The Preacher's Wife

Beside Every Good Man: Laci Watson

You know the saying, "Behind every great man is an even better woman?"  It's a great saying, one I hope to live up to since I am married to a great man.  But I think I picture myself beside my man, not behind him.

The men on the lead staff at Elevation stand beside some truly great women.  It is my privilege to lead them and know them and call them my friends.  And I thought you should know them too.

Today, I would like to introduce you to Laci Watson.

   
Laci is married to Wes Watson, lead producer at Elevation.  They have been married for 3 years and have been at Elevation for 2 1/2 years.  They have not quite surrendered to the call of parenthood.

Laci is a country girl through and through.  She grew up on a farm in the deep south of Alabama.  She has a BA degree in Spanish.  And she has a real love for food: cooking it, growing it, shopping for it and reading about it.  And she is a great cook.  

Since Wes is known to be at our Providence and Matthews location on a given weekend, Laci can be found floating between the campuses.  She loves to volunteer where needed.  Laci also serves as a liaison for one of Elevation's outreach partners, One7.  And she leads a high school girl's small group.

If you ever run into Laci at one of our campuses, she would love meet you.

Beside Every Good Man: Ferris Joye

You know the saying, "Behind every great man is an even better woman?"  It's a great saying, one I hope to live up to since I am married to a great man.  But I think I picture myself beside my man, not behind him.

The men on lead staff at Elevation stand beside some truly great women.  It is my privilege to lead them and know them and call them my friends.  And I thought you should know them too.

Today, I would like to introduce you to Ferris Joye.

Ferris is married to Wade Joye, Worship Pastor at Elevation.  Wade oversees the entire worship department including all programming for our worship experiences.  Wade and Ferris have been married for 5 years and they have identical twin girls, Adleigh and Liana who turned 2 last month.

Wade and Ferris moved to Charlotte, from Columbia, SC, to be a part of Elevation in August 2007.  Ferris is a small town, southern girl, from Belton, SC.  She has a degree in graphic design from the University of South Carolina. 

Ferris and Wade love going to the movies and eating out.  Ferris is a steak-and-potatoes kind of girl.  She also loves to read and she has a special place in her heart for vampires.

One more thing, you may not know that Adleigh and Liana are miracle babies.  Born 3 months premature, Adliegh (born weighing only 2 lbs, 5 oz) and Liana (a mere 1 lb, 14 oz) have fought against many odds.  Today they are beautiful, thriving 2 year olds.

Ferris attends the Saturday night worship experience at our Matthews campus, and then floats between the campuses on Sundays so that she can support Wade wherever he is.  She would love to meet you if you ever run into her at one of our campuses.

Pictured below is Liana, then Adleigh when they were in the NICU, and then a recent family photo.

Beside Every Good Man: Amy Corbett

You know the saying, "Behind every great man is an even better woman?"  It's a great saying, one I hope to live up to since I am married to a great man.  But I think I picture myself beside my man, not behind him.

The men on lead staff at Elevation stand beside some truly great women.  It is my privilege to lead them and know them and call them my friends.  And I thought you should know them too.

Today, I would like to introduce you to Amy Corbett.

Amy is married to Chunks Corbett (yes, Chunks), executive Pastor at Elevation.  They have been married for 9 years and have 2 children, Ella and Austin.

Amy was raised on a cattle ranch in the metropolis of Duette, Florida.  She met Chunks while studying Geomatics at the University of Florida.

My husband and I met the Corbetts while living in Shelby, NC.  Chunks was a physical therapist and Amy was working as the technical services manager for the city of Shelby (I know right?).  We immediately had a connection with them.  Soon they became the first members of our Elevation core team.

Amy is currently a stay at home mother although she has filled many holes at our church office on and off as needed.  She loves Italian food, playing Legos (with her kids) and complicated math problems.

If you attend Elevation regularly, you have seen Amy singing backup on one of our stages (she has been singing since our very first public service).  Singing most weekends keeps Amy traveling between our campuses. if you ever see her hanging around in the lobby, she would love to meet you.

You can follow her here on Twitter.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Amy singing.

Beside Every Good Man: Kelly Hubatka

You know the saying, "Behind every great man is an even better woman?"  It's a great saying, one I hope to live up to since I am married to a great man.  But I think I picture myself beside my man, not behind him.

The men on lead staff at Elevation stand beside some truly great women.  It is my privilege to lead them and know them and call them my friends.  And I thought you should know them too.

Today, I would like to introduce you to Kelly Hubatka.

