’ll find a speaker (or two, or more!) from the list of options below. The women on this page are Faith Deployed book contributors or Web site columnists, or both. On another page, we’ll share more recommendations made by Faith Deployed supporters. May God bless your efforts as you plan an event to bless military wives!

*Consider giving copies of Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives to your conference attendees. Email me for special discount information: jocelyn@jocelyngreen.com.

Jocelyn Green
Author, Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and Faith Deployed . . . Again http://www.jocelyngreen.com

Jocelyn Green, the wife of a former Coast Guard officer, is an award-winning author, freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives (Moody 2008), along with fourteen contributing writers. She is also co-author of Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq/Afghanistan (AMG Publishers 2009). Her books won the Bronze and Gold Medals, respectively, from the Military Writers Society of America (religious/spiritual category) in 2010. Her Web site for military wives, www.faithdeployed.com, won third place in a national contest held by the Evangelical Press Association in 2010. She is the founding editor for www.WivesinBloom.com, the online magazine of Christian Military Wives (a branch of Christian Military Fellowship) and a contributor to the Web site www.StartMarriageRight.com.

She is a frequent speaker at military wife events, women’s church groups, and writers conferences, and is an active member of the Evangelical Press Association, Christian Authors Network, the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, and the Military Writers Society of America.

Marshéle Carter Waddell
Contributor to Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
http://hopeforthehomefront.com
Marshéle Carter Waddell served with her husband, CDR (ret) Mark Waddell, a career U.S. Navy SEAL, for 25 years around the world.  Her first two books, Hope for the Home Front: Winning the Emotional and Spiritual Battles of a Military Wife and its companion Bible study, Hope for the Home Front Bible Study, arm other military wives with God’s promises of  His presence, power and protection.  She is also co-author of When War Comes Home: Christ-centered Healing for Wives of Combat Veterans. Together with their three children, the Waddells have endured many lengthy separations and frequent deployments for combat duty, special operations training and real world conflicts for more than two decades.  Today, her husband is a disabled combat veteran with PTSD and multiple TBIs.

Marshéle is an advocate for veterans’ issues at the national level, speaking with U.S. senators and congressmen as well as health councils and organizations regularly on behalf of combat veterans and their families. She has been featured in international, national and local television and radio programs including National Public Radio (NPR), the BBC, LA Times, Washington Post, Fox News, CBN’s 700 Club, Focus on the Family’s daily radio broadcast, Canada’s 100 Huntley Street, the Armed Forces Radio Network and the K-LOVE radio and Internet webcast.  She is a consultant and spokesperson for Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group in Colorado Springs.

For more about her speaking ministry, click here.

Sara Horn
Contributor to Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
www.sarahorn.com
Sara Horn is an award-winning writer who twice traveled to the Middle East to document stories of Christians serving in the midst of the Iraq War for her first book, 2005 Gold Medallion nominee, A Greater Freedom: Stories of Faith from Operation Iraqi Freedom that she wrote with best-selling author Oliver North. Her husband, a Navy reservist for more than 13 years, was deployed in 2007 to Iraq and they are preparing for a new deployment soon. They have one son.

Sara started Wives of Faith, a national military wives support organization, at the end of 2006. She maintains a blog frequented by military wives at www.sarahorn.com, is a regular contributor to Military Spouse magazine and her latest book GOD Strong: A Military Wife’s Spiritual Survival Guide released in 2010.  A graduate of Union University, Sara stays busy with writing projects and with her work in Wives of Faith. She enjoys speaking to groups and is passionate about encouraging and supporting military wives of all branches of service.

For more about her speaking ministry, click here.

Read an interview with Sara.

Ronda Sturgill
Contributor to Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
www.rondasturgill.com
Thrown from a horse at the tender age of 18, Ronda has lived most of her life as a paraplegic.  As the wife of an Air Force Chaplain, she and her husband have served both God and our country for the past 23 years.  She has been actively involved with The Protestant Women of the Chapel, the military’s version of an international women’s ministry, and has served in various leadership positions, from the 2003-2005 West Region President to board positions at the local level.

Ronda has written three Bible studies, all targeted to women who are spouses of U.S. military personnel, yet they are applicable to women everywhere. They are:  Wives of the Warriors; Living Confidently in Christ;  Desperate Housecries; Discovering a Genuine Hope in God;  and  Extreme Makeover: Heart Edition.  Her devotions are also included in Faith Deployed, and in the God Allows U-Turns series.  Join her at rondasturgill.com to discover together how to stay connected to God during turbulent times.

Read an interview with Ronda.

