Narrative Summary
Interview with Terri Lawson by Teresa Miller
Terri Lawson was born in the 1960’s. She is a secretary and currently resides in Mtn.
Grove, Missouri. She is also the mother of two. Her professed religion is Baptist and as a child
her parents took her to church but they didn’t attend on a regular basis, just on occasion. The
family didn’t start going to church on a regular basis until the last year of her father’s life. At that
time Terri was twelve years old. Terry said that she became a Christian or was saved at the age
of seventeen. She said actually it was all about a boy.
The boy she said was her now ex-husband. She really liked him and wanted to date him
but, he said he wouldn’t date her unless she would go to church with him. She said at that time
she had completely stopped going to church and didn’t want anything to do with it. She said she
had just gone down a bad path and was pretty messed up. Initially he was the one who got her
going back to church. She says that the church was a church that was wonderful. It was a caring
church and they were really passionate about their religion and their relationship with God.
Terri said honestly her religious beliefs, and she said she even hesitates to say religious
believes because it is more like a relationship with God. She feels like her beliefs and
relationship with God have impacted every area of my life, physically, spiritually, mentally,
emotionally, socially, every single area of her life. Her relationship with God has made a
difference and guides her in the decisions that she makes every day in all those areas. Terri said
her Sunday consists of her devotion first thing in the morning, she says it is just some personal
worship time at home as she gets ready. She then attends church and then generally she likes to
go eat out, go home and take a good nap.
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Terri talked about having peace in your heart knowing she is being obedient to what God
wants her to do and how he wants her to live her life and so first off just by going to church she
feels like she is obeying God in that and making him important in her life. She thinks church is a
lot more than just a duty that you have to do it is something she does because she wants to. It’s a
day that you gather with people that are like minded, that have that same relationship with God.
She said she gains a lot and it is a blessing to be around her fellow Christians at her church. She
says what you get out of it is really what you put into it. She says she is blessed to get to go to
church and feel much enriched by that and it brings a lot of joy in her life. She believes it helps
her to grow as a Christian and it is a good thing.
Terri was involved for several years with a drama team at her church. It was very
rewarding for her and a wonderful experience. They wrote and did a lot of skits and just the
messages that came through those skits where really life impacting but, also through that, the
team was able to go to a lot of neat places. The team got to go to several prisons. They went to
Fordland prison every month. She said they got to know several of the inmates and got to
minister to them and she said that was life changing.
When asked who or what has been the greatest influence in her religious or spiritual life
she replied, my ex-mother-in-law who is still somebody I am very close with to this day. Terri
thinks she is just the kindest lady. She says she her own mother was a great, wonderful mother,
but her ex-mother-in-law was really the one that showed her really God’s love in a very deep
way. Terri said that her ex-mother-in-law was always patient with her. Terri said that she didn’t
know anything. Her ex-mother-in-law just helped her learn.
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She taught her to cook, taught her how to be a good wife. Terri said that she was just a really
good role model. She said they remain close friends today.
When asked, how do you think being a woman had affected your religious or spiritual
life, she responded. Yes, there had been times over the years I have had different roles in church
different things that I did. And there are always going to be people that don’t feel like women
should have any role in teaching or leading. She said occasionally she would experience
resistance, especially leading the drama team. There were times when she experienced some
resistance, just because she was a woman. She believes that God lives in her the same as he does
in a man and she says we are all equal in God’s eyes. She says that although it has happened to
her it has never really been a big issue for her.
I asked her if she had a favorite verse from the Bible. She said she didn’t have one
favorite verse. She believes that the Bible is God’s living word. She said it is alive and very
much what we need in our everyday lives. She thinks we need something different every day,
depending on where we are at. One verse she did mention was “I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me”. She said once you have experienced the love of God and you have
experienced the joy of the relationship with Him and the excitement of Him working in your life.
You don‘t want to turn back. And her life with him is way better than her life without Him.
The most interesting and intriguing thing about Terri was her willingness to serve others,
even in a prison setting. She never mentioned fear or intimidation. She just talked about
ministering to others and how she thought that it really helped them and blessed her and the
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drama team. She always gave credit to God when she talked about the prison ministry she was
involved in. The most inspiring thing to me about Terri was her honesty and encouraging words.
She said that the advice she would give to a young person was just be real. Give their self fully
100 percent to a real life relationship with a real alive God.
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Spring 2014
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