FINDING FIRM FOOTING

Ladies strengthen their walk on Appalachian Trail

HOT SPRINGS, N.C. — Five wives trudged the final steps into Hot Springs, physically exhausted but spiritually renewed after three days and 16 miles on the Appalachian Trail.

The Sept. 8-10 trek, which began outside Newport, Tenn., marked one of the annual women’s backpacking trips for Off the Grid, a ministry that takes ministers and their families into the outdoors for multi-day experiences designed to provide respite and connection far from the pressures of church life.

“I think sometimes it’s hard to break away from our ministry, marriage and our children at home,” said Emily Terrell.

Terrell, wife of the pastor at First Baptist Church in Dandridge, Tenn., has led three women’s trips with Off the Grid.

Several years ago, Kevin Perrigan, Off the Grid founder and camp manager of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s Carson Springs Conference Center,  approached her about launching trips specifically for ministers’ wives.

“Since we go to church together, and he knew how I liked backpacking, he asked me if I’d be interested in doing it for the pastors’ wives. And I said, ‘Sure, let’s do it.’ Several ladies jumped on board with us and it’s been a blast each year,” she said.

For Terrell, who has led all three women’s trips, the physical challenge creates space for something ministry wives rarely get: authentic connection and breathing room.

On this year’s expedition, Terrell led the group through elevations that peaked at 3,700 feet on Rich Mountain. Each night, the women gathered around campfires for devotions.

“When we go back this much into the woods, it really forces us to think about our priorities and talk through different ministry challenges, but also encourage each other in the ministry and pray together and read Scripture together,” she said.

“It’s just so important to be able to break away from our everyday so that we can truly relax and think and pray and meditate.”

The women who completed this year’s trek came with different experience levels but shared a common need for renewal.

Kate Henard, whose husband is pastor at Swannsylvania Baptist Church, completed her second trip and appreciated how the physical demands translated to resilience.

“It’s a really good challenge to set yourself to, so when you get to really hard parts in regular life, you can look back on some of these challenges and realize, ‘I can do hard things,’” she said.

Crystal Brown, who just completed her third trip, has made the annual trek a spiritual discipline. Brown’s husband is the associational leader for Wilson County Baptist Association and formerly served as pastor at Waverly First Baptist Church.

“Every year, I’ve gone just to reset and refocus not only for myself,” she said. This year, she explained, she had received specific prayer requests from other women in the association, so she could use her time as a prayer walk.

For Cheryl Burns, whose husband is pastor at Round Lick Baptist Church, this was her first backpacking trip.

“I like the attitudes of the women who came,” Burns said. “I just figured it could help me work some things through.”

Extending the invitation

The women’s trips represent an expansion of a ministry born from crisis five years ago.

When COVID-19 forced four struggling pastors to cancel their planned backpacking retreat in August 2020, Perrigan decided to cast a wider net. He sent out an invitation across Tennessee. Within days, 12 pastors signed up.

“A pastor friend knew I was a backpacker and said, ‘Why don’t we think about this?’” Perrigan said. “Breaking away from all the stress and being able to spend time and get some support would be positive.”

That first trip launched what would become Off the Grid. The concept proved so successful that Perrigan organized a second trip two weeks after the first group returned.

Another 12 pastors immediately signed up for the October 2020 excursion. Since then, the ministry has expanded beyond the Appalachian Trail and beyond pastors.

Last summer, Perrigan took 10 participants to Colorado for seven days in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. Groups typically range from 12 to 14 participants for the multi-day treks.

Finding fellowship in the wilderness

The ministry’s power lies not in the destination, but in what happens along the trail. There, the program follows the TBMB’s initiative of strengthening gospel leaders through supporting ministers’ mental health.

Perrigan intentionally structures the trips to avoid typical pastoral pressures. Leaders typically don’t ask ministers about their churches or probe their struggles. The focus remains on the hike itself.

“I want them to not feel pressure,” Perrigan said. “They’re just concentrating on the hike.”

Yet in that space, freed from expectations, participants often find themselves opening up naturally.

During the inaugural 2020 trip, a bi-vocational pastor confided that he had no relationships with other ministers and didn’t know what other pastors did. He was struggling with family issues and felt isolated in his calling.

On the second day of the trek, he shared his burden with the group. The other pastors stopped on the trail, placed their hands on him and prayed.

“He’ll tell you, he’ll say, ‘That changed my life,’” Perrigan recalled. “He said, ‘I’ve never had a group of pastors pray over me like that.’ That was a real encouragement to him.”

Stories like that have become common on Off the Grid trips, Perrigan said, who now works to involve Tennessee Baptist Mission Board specialists in leading trips, creating deeper connections between denominational staff and pastors.

“A typical specialist may go see a pastor, eat lunch with him once a year based on the amount of churches,” he said. “This way they actually get to spend three or four days, two nights with them, 24 hours.”

The ministry continues to draw interest. Off the Grid also recently held a men’s golf trip as well as a motorcycle tour.

To learn more about the Off the Grid ministry and future events, visit www.tnbaptist.org/off-the-grid. B&R