Meet the Blog Team

                       

Ashley Whitley was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her grandparents, Bishop Billy and Betty McCool, are the founders of First Apostolic Church in Knoxville where Ashley has attended her entire life. Under the direction of her parents, Pastor Mark and Jamie McCool, she was given a love for music and a love for education. Because of this, she is now the Music Minister at FAC Knoxville and a teacher at Apostolic Christian School. Ashley received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in Business Studies in May of 2007. In November of 2009, she met the love of her life, Nate Whitley, while attending an ALJC National Youth Convention. After a whirlwind romance, the two were married in June of 2010. After much prayer, Nate and Ashley felt the Lord leading them to stay in Knoxville, and work full time for FAC, where Nate is now associate pastor. When she is not working for the church Ashley is usually shopping, playing volleyball, or cheering on her Tennessee Vols. She is also madly in love with her Yorkie, Hoosier Neyland Whitley.

Whitney Gothra, age 24, resides in Medora, Indiana. She has been married to the man of her dreams, Timothy, for three wonderful years. Her husband is the Associate Pastor at the greatest church in the world, Medora Pentecostal Church, and Whitney is the Administrative Assistant and Minister of Music. Whitney attended IUPUI where she studied sociology. She has traveled extensively, making several trips to the mission field that includes Ireland, Jamaica, Russia, and Taiwan. Whitney loves to sing, play piano, sew, read, and attempt any and all “DIYs.” Shortly after getting married in 2009, Whitney started a blog - www.becomingwhitney.com - about becoming a wife and living life joyfully.

Lauren Hammond was born on September 12, 1991 to Pastor Kenny and Penny Carpenter, just six years after her sister Fallon and six years before her brother Nolan. Her creative mind drove her as a child all the way through high school as she graduated as salutatorian in 2009 from Apostolic Christian Academy. Lauren begin a small photography business while furthering her education at Pellissippi State College and The Photography Institute. Now at the age of twenty-one she is happily married to Zach Hammond, and they both work full time at Apostolic Christian Academy and First Apostolic Church in Maryville, TN. Lauren teaches art and uses her creative mind and skills to benefit not only the church and school, but her small business known as Shabby-Tiques.

Fallon Erickson graduated from Bethel University in 2012 with her Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management and is a certified Kindermusik educator. She has been involved in ministry at First Apostolic Church (FAC) of Maryville, Tennessee since 1997.  She currently serves as music minister, co-director of ACA preschool, marketing director and administrator of Apostolic Christian Academy (Grades K5-12) under the direction of Rev. Kenneth and Penny Carpenter, Lead Pastor.  Fallon is married to Chad Erickson, the Apostolic Crusader’s Youth President and Associate Pastor of First Apostolic Church of Maryville, TN.  Together they have two beautiful girls, Paris and Windsor-Kate.  Chad and Fallon share the passion of leading worship at FAC of Maryville with FAC’s 120-voice adult sanctuary choir.  FAC is currently in a building project that includes constructing an 80,000 square foot facility on 22 beautiful acres on William Blount Drive. When completed it will be one of the largest places of worship in Blount County.  All of FAC’s services are Live Webcast and archived on the church’s website at www.factv.org. 

Dress Extender

Have you ever found a cute dress or skirt that's just a few inches too short? Or shrunk your favorite skirt in the wash? I have found a fabulous solution to that problem, a dress extender! This can be easily be made for under 5.00!!

What you will need:
1.) Half or Full Slip (can be found at Goodwill or local thrift store for 1.99)
2.) Wide lace or eyelet(Hobby Lobby sells a roll of lace precut in the ribbon section for just 1.99)
3.) Sewing machine, needle and thread or adhesive bond
4.) Straight pins
5.) Measuring tape

First, measure from your waist to the bottom of your knee to find the desired length for your slip. Lay your lace down on the slip, pin the lace to hang at whatever length works best for you. Now, depending on what you have to work with either sew, hand stitch, or take your adhesive bond and attach your lace to the bottom of the slip. Make sure you leave enough at the ends of the lace to over lap just a few inches. Now go try on your favorite dress with your new dress extender! 

                               

In Love With a Foodie

I never really had any reason to start cooking until I got married. One of the perks of being single is you don’t mind eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every night or bumming off your parents for dinner. I mean really why buy food when you could buy something way better like shoes. Unfortunately, my husband does not agree with this concept. You see, he is what I would like to call a “foodie.” I define a “foodie” as someone who what they eat actually means a lot to them. For example, where I am good with Taco Bell, he would drive an hour for that perfect taco from this little place he read about on the internet. This is a lot of pressure for someone who never really cooked. So after many failed dinner attempts, I found the perfect solution. It is an amazing, magnificent, oh so life saving appliance called a slow cooker. The “foodie” LOVES everything I have made with it so far. Slow cookers are also great for days when you are really busy and you do not have time to make dinner. Below are listed a couple of my favorite recipes (disclaimer, I swiped them all from Pinterest):

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 (17.5 fluid ounce) bottle buffalo wing sauce, divided

1/2 (1 ounce) package dry ranch salad dressing mix

2 tablespoons butter

6 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

DirectionsPlace the chicken breasts into a slow cooker, and pour in 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix. Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 7 hours.

