When Ministry Thrives at Home: An Alumni Story

Lindsay Martin is now a mom to three boys in Midland, Texas. But first, she was a college student at the University of Colorado Boulder.

When she was in college, Lindsay came to know the Lord through The Navigators on campus. “I had an incredible privilege of being discipled by some incredible women,” she remembers. Even when Lindsay wasn’t prepared and didn’t feel qualified, her mentors pushed her to dive into her faith and disciple others. However, once she got started and realized the value of discipleship, Lindsay knew that walking with others was going to be a lifelong passion.

“I was like, discipleship works,” Lindsay says. “I wanted to be doing it for the rest of my life.”

Discipling the next generation

Now in Texas, Lindsay is a stay-at-home-mom, and discipleship looks different than it used to. Instead of on a college campus, Lindsay’s ministry now takes place primarily within the walls of her home, and it involves mentoring her three young boys.

When Jackson, her oldest son, was about six months old, Lindsay began reading books about what it would look like to invest her children’s faith. Originally, she assumed the best time to start teaching them would be when they were five or six years old, when they could remember more. However, it hit her that there is no age limit on discipleship — no matter how old her sons were, she could start discipling them.

“I read a couple books that convicted my heart and spurred me on to invest in them right now,” she recalls. “The time for investment is not in the future. The time for investment is right now.”

With young kids, it can be hard to see what lessons are sticking, or if the seeds that are being planted are actually going to grow or not. Despite the challenge, Lindsay has found comfort in trusting her boys over to the Lord, knowing that all she can do is show them the love of Christ.

“Even if you are not really seeing the fruit, it’s there,” she says. “And what a sweet thing to know, that my boys are coming to know the Lord. I cannot force that to happen, but what I can do is lay the kindling.”

Opening the front door to ministry

Beyond her family, Lindsay has also found creative ways to spark ministry within her broader community. At first, Lindsay was hesitant to become a stay-at-home mom because she was worried that it would close the door to ministry opportunities: While previously she traveled often and was around people frequently, now she would be at home. But she was surprised to see how the Lord worked through this new season of her life.

“My husband and I were both surprised that ministry started to flourish,” she explains. “I’m here, this is my ministry hub. The center of our ministry is our home — and it was sweet to be able to welcome people into that.”

One way the Lord has provided community is through Lindsay’s kitchen. When Jackson was about a year old, Lindsay started baking bread. “Many folks were like, ‘Why don’t you sell that? People would love to buy it,’” Lindsay says. “So I did. I started selling it and it took off.”

Through her business, Lindsay has been able to get to know neighbors and people in her community that she never would have met otherwise. She’s been able to forge connections through food and open her front door to new relationships.

“Our little tagline we have is, ‘Love your people, feed them well,’” she says. “I think that’s such a great way to communicate care to others, is to feed them good food. So why not sell sourdough bread to them … and engage with others in our community through bread?”

Beyond the bread business, Lindsay has been able to open her home to other moms and younger women. She was able to host a group that participated in a course from The Bible Project, and let the Lord bring people to her door. “Why not just start something?” she said. “And if women want to come, they can.”

Though it can be hard to find time in the midst of busy schedules and family chaos, Lindsay has found that even when it feels difficult to show up or ministry doesn’t look as she thought, the Lord can still work through it to create lasting impact.

“I don’t want to say no to something in ministry because of the season of life that we’re in,” Lindsay says. “So I need to practice grace with myself in the season that we’re in, and not saying it has to look perfect, because it’s not going to.”

Even though life and ministry looks a little different than it did when she was a student in college, Lindsay has seen the Lord bless her home and create opportunities for discipleship where she never expected — within her family and the community around her.

“We get to be part of people’s lives in such a way that they are being transformed on this side of heaven for the Kingdom of God,” Lindsay says. “I am still personally blown away that God asked us to be part of the Great Commission. I don’t know why He would have asked us, but He did. I think that it’s such a sweet and beautiful thing that we get to be a part of it all.”

Discipleship Tip:

Discipleship doesn’t have to wait for the “right” stage of life — it starts right where you are. Invest in the people in front of you today, even in small, ordinary moments, trusting that God is at work beneath the surface. You don’t have to force growth; your role is to faithfully “lay the kindling” and create space for Him to move. And when it feels imperfect or interrupted, remember that consistency and presence often matter more than having everything put together.