Narrative Summary
Interview with Jennifer Jolly Rothschild by Krystina Yost
I had met Jennifer on more than one occasion. She is married to the director and founder
of my major; she was at the Christmas party that I attended and cooked for; I attended her Fresh
Grounded Faith conference at her home church here in Springfield, MO. However, through these
multiple interactions, we had never met and I did not understand how she emitted such grace and
poise as a woman of faith.
I contacted Jennifer for this interview and she was thrilled to participate. She was an open
book. When we were going over the consent form, she didn’t even let her husband finish reading
it. She simply said “We have nothing to hide, do we?” and set forth to spill all of her thoughts on
the importance, the shaping and the impact of personal faith. She had a rare condition that caused
her to lose her eyesight at the early age of 15. This was a dramatic change in her life and rather
than be angry, she embraced the condition in God. She chose to see the benefits of her condition
and has made a very meaningful and purposeful life from that day. She shared that she had never
intended to be religious speaker or to go into the ministry but she sang in a choral group at her
high school and she had written a song for them to sing at their performances. Her instructor
thought that it was something really special and asked Jennifer to sing it solo at each concert. As
time went on “her introduction to the song was longer than the song itself”, she says and her
desire to speak and share her thoughts and study with other people, especially women, has
blossomed since that pivotal point. She speaks with a very sweet and soft voice and finds her
solace in scripture as well as history and “dead authors”. She gives much credit to C.S. Lewis for
his transformation at the age of 29 from atheist to Christian as being very motivational as well as
educational for her.
Missouri State University
Semester 2012
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women
2
Jennifer is the definition of a leader in Women’s Ministries. She is asked to speak at a
plethora of venues each year and manages to host a women’s conference called Fresh Grounded
Faith that draws crowds of thousands to come and hear her fresh and spunky advice on how to
best life a faith filled life. She understands her pull as a woman and uses it to talk about the
touchier sides such as submission and other areas that affect women and could be potentially
touchy subjects for men to address.
She is very aware of her faith made it very clear that she loves being in public ministries
because it holds her accountable to herself and to all of those who look to her as a mentor, and
most importantly, God. She takes her faith very seriously and finds the most comfort of her faith
by being honest with herself, admitting that it can be hard but she is dedicated far more to living
a real and genuine faith than having a perfect testimony. Jennifer refers to different kinds of faith
such as a worshipful faith and a prayerful faith, but says she finds the most stimulation in an
intellectual faith. She refers to several ‘dead authors’ who inspire her to dig more deeply into her
faith and to consciously think and observe each day. This is what strengthens her personally and
when she gets discouraged she reminds herself of how beautiful Heaven must be and that it will
all be worth it in the end.
She is of the Baptist denomination but when it comes to her ministry she is focused on
the foundations of Christianity and feels that every person and culture is different. Jennifer has
the position on respecting all Christians and their specific practices and codes of conduct. We
must only agree on ‘the essentials’. ‘The Essentials’ include: Virgin Birth, Death of Christ, and
the Resurrection. She loftily stated, “There’s grace for the rest, let’s embrace it.”
Missouri State University
Semester 2012
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women