By Lauren Lamb

Lindsi Hines has been CBF’s Director of Member Care and Wellness since August 2022. This program is designed to care for the mental and emotional health and wellbeing of field personnel, Global Service Corps personnel and their families. Hines leads a team of mental health professionals who volunteer their services to the CBF Global Missions personnel.

Hines is passionate about creating and implementing structures that help CBF care well and meaningfully for its Global Missions personnel. The experience she has gained by leading and developing our Member Care and Wellness program for the past five years, along with her previous work, has provided her with skills that have proven useful in implementing new structures and processes, in nurturing healthy teams and relationships and in the sacred ministry of presence.

I had the opportunity to talk to Hines about her position and future goals for the Member Care and Wellness program.

Read our conversation below:

Please tell us a bit about yourself. 

I am a licensed mental health therapist, divinity school graduate, former hospital chaplain, former short-term field personnel, preacher’s and missionary’s kid. My passport country is the U.S., but France is my home country. Together with my husband Richie, we are raising four amazing daughters. I am impressed by them and thankful for the joy (mostly) of being their mom. Richie and I love to hike, camp and travel. We enjoy “yardening” (this should be a word), rehabbing spaces and things, eating amazing meals and laughing with friends around a table or fire pit.

What steered you to Member Care?

What appeals to me most about the work of Member Care is that it combines my passion for missions, my experience as a “third culture kid,” my professional calling and a heart for mental health counseling. I am incredibly fortunate to have a job that brings together my passion, calling and skill set. I consider it a privilege to get to know and encourage CBF field personnel who are doing transformational work in creative and intentional ways. I love the opportunity to work with a skilled and dedicated team of Member Care Volunteers who give their own skills and offer an incredible ministry of presence to our field personnel.

What do you want readers to know about Member Care? Tell us about your team of volunteers.

I serve alongside an unbelievably gifted group of mental health professionals who give their time, skills and passion to ministry. Member Care Volunteers (MCVs) are mental health counselors who walk alongside our field personnel and their families from commissioning and often beyond retirement. MCVs offer support through prayer, encouragement, counseling and presence. They attend General Assembly and field personnel team meetings. They help plan and facilitate field personnel retreats, a summer camp for the teenage children of field personnel and they visit our field personnel in their homes. Our MCVs help ensure that the emotional and spiritual needs of our field personnel are met. They are dedicated and I could not do this work without them!

As you have stepped into this full-time Member Care role with CBF Global Missions, what has your work looked like?

I originally took on this work five-and-a-half years ago as a part-time contract employee. I ran a busy private counseling practice in Fuquay-Varina, N.C. In August 2022, I accepted the position as Director of Member Care and Wellness with CBF Global Missions. Though both jobs were very rewarding in their own ways, juggling the two was challenging. I have enjoyed this full-time work because I am able not only to be more responsive to immediate needs, but I can invest time into strengthening the Member Care program. I have been able to advocate for and help write policies and procedures which care holistically for field personnel. I have been able care for and support our MCV team. I am currently focused on expanding our work to include post-retirement member care, offering annual emotional and spiritual care retreats to our field personnel and expanding our Member Wellness Volunteer network. 

What are you doing now/what are your goals in expanding member care? 

Some of our current goals include recruiting new Member Care and Wellness Volunteers. I would like to expand our Member Care team to include an MCV who offers services to our retired field personnel and their families, and another to offer care and support to our Internationals North Americas team who is currently without a permanent MCV. In addition to recruiting new MCVs, we would also like to expand Member Wellness by recruiting additional health care professionals (dentists, eye doctors, pediatricians, urologists, neurologists, orthopedists, etc.) to offer consultation and referral to field personnel who may lack access to English speaking specialized care in their regional setting. 

How can Cooperative Baptists pray for you and the Member Care team? 

Please pray first and foremost for our field personnel and their children, many of whom are serving in challenging settings and contexts. Remember to pray for their families and friends back home, wherever that may be. Pray also for the Member Care Volunteers who sacrifice vacation days and time with their family and friends to do this work; pray for their health, their stamina and that God would provide people to minister to them and keep them encouraged. Please pray for our team—for a clear vision, that God will continue to guide us and that God will bring others into our team to help us carry and grow the work of Member Care and Wellness.

You can also pray for me to be attentive to God’ s leading. I am so thankful for the financial support of each of you who give to make the work of Member Care and Wellness possible!