Jill Hart
Contributor to Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives
www.jillhart.com
Jill Hart is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com. Jill is co-author of So You Want to Be a Work-at-Home Mom a contributing author in The Business Mom Guide Book, I’ll Be Home For Christmas and Laundry Tales – To Lighten Your Load. She has articles published across the Web on sites like DrLaura.com and ClubMom.com. Jill and her husband, Allen, who served in the U.S. Air Force for five years, reside in Nebraska with their two children. During his military career, Allen and Jill served as leaders in the Protestant Youth of the Chapel (PYOC) program and worked closely with the Navigator and Cadence ministries on base. Allen now works as a computer contractor on the base where he served and they enjoy being a part of the military community they live in and serving those who are serving our country.

Jill writes, blogs and speaks about finding a business niche, creative and inexpensive marketing, and finding balance while working from home. She is a featured blogger in the Guideposts Blogger Network. Jill and CWAHM have been featured in The Wall Street Journal and FIRST Magazine for Women. Her articles have been featured on websites like DrLaura.com and she is a columnist for a number of mom-focused Web sites.

For more about Jill’s speaking ministry, click here.

 

Rebekah Benimoff

Contributor to Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives
http://ladiesbydesign.com/

 

As the wife of an Army chaplain suffering from PTSD, Rebekah Benimoff can speak on the following lessons she has learned in the past several years: spiritual growth, PTSD and how it affects the family, grieving/loss, clinging to God during difficult seasons, purposeful growth, self-awareness/personal growth, giving yourself grace and taking care of yourself, self-care and stress management for the caregiver. Her side of the PTSD story is shared in Redbook magazine. Her husband Roger authored the book, Faith Under Fire: An Army  Chaplain’s Memoir.

Reach Bekah at Bekahbeni@yahoo.com.

Alane Pearce
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
http://wings4women.wordpress.com
Alane Pearce is a military spouse with a heart to help women see light in the darkness of life’s trials. She is the author of Notes from the Margins: Healing Conversations with God and its companion Bible study, Comparing Notes. Alane is also the founder and executive director of Wings for Women Military Spouse Conferences to offer hope and encouragement to military spouses worldwide. She currently lives wherever the Air Force sends them.

Read an interview with Alane.

Leeana Tankersley
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
http://www.gypsyink.com/
Drawing on the themes from her book Found Art: Discovering Beauty in Foreign Places, Leeana offers experiential workshops and day or weekend retreats to provide space for self-reflection and self-expression. Each offering includes teaching sessions, writing prompts, large and small group sharing, and an original found art piece inspired by your writing samples. Workshop and retreat topics may be found online here.

Read an interview with Leeana.

Bettina Dowell
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
http://simplestoriestimelesstruths.blogspot.com
Often wishing to be a godly woman who inspires other women to new heights in their own journeys, Bettina more frequently finds herself struggling with the very issues on which she writes and speaks to encourage women.  Telling the simple stories of her own life (think mice in the pantry or a free cup of coffee), Bettina loves how things begin to make more sense when light is shed on them from the timeless truth of God’s word.  God has developed a passion in Bettina’s heart for women to accept and embrace their identity in Christ through years of interacting with women and their families.  She believes that when women truly know who they are in Christ, it affects how they live their daily lives.

Bettina is married to a very handsome Naval Reserve officer, CDR Rob Dowell, and they live outside Washington, D.C.  They recently enjoyed celebrating the marriage of their first son David to his lovely bride Brittany, the college graduation of their second son Mark, the beginning of another year of high school for their daughter Libby and their 28^th year of marriage.  God is good.

Read an interview with Bettina.

Kathleen Cline
Columnist for FaithDeployed.com
www.Godplusmilitaryspouse.com
L. Kathleen Cline is the military author of God + Military Spouse: United Our Families Will Stand (2009) and I Want To Be the Fat Pretty One: Reflecting God’s Esteem (2010). During their 23 years of marriage, Kathleen and Richard Cline have lived approximately nine years on the West Coast, nine years on the East Coast, and three years overseas. They are now at their final duty station in Beaufort, South Carolina. During the many moves, deployments and constant change the military can bring to a marriage, God has shown Kathleen the importance of a strong spiritual life. By building up her God Esteem, Kathleen found a stability that only God can provide. Presently, Kathleen has started the ministry God Plus Military Spouse based on her book. Through this ministry she teaches a weekly Bible study at the Naval Chapel. Kathleen has experience in weekend retreats and small group discussions.

To see more speakers recommended by Faith Deployed fans, click here.