Rebekah
Montgomery
…Inspiring women to live life by the Book
REBEKAH
SPEAKS AT CAMPS, conferences, banquets, workshops, and retreats. Rebekah
is also the editor of Right to the Heart of Women E-zine, an on-line
magazine for women who minister to other women.Click
HERE to find out more about Right to the Heart of Women E-zine.
Rebekah is also co-publisher of Jubilant Press, publisher of books for
women who minister to other women.
Click HERE to find out more
about Jubilant Press.
Rebekah
speaks to women’s groups internationally. Here she is speaking
at the Daughters of Argentina conference, (sponsored by the World Needs
Christ Ministries) Escobar, Argentina, with Miguel, a local interpreter.
“The needs of women are the same the world over. They need to
be empowered by knowledge of Christ through sound teaching of the Word,”
said Rebekah.
AUTHOR
AND SPEAKER Rebekah Binkley Montgomery was the 7th of 8 children born
to Pastor Carl and Catherine Binkley.
Said Rebekah: “By the time I came along, babies were not a novelty
but each of us were greeted as a present from God, gift wrapped in diapers.
“I realize that not every child is welcomed by her parents, but
God has purpose for every child. When each of us was formed ‘in
the secret place,’ the Heavenly Father’s eyes of love were
upon us.” (Psalm 139:15)
Around
age 3, Rebekah’s sister Rose prayed with her to ask Jesus into
her life. (Pictured from r – l: Rebekah, Ruth, Tim)
“Although I was very young, I remember the moment in vivid detail.
Rose and I were kneeling on the cracked linoleum of the kitchen parsonage.
When I asked Jesus to come into my heart, I ‘saw’ what seemed
like a blast of sunlight and felt God’s incredible love,”
said Rebekah.
“Jesus has a special love for children. He gave especially stern
warnings to those who damaged children while warmly inviting little
ones to Himself. God gives mothers and children’s workers special
blessings to be the ones who first teach children to pray.”
Said Rebekah: “I am not a born leader. I was born a follower,
lost in a crowd of 7 siblings. Like David, who was considered “least
among his brethren,” God saw something in me not apparent to anyone
— including me — and singled me out for leadership.
But not without training. “David and Moses led sheep. I led cats,”
said Rebekah.
“Sincerely following the Great Commission to preach the Gospel
to every creature, beginning at about five years old, I taught flannel
graph Bible lessons to my congregation of barnyard cats. I pleaded with
them to accept Jesus before they accidentally met their Maker beneath
the wheels of farm equipment. I know the angels rejoice when sinners
comes to repentance, but I can’t help but wonder what the angels
did when I led four tabbies and a calico in the sinner’s prayer!”
Rebekah
often uses stories about the trials and joys of growing up in a large
colorful family to illustrate Bible truths and our own misconceptions
about them. (l-r, back to front: Victor, Rose, Jesus, David, Mother
— Catherine, Father — Carl, Ruth with doll, Stephen, Rebekah,
Jonathan, Timothy)
When Rebekah was 13, her parents became church planters and Rebekah
taught children’s church, Bible school, and Sunday school in an
inner-city congregation. At age 16, she formed a folk-rock singing group
that was the house band for The Lost Coin Coffeehouse and traveled locally
with Rebekah doing the speaking.
After graduation, at age 17, Rebekah married her high school sweetheart,
John Montgomery.
“We
were too young and very naive, but the State issues marriage licenses
based blood tests, not wisdom. We had blood, so they gave us a license
and we got married.
“We made nearly every mistake possible and we should be a divorce
statistic. But we and our marriage is living proof that God recycles
and repairs damaged goods.”
Mistakes,
missteps, as well as ministry characterized the first years of Rebekah
and John’s marriage.
“I didn’t get a BS or a BA behind my name. That MRS. in
front of my name, qualifying me to go to work putting John through college.”
said Rebekah. “And although our marriage was often rocky, God
knew my secret desire was to serve Him. He provided on-the-job training
as the children’s church and camp programming director for a large
church along with some college classes.”
