Welcome to this new (once-a-week) blog

Not a "Preacher's Wife": These are the once-a-week musings of a preacher's husband: (You didn't ask, but I'm going to tell anyway)
Derek Maul is married to a "successful" Presbyterian minister. He thinks that, after over 28 years in church leadership together, there may well be a couple of stories worth sharing... :-)
- Picture: The Preacher's husband and the preacher, on vacation, Fall 2010

Probably the last thing I need to do right now is add to my work load. But this week I was dismayed to read - in a major denominational magazine no less - the following statement: "Although there are a lot of women pastors in the mainline denominations today, I was not able to find an active blog written by a pastor’s husband..."

Well search no more, Ms. Faith-based Journalist! As of today you can come right here to find out all you want to know about what it means to be a pastor's husband in 21st Century America.

So what is this blog going to be like? Short answer... we'll find out as we go along. But I can promise the following:

1. Regular - once a week - entries
2. All faith-based content (Being the preacher's husband is about following Jesus)
3. Unvarnished truth (I'm a newspaper writer, I know the truth is always more interesting than anything people make up!)
4. Humor (Let's fact it, church can be very funny!)
5. Inspiration
6. Good quality writing

Intro: If you're interested, here are some of the relevant "Preacher's Husband" basics:

• My wife, Rebekah Maul, has been an ordained Presbyterian minister for over 28 years.
• Rebekah was trained at Columbia Theological Seminary and then served 14 years as associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, Florida (1982-1996) before being called as pastor here at First Presbyterian Church of Brandon, Florida.
• First Brandon has a little more than 500 members and 350-400 in average attendance.
• Rebekah has an amazing staff, including the best associate pastor (Tim Black) in the denomination.

My life - as a preacher's spouse - has looked like this:

• My most important role was - and is - doing my best to keep the preacher happy, healthy and balanced. It helps that she's awesome.
• My mother-in-law (also a clergy spouse) told me my job was three-pronged. "Love the Lord, love the preacher, love the church."
• Rebekah and I have raised two wonderful children together.
• The absence of stereotypes (what does a church expect when the preacher's spouse isn't a preacher's wife?) has freed me up to simply follow Jesus.

As for my career, here are the basics:

• The first leg involved 18 years teaching exceptional education in public schools. Eventually it was time to do something else, so I turned my hand to freelance writing.
• I have a few regular print gigs, writing for a variety of newspapers and magazines.
• I write on-line for the Florida United Methodist News-service, Family First, and All Pro Dad. Additionally, I pick up one-off assignments where I can.
• I've authored three books and two study-guides for Upper Room Books (book #4 is in production).
• Then - and this is often the most rewarding - I'm doing a lot of speaking. Since my first book went to print I've had the privilege of traveling all over the United States to share about faith and my commitment to "Live like we mean in".

Let me know if this blog interests you.

Let me know if you're clergy, clergy spouse, or just interested....?

Grace and Peace - DEREK

derekmaul@gmail.com