Ridge Association secretary offers listening ear

Courtesy photo

Jenell Miller will be installed as president of the National Association of Southern Baptist Secretaries April 29 at Ridgecrest Conference Center.

WINTER HAVEN (FBW)-While most ministries are characterized by words and actions, Jenell Miller says her ministry is in what she doesn’t say. As both a pastor’s wife and secretary for Ridge Baptist Association, she provides a listening ear without judgment or opinion, and she teaches that skill – among others – to other church secretaries.

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“I have learned to smile and keep my mouth shut,” Miller told Florida Baptist Witness. “Sometimes, it breaks your heart, though.”

In her 22 years on staff with the Ridge Association, she has taken a multitude of phone calls from unhappy pastors and church members who want to be heard but “don’t really want answers.”  She believes most pastors’ “goofs” are unintentional, and she tells unhappy church members to pray for their pastors.

“Sometimes they ask me how ‘to get rid of their pastor,’ and I say they do it the same way they got him - pray,” she said.

Miller begins each day praying her favorite verse, Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”

“I’ve kept out of hot water by the Lord honoring that request,” Miller said.

Miller began her career as a church secretary 30 years ago as part-time secretary with Royal Palm Baptist Association in Fort Myers. While her children were in school, she maintained financial records, answered the phone and typed correspondence. She typically took work home, and her son and daughter, then 14 and nine, helped by folding newsletters.

Back when working with a mimeograph machine in literally “cutting and pasting” together items, she worked full-time with Parkland Baptist Church in Winter Haven before beginning her work with Ridge Association.

Miller balances her job at Ridge Association with helping her husband, Robert, as he leads Lake Shipp Baptist Church, also in Winter Haven. She tries to reserve her weekends to dote on three granddaughters. Her daughter, Chesna Owens, is church pianist at Lake Shipp; and her son, Christopher, married in June and lives in Port St. Lucie.

As certified ministry assistant instructor with Lifeway Christian Resources , Miller also has accepted the responsibility of teaching and counseling fellow church secretaries. To accomplish that job she travels nationwide to teach three-day conferences.

Recognized for her prowess, Miller will be installed April 29 as president of the National Association of Southern Baptist Secretaries during the organization’s annual meeting in Ridgecrest, N.C. She expects 26 church secretaries from Florida to attend the four-day 20th anniversary meeting with the theme, “Building on a Solid Foundation.”

The national organization meets every two years, and alternates meeting sites between Nashville, Tenn., and Ridgecrest Conference Center. Participants receive instruction in their areas of responsibility, computer skills, communication and time management.

Miller said she feels her national responsibilities are an extension of her ministry at Ridge Association and her ministry as a pastor’s wife.

“Sometimes it is a little stressful,” she said. “But I feel the Lord has put me where I am to use my talents and skills.”