Rebekah soon became an in-demand speaker until their first child, Mary,
was born. Then Rebekah and John 
settled
down as pastors of a rural church. With the addition of John Joel, Rebekah
retired from the senior pastor position and became the children’s
pastor for a middle-sized church.
“Our babies were ‘church babies.’ When I was teaching,
our babies were loved and held by others. It doesn’t take a village
to properly raise good kids: it takes a church,” said Rebekah.
Baby
Montgomery # 3, Timothy John, came as a welcome surprise. Born at a
whopping 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 24-inches long, Rebekah said she almost expected
to see college basketball recruiters hanging around the hospital nursery
window. But joy and expectations were cut short when Timmy died suddenly
of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
“Although we knew Timmy was in heaven, we were brokenhearted,”
said Rebekah. “I had not known how terrible grief could be. Timmy’s
loss and God’s healing fired up in me the desire to help others
who are brokenhearted and crippled by deep, incomprehensible hurts.”
Timmy’s death was the beginning of a 6-month period of intense
testing in which every member of Rebekah’s immediate family experienced
a life-threatening illness. Additionally, the Montgomery’s buried
3 members of their extended family. Finally, after a miscarriage, Rebekah’s
health broke and she was forced to leave church ministry to rest.
“I was crushed. I began writing, sculpting, and painting as ways
to express emotions too deep for words. God seemed silent and distant,
but the pain of loss is something He understands because He lost a Son,
too. It is at moments of deepest despair that God teaches His most precious
lessons.”
Three and a half years after Timmy’s death, God sent the Montgomery’s
the precious gift of Daniel — but not until after considerable
healing had taken place.
“Daniel is definitely a blessing. But trusting God doesn’t
means happily-ever-after endings to every loss. He does something more
miraculous than that: He brings comfort, 
healing,
hope, and purpose out of the incomprehensible,” said Rebekah.
During that three and a half year healing process, Rebekah became editor
of six internationally known magazines, honing and developing her writing
gifts.
“God didn’t waste one teardrop or one pang. He is using
them all for His own purposes and to refine me.”
(l-r: John, Daniel, Joel)
“No, we’re not perfect people. We don’t have a perfect
family,” said Rebekah. “But the miracle of God’s grace
is that He uses defective, flawed, and very human people to do His perfecting
work.”
Since 2000. Rebekah has written 5 books:
Ordinary Miracles (Promise Press)
A Harvest of Love (Promise Press)
A Harvest of Joy (Promise Press)
A Harvest of Peace (Promise Press)
A Harvest of Faithfulness (Promise Press)
Also numerous magazine articles on women’s ministry, a DVD set
— A Christmas Angel Tea
(Jubilant Press), plus producing
Fresh News From Heaven, and other materials.
Because their talents open some one-of-a-kind doors, John and Rebekah’s
outreach is unique, but the goal is simple: To empower women to lead
lives of faithful and meaningful commitment to God via Biblical literacy.
John
and Rebekah’s painting talents took them plus Mary and Joel to
Haiti to paint murals on the walls of a new medical facility. Here John
and Rebekah pause after roughing out a triptych showing the paralytic
about to be let through the roof for Jesus to heal.
“The visual arts are important in Haiti and witchdoctors put murals
on their walls to show what Satan can do. We painted murals to show
what the healing power of Jesus can do,” said Rebekah.
Writing assignments, speaking, and study take Rebekah to exotic ports-of-call.
In 2002, Rebekah and John took doctorate level Bible classes at Jerusalem
University College. John returned home but Rebekah stayed in Israel
as a guest of the Ministry of Tourism, one of a group of Christian journalists
so honored. This was Rebekah’s second study sabbatical in Israel.
“They call the Land of Israel ‘the fifth Gospel,’
and it is. The diversity of the Land, its customs, food, art, and people
gave me a fuller understanding of the Scriptures.” said Rebekah.
