Giving women a L.I.F.T

Steve Cordle
ECB Publishing, Inc.

COVID-19 has pushed a lot of people to do things differently. Even weekly small group Bible studies are not able to meet like they did less than a year ago. The church member spotlight brightly shines on Violet Hatcher, Kathy Howes and the Ladies in Faith Together (LIFT) Ministry of First Baptist Church of Lloyd.
Violet Hatcher and Kathy Howes are the co-leaders of the ministry, which is a major ministry of the FBCL for women to have a safe place to meet and study the Scriptures, encourage one another and pray for each other. The group has done other things, such as helping with needs in the church as they become known. Their work has included participating in the Christmas Shoe Box Ministry of Operation Christmas Child. In 2019, they set out to fill five boxes and ended up with enough items to fill 17 boxes.

LIFT considers itself to be an outreach ministry, not only the women of FBCL, but many other women, through their Facebook Page, which is Ladies in Faith Together (LIFT) - First Baptist Church of Lloyd. This is a public group that anyone can request to become a member of. Hatcher pointed out that “a positive thought and encouragement is shared each day on our FB page.”

Pre-COVID, the LIFT ministry met twice a month, but stopped meeting last spring when COVID invaded. Violet and Kathy then started producing videos, with the help of Philip Sauls as their cameraman. From March to September, Hatcher and Howes produced two videos a month that are posted to the church YouTube channel. Starting in September, they went to one video per month and one in person meeting a month of the LIFT ministry. For the Holiday season, LIFT is on hiatus, but in January they plan to release two videos per month and hold one in person meeting of the ministry on the second Monday of the month. When setting out the lesson plan for their current series, Hatcher said that class members did not want a 45-minute video or a book that required homework.

Hatcher said, “I can say that Kathy and I have grown so much spiritually through this ministry.” Hatcher went on to say that she and Howes prepare their studies using only God's Word and what the Lord has laid on their hearts to share with the women on the videos and in their in person meetings. LIFT meets on the second Monday of each month, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the church fellowship hall and any woman who is looking for Christian fellowship is welcome.

Born in Georgia, Violet’s father served in the US Navy, thus, they moved a lot. In 1958, the family settled in Tallahassee where she grew up and finished high school. She and her husband, Bill, have been married 43 years and have three grown children, seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter (you might recognize her husband from productions at the Monticello Opera House).

Howes is from Greenville, where she graduated from high school in 1970 and moved to Tallahassee two years later, after graduating from North Florida College. She and her husband Charles have been married for 38 years. They have four children and been blessed with seven grandkids. Howes worked in several different secretarial positions until her children were born. Then, she reentered the workforce after completing nursing school in 1988.

Hatcher and Howes both came to FBCL at different times. Hatcher and her husband were members at Elizabeth Baptist for quite a while, before they felt the Lord leading them to Lloyd in 2016. Howes, on the other hand, started attending services on the recommendation of a cousin who went there. She and her husband were searching for a church home and attended FBCL, finding it every bit as friendly as her cousin said it was. The Howes started attending about three or four years before they actually moved to Lloyd from Tallahassee in 2008.

Hatcher has too many favorite hymns to single one out, Howes also has some she likes, such as “Beulah Land.” Hatcher cited Jeremiah 29:11 as her favorite passage: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Howes cited Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Hatcher retired in 2003 from the Florida Auditor General’s Office after more than 30 year of service. Howes is a retired operating room nurse from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Both women would like to continue serving in the LIFT Ministry as the Lord leads them.