Before the Bench Women's Ministry
About
Hello!
I am Sandi, Before the Bench Women’s Ministry founder and I am overjoyed to be here sharing with you! I live in central Kentucky on a farm, out by a river. That is where I take most of my photos I use in my ministry.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ first and foremost. Just trying to honor the Lord and be faithful with what He has entrusted me with. I am a wife and have been married 32 years. We have three children, two son-in-laws, two grandchildren and lots of cats.
I love to take photos of God's beautiful creation! I also love to create and share fun ways to study God’s Word! As a Bible teacher focusing on discipleship, I encourage women in all phases and stages of life into deep, essential, biblical truths, so they can step up and step out in faith equipped to share the Saving Grace of Christ.
Join me as we step out in faith encouraging each other to grow in Christ. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive ministry updates like discipleship studies and workshops, free resources, speaking engagements, outreach and more.
The Mission of Before the Bench Women’s Ministry is to encourage & equip women with biblical truths to grow in Christ & share their faith through Bible studies, free resources, devotionals, discipleship trainings, outreach and more! *All proceeds go towards outreach. More info below
Ladies Outreach
Sharing the Love of Jesus
- Ladies Prison Ministry
- Online Bible Study
- Discipleship Trainings
- Prayer Team for Small Church Summits online conferences
- And more
Why the name Before the Bench??
Sharing THE moment with you that changed my life forever. It was the summer of 2016. God called me to step out and share my faith in a very real, personal and emotional way. It was before the bench that God had answered her cry and my prayer.
The Summer of 2016 Karen was heard, by my mother, crying inside the doctors office building. We were taking my mother’s friend to an outpatient procedure to get his chemo port. As we were leaving, I saw her. I saw her alone. Shaking. Sitting on a bench. She just left an abusive relationship and was trying to come off the drugs that had entangled her life. She asked me a question and then we prayed.
I then handed her a light green pocket book style Bible. I opened it to the Gospel of John and told her to please keep it if she would like. And she did.
I had never met her before and never thought I would ever see her again. God had other plans— A couple months later my mother became ill and needed medical help. Keep in mind that my mother had not been sick and in a hospital for over 19 years! And guess who was there?? Yep, Karen. And she still had that little green Bible.
God gave her a safe place to stay at a faith transitional home and soon after God led me to teach women's Bible studies there. She mentioned she had started reading the Bible again and loved The Gospel of John! She was very thankful God put all of us together!
Before the Bench God answered her cry and my prayer— There is more to this story. God's Story, that includes many other people God put together. Linked together in Christ.
‘I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy." Psalms 116:1
In loving memory of Wayne and Karen
For His Glory, for this is His Story.
Sandi Pierce,
Before the Bench Women’s Ministry and Blog
Let your roots grow down into Him. Let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:7
Before the Bench Women's Ministry- Living out The Great Commission, relying on the strength of the Lord to bring Him glory and encouraging women weekly as God guides.
Be Rooted in Him. Dwell in Him. Don’t give up. God has a plan abundantly beyond anything we could ever imagine.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear but one of power, love and sound mind
2 Timothy1:7
(Acts 2:42; Matthew 28:16-20; Colossians 1; 2:7; 3:16; 2 Timothy1:7)
WHAT WE BELIEVE
The Bible is our guide— The Scriptures: WE BELIEVE the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired, infallible and inerrant Word of God, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of humankind, and the Divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life. (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:21; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 19:7-8; Matthew 5:17-18)
GOD: WE BELIEVE that there is One Living and True God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, Infinitely Perfect and Externally existing in Three Persons…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Supporting Scripture Passages: Deuteronomy 6:4; Genesis 1:26; 3:22; Jeremiah 10:10; Psalm 33:6-9; Matthew 28:19; 2Corinthians 13:14; 1Timothy 1:17; John 3:16-17; 4:24; 1John 4:8-9; Jeremiah 32:17-19; Romans 5:8; 11:33-36; John 1:1-3,14; 20:28-29; Hebrews 1:1-3; 1Timothy 3:16; Phil. 2:5-11; Matthew 1:18-23; 1Corinthians 15:3-4; 1Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:9-10,17; 4:14-16; 10:10-12; Colossians 1:15-20; 1Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 1:8; 5:8-14; John 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-15; 1Corinthians 2:9-16; Acts 1:8
SALVATION: WE BELIEVE the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the only way of salvation through the forgiveness of sin. Salvation requires that people place their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as sufficient payment for their sin. Salvation is a grace gift from God and it cannot be earned through our own efforts. (Isaiah 53:5-6; Matthew 1:21; 27:22-66; 28:1-6; John 3:16; 3:36; Acts 16:30-31; Romans 1:16-18; 3:23-25; 5:8-10; 10:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:24)
THE CHURCH: WE BELIEVE online ministry should not replace the church but build up the body of Christ. The local church is a community of followers of Christ that are unified through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Online ministry and the church work together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ. (Matthew 16:18-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; 5:11-14; 13:1-3; 20:28; 1 Corinthians 7:17; 9:13-14; 12:12-31; Ephesians 1:22-23; 3:10-12; Colossians 1:18; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 21:2-3
BAPTISM: WE BELIEVE that water baptism, through immersion, is an ordinance for believers which is intended to be observed during this present age. The word “baptize” is from the Greek word "baptizo", which means to immerse for the forgiveness of sin and receiving the Holy Spirit. This belief leads us to teach baptisms through the method of immersion. (Mark 1:9, Acts 8:36-39, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12, Matthew 28:19, Acts 8:36-39, Colossians 2:12; Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16)
MARRIAGE / SANCTITY OF LIFE: WE BELIEVE that marriage is an ordinance of God. We believe in the Biblical definition of marriage between one biological man and one biological woman. We believe the creation of marriage as recorded in Genesis 2:23-24: "The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." God created man and then made woman to complement him. Marriage is God’s “fix” for the fact that “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40; Ephesians 5:22-33; Proverbs 18:22; Hebrews 13:4)
WE BELIEVE that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image.