Finding purpose again with DCEF<\/h3>\n
With her career on the back burner, Cristie shifted her attention elsewhere, taking on positions at her local Disciples congregation in Kansas City, MO, including Board Chair and Sunday Worship Leader. As she witnessed the highs and lows that laity and clergy experienced striving to create God\u2019s kindom on Earth together, she began to understand the importance of lay leadership.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Cristie came to provide marketing support for her pastor Rev. Donna Rose-Heim, whose husband, Rev. Bill Rose-Heim, is a former Area Minister in the Mid-America region<\/a>. When he learned of Cristie\u2019s faithful service, he knew that it could benefit the wider church, so he directed her to our team at Disciples Church Extension Fund<\/a> (DCEF). Through New Beginnings, facilitators assist communities of faith in imagining a new direction for their ministry. Despite her reservations about being the only facilitator on the team that wasn\u2019t ordained, she has inspired pastors and places of worship since 2012.<\/p>\n In fact, faith communities often find Cristie\u2019s approach a delightful respite from what they have encountered in the past. She credits her unique format to her other passion\u2014pickleball.<\/p>\n \u201cThe atmosphere is very communal. Before I began playing, I had a small number of friends from high school, work, and church\u2014all from my hometown,\u201d Cristie recalls. \u201cAfter I started though, I became friends with people from Bangladesh, India, and Brazil. There are women from different generations, too. It\u2019s a diverse group of people, like the church should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n She took up the sport recreationally in 2016 and three years later, she became a certified Pickleball Professional Registry Instructor. Then, she joined the Kansas City Stingers, a National Pickleball League team, the first pro league for the 50+ age group.<\/p>\n Her competitive drive to win informs her strategy with Disciples trying to answer God\u2019s call in this age of challenging congregational life.<\/p>\n \u201cI really want the pastors and lay leaders that I work with to be the most successful, because it matters to me,\u201d Cristie emphasizes. \u201cI don\u2019t want to visit them and just give out information. I want them to decide what’s going to help their churches thrive in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So how does she guide core teams to clarity and a vision for the future? Cristie focuses on removing the barrier that prevents them from developing new skills. In pickleball terms, her coaching philosophy is founded on the belief that once a student sees a shot being performed effectively or has even tried it themselves, then that shot is simply a dormant skill that needs to be nurtured.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a huge difference between trying to make something happen versus simply letting out something that\u2019s already inside of you,\u201d she clarifies. \u201cI think a lot of churches are doing the former by trying to recreate what was successful for them in the 1950s, instead of figuring out what ideas are brewing inside of their members\u2019 heads today. My job is to partner with them to identify those ideas and see if we can create something meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cIn the sanctuary, all the chairs point to the pulpit, but I could probably grow faster in my faith if I faced the other members and knew how prayer or Bible study was working for them,\u201d she says. \u201cAfter all, when we\u2019re with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we\u2019re co-creating.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Cristie adds that the church\u2019s structure places pressure on one individual\u2014the pastor\u2014to provide some kind of spiritual relief or revelation every single week. This binary dynamic extends to how it builds and maintains relationships with the public.<\/p>\n \u201cThe church thinks it has all the answers when a lot of the time it\u2019s the other way around,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhen we minister to the public, it sometimes feels like it\u2019s at<\/em> or to<\/em> them instead of with<\/em> them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As a coach, she has felt a similar expectation to always be right and never fail, but when she gives lessons, she makes sure that her students know that she makes errors or mistakes as well.<\/p>\n \u201cYour self-worth isn\u2019t dependent on the game,\u201d Cristie points out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Using this story of revival, Cristie urges her congregations to not give up.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you feel like you can’t go on anymore, that\u2019s when life actually begins,\u201d she concludes. \u201cThat\u2019s what happened for me with pickleball. I\u2019m almost 56 years old, so I thought I\u2019d be stuck playing cornhole or something for the rest of my life, but here I am competing in one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. I’m having a rebirth, if you will. That\u2019s possible for the church, too.”<\/p>\n “We\u2019re poor predictors of our future selves. Church, just say \u2018yes\u2019 to God, open your heart, and see what\u2019s in there!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/disciplescef.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1801.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWhy pickleball?<\/h3>\n
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Although the sport was invented in 1965, pickleball has experienced a resurgence in the last few years. Like tennis, it involves anywhere from two to four players competing against one another by hitting a ball over a net until one side is unable to return the ball. But unlike its more popular sibling, pickleball is more accessible to a wider range of people due to the smaller court size and the lighter weight of the paddles.<\/p>\n\n
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From the court to the church<\/h3>\n
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For Cristie, collaboration is key. In a pickleball match, she found that there are no leaders\u2014when you play with a supportive teammate, they turn toward you instead of toward your opponents\u2014and the church could learn a thing or two from this lack of hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n
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Can the church experience a second act as well?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Cristie often brings dried out Zinnia blossoms on the weekends that she provides leadership training to congregations looking for a new insight into their ministry. These annual flowers die during the winter, and yet an individual seed, when buried in the ground, grows into a plant that produces multiple blooms.<\/p>\n\n