Kelly is the wife of Larry Hubatka, the Creative Pastor (overseeing everything you see at Elevation from graphics to print to video) and Pastor of our Uptown Campus. 

Kelly and Larry recently celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary and they have four girls: Riley, Lily, Audrey and Lucy. 

Kelly and Larry moved to Charlotte in August 2005 from Portland, Oregon for a job at a local Christian TV station.  They started attending Elevation in December of 2005 before we launched our first public service.  Larry and Kelly served in many different volunteer roles before Larry officially came on staff in October 2007.

Kelly supports Larry in all that he does from caring for their girls and their home to caring for his team and their families.  In her spare time she home schools their children and occasionally has lunch with me.  She enjoys exercising (she is a certified personal trainer) and a good cup of coffee.

You can find her at the 9:30 and 11:15 experiences Uptown and occasionally at our Matthews Saturday night worship experience as well.  She is super easy to talk to and would love to meet if you attend our Uptown campus.

You can follow her here on twitter.

Here is a little video we showed at our Uptown campus a few weeks ago.

Beside Every Good Man: Angie Blackson

You know saying, "Behind every great man is an even better woman?"  It's a great saying, one I hope to live up to since I am married to a great man.  But I think I picture myself beside my man, not behind him.

The men on lead staff at Elevation stand beside some truly great women.  It is my privilege to lead them and know them and call them my friends.  And I thought you should know them too.

Today, I would like to introduce you to Angie Blackson.

Josh and Angie have been married for 8 years.  They have three beautiful blond-headed girls, Alyssa, Kaitlyn and Karis.

Angie and her husband were not on our original core team.  Originating in Michigan, they moved around quite a bit until they ended up Charlotte for Josh's job and started attending Elevation in 2006.  In 2008, Josh joined the Elevation staff as our Operations Pastor as well as our Providence Campus Pastor.

Josh and Angie love the outdoors and sports.  They even play on an organized dodge ball team.  The also love to exercise (I guess some do :)).  In fact, in Angie's former pre-children, pre-ministry life she was an exercise therapist.

Angie stepped into her role as a campus pastor's wife as if she had been doing it for years.  She is an incredible leader and she has a heart to know the people of Elevation.  You can usually find her attending the Saturday night worship experience at our Matthews Campus and then at the 9:15 and 11 am worship experiences at Providence on Sundays.

I know Angie would love to meet you if you ever see her out and about at church.  You can also follow her on her family blog here.

Here's a little video we showed to our Providence campus a few weeks ago about their family.

Beside Every Good Man: Heather Bishop

You know saying, "Behind every great man is an even better woman?"  It's a great saying, one I hope to live up to since I am married to a great man.  But I think I picture myself beside my man, not behind him.

The men on lead staff at Elevation stand beside some truly great women.  It is my privilege to lead them and know them and call them my friends.  And I thought you should know them too.

For the next few weeks, I would like to introduce you to them.

Up today is Heather Bishop.  Wife to John Bishop, ministries pastor at Elevation as well as our Mathews Campus Pastor.  John and Heather were high school sweethearts who grew up in upstate New York (brrr!) and have been married for 11 years.  They have one little boy, Jeremiah, who is 3 years old.

My husband and I met John and Heather when we were serving at a church in Shelby, NC, 8 years ago.  They were both a part of the worship team that my husband lead there.  When we began to talk about starting Elevation, they were eager to join us.  They have both played such an integral part in Elevation.  In fact, Heather was Elevation's first paid staff member serving as children's director and creator of our E-kidz program..

When I began my small group this past Spring I had to enlist Heather to co-lead it with me because she is a small group leader extraordinaire.  She has hosted and led more small groups than even she can count.  Each week, she leads the Matthews campus staff wives.  They pray together and serve in a different area of ministry at the campus. 

Heather loves the outdoors and she loves to read non-fiction.  We often poke fun of her for how little television she watches.  Recently Heather, John and Jeremiah have embarked on the adoption journey.   Heather and John have chosen to do a domestic adoption right here in North Carolina.  They expect to add a 4th member to their family as early as the end of the summer!

You can find Heather attending the Matthews campus Saturday night worship experience and serving on Sundays at the 11:15 experience.  She purposefully spends extra time hanging out in the lobby so that she can connect with people.  If you have never met Heather, you should introduce yourself to her one weekend.  I know she would love to meet you.

You can also follow Heather on twitter here.

Here's a little video we showed at the Matthews Campus a few weeks ago to showcase their family...