Once the chicken has cooked, add the butter, and shred the meat finely with two forks. Pile the meat onto the hoagie rolls, and splash with the remaining buffalo wing sauce to serve.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 10-ounce package frozen whole kernel corn

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped yellow, green, or red bell pepper

1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce

1 10.75-ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup

1½ cups milk

1 cup shredded Pepper jack cheese (4 ounces)

2 chicken breasts

Directions

In a 3½ to 5 quart slow cooker, combine drained beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and bell pepper. Place 2 chicken breasts on top of mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together enchilada sauce and soup. Gradually whisk in milk until smooth. Pour sauce mixture over ingredients in cooker. Cover; cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

Remove chicken and cut or shred into bite sized pieces. Add chicken back into soup.

Top with pepper jack cheese and serve. Can also be topped with avocado, sour cream, or crushed tortilla chips. Note: if the soup is too thick for you, just add a little more milk after it’s all cooked.

Royal Call to Resurrect Modesty!

 

Protocols for appearing in the presence of the Queen of England are closely regarded by all.   There are detailed instructions such as how one must stand when the queen enters the room (a bow is also acceptable). A lady may do a small curtsy, and a man should bow his head from his neck. If she extends her gloved hand to you, touch her hand briefly (a handshake is frowned upon).  

 

Notice that an attendees’ attire is of upmost importance as referred to on the front of the invitation.   Much attention is given to how a person dresses in the presence of the queen and her royal family.   The amount of attention given to a person’s appearance and manners, and how they must conduct themselves in the presence of royals made me think of the importance of modesty.   Culture is screaming louder than ever before that modesty is nothing more than a cultural standard.  Unfortunately, the word modesty is not commonly used in vocabulary today.  Society revels its’ belief system through television, magazines, and social media.  

The Bible is very clear in 1 Timothy 2:9 that a woman must dress in modest apparel.   Modesty is often times misunderstood, but it is simply an outward snapshot of our heart.   We are a royal reflection of King Jesus in our appearance.  Shara McKee, pastor’s wife of The Pentecostals of Katy, wrote the following concerning modesty.

 

Modesty is not just about putting on more clothes, but rather the state of the heart.  Modesty is a call to be confident and understand who we are as a child of God.  Our goal in the way we look and act is to draw attention to the God we serve. Our bodies are the dwelling place of His spirit that is alive in the church today.  

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your BODY, and in your SPIRIT, which are God's.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

What’s the Royal Fuss???

If the Queen of England requires such a royal dress code in her presence// How much more does 
Jesus, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords deserve??                           

Being Pretty

Not too long ago I was procrastinating doing something and headed to none other than Facebook. Oh Facebook, glorious time-waster that you are. But that particular day, a friend of mine posted a link to a thought-provoking article, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since.

Reachel Bagley, a fashion consultant, addresses the difference between pretty and hot in her shared article “In The News: A Call to Resurrect Pretty.” The article was originally written by a Catholic man, Pat Archbold. I would definitely recommend that you read it. The article defines “pretty” as a beauty that begins inside, a combination of beauty and innocence. And in the writer’s opinion, girls of today are trading in their desire to be pretty for a desire to appear “hot.”

I remember being in third grade with my best friend and talking about boys. We had just started “noticing” them, and we each had a certain one that we liked. My friend’s sister was older than us and had all kinds of makeup products. Since I was raised in the truth, I knew that it was wrong to wear makeup. But I thought it would be okay to just try it. As a young eight-year-old girl, I had already made a connection to makeup and boys. I was pretty sure that makeup was a quick way to get a boy to notice me. My friend and I asked her sister to put makeup on us to make us look “hot.” Thankfully, the sister just scoffed at us and told us we were too young to even be thinking that way.

Isn’t it something how the desire to appear hot is ingrained in our culture? Hot. Ugh. Sometimes that word makes me shudder. I often hear young Apostolic girls using that word, and words like it, either as a compliment to others or as a personal aspiration. Being “hot” is a very dangerous thing to be focused on. How are you supposed to keep your hearts and bodies pure if you’re evaluating yourself and others by that quality?

One of my very favorite books is Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. It is a must read for women of all ages. It addresses what is at the core of the feminine heart. We so want to be loved and admired and sought after, but trying to be “hot” is not the way to do it.

“The vast desire and capacity a woman has for intimate relationships tells us of God’s vast desire and capacity for intimate relationships. In fact, this may be The most important thing we ever learn about God–that He yearns for relationship with us. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God” (John 17:3). The whole story of the Bible is a love story between God and His people. He yearns for us. He cares. He has a tender heart.”
― Stasi Eldredge, Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul

We long to feel admired, to feel meaningful and needed. These are natural, God-given feelings. These feelings create a void that only God can fill. God is simply trying to draw us in to Him so that we can see just how powerful His love is for us. Whether you’re single or not, the only way to fulfill that desire to be loved and appreciated is to turn to God. If we can learn to get these needs met from Him, we won’t have to resort to trying to get them met from a boyfriend or husband.

We won’t have to learn the intricacies of flirting, of dressing in a way to get someone’s attention, or all the eyelash batting and hip swaying. We can simply be confident in our identity and be … pretty. We can stand firm in the knowledge that God created us just as we are, and thinks that we’re pretty fantastic.

So today, may we look to God for our validation. May we stop dressing in immodest clothes solely because they draw attention. May we realize that it is okay in this modern age to actually be innocent. To be pure. May we have the courage to break out of the cultural box and be pretty.