Lois Evans carries many titles.
Photos by MILTON HINNANT/DMN
Meredith Sheppard (left), the first lady of Abundant Life Christian Fellowship Church in Palo Alto, Calif., joined Helene Royal of Dallas during the praise service.
To her husband of 30 years, Dr. Anthony T. Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church, she is a wife, friend and mother of their four children.
To those children, she's just mama.
And the 7,000 members of her husband's church call her first lady.
This week, though, she's carried yet another label: founder and supervising producer of her seventh annual First Ladies Conference.
Mrs. Evans says she was called into full-time ministry at the age of 15; she acknowledges that before beginning her courtship with Dr. Evans, the demeanor of her own pastor's wife convinced her that she was not ready to be the wife of a pastor.
"As a child, I saw this woman who appeared to be lonely and unhappy," Mrs. Evans said.
According to Mrs. Evans, the first two years of her marriage were challenging as she learned to adapt to being a pastor's wife.
Her husband saw what his wife was going through.
"It was new to her, new to me," he said. "And there was uncertainty. It was a mutual growth experience for both of us, one that has allowed her to educate herself and others who have to endure the various tasks that come with serving as a pastor's wife."
The 56-year-old Guyana, South America, native said her conference is the result of her adhering to her God-given assignment.
"Every job has an orientation. During my inadequate moments, I had to learn to be myself, which freed me up to be me," Mrs. Evans said. "My husband has used my gifts and abilities and effectively applied them to where I fit."
Mrs. Evans has relied on that talent to create a retreat for more than 500 women during the conference, which is themed "A Woman for All Seasons."
She described the event as "a real conference, a real place, a safe place where the ladies can come to retreat and spend time hearing from the Lord."
At Thursday night's opening session, Mrs. Evans was introduced to the excited conference attendees by her daughter, Priscilla Shirer.
"The Lord has answered the cry of her heart to minister to all of you," Mrs. Evans daughter, Priscilla Shirer, said as she introduced her mother to conference attendees at the Fairmont Hotel.
The three-day conference, which ends today, featured two general morning sessions, three evening sessions, more than a dozen workshops and transportation to services at her church.
The conference has attracted pastors' wives from across the country.
"I have admired the Evans' ministry from a far," said Tara Jenkins, 30, wife of the Rev. Charles Jenkins, senior pastor of the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago. "I was excited to present a workshop and be able to connect with others sisters in Christ who are no stranger to some of my experiences."
Trina Terrell is a Dallas-based freelance writer.
E-mail trinaterrell@yahoo.com
