Online Exclusive More with Jan …

Tell us about your kids.

My daughter, Ashley, is 20 and a senior at Dallas Baptist University, majoring in business and marketing. She’s a phenomenal young woman and has always been older than her years. She’s very passionate about causes and people, and she’s very wise. I’m just enjoying watching what God’s doing with her life; she’s a revelation to me. I’m so grateful we have a good relationship.

I also have three boys. John, 16, is my oldest son and is a junior at Flower Mound High School. He’s handsome, kind and very soft-spoken. He’s a natural leader. His focus right now is on athletics. He makes me so proud. Luke, 14, is a freshman and is a mini-Mark [my husband]. He looks like Mark and tends to see things the way Mark does. He’s tall and thin and plays football, but we’re always telling him he should play golf! Luke is very black and white, very introspective. I enjoy Luke so much. Matthew, 11, is in middle school and is my youngest. He’s very much like me … his personality is like mine. He’s never met a stranger, and he likes to talk. He’s also very athletic. He’s fun and a joy. And he’s going to be big! They’re very fantastic boys. Very athletic, very into sports, very rowdy.

You have four of the disciples in your family!

That’s the joke … I always say the boys and Mark are the Gospels! And then I laugh and say, “We had to stop having kids or people were going to expect the apostles!” The apostles will have to be my grandkids someday.

What’s your favorite song?

When Ashley was a baby, Rod Stewart’s song, “Forever Young,” came out, and I would sing it to her endlessly as I rocked her. And still sometimes when I think about those days, I hear it.

My newest favorite is “I Will Survive.” I love it! I totally have this vision of a flash mob. Wouldn’t that be fun?

What’s your favorite dessert?

Anything chocolate.

What do you do to chill out or relax?

I really enjoy quiet time and a book. I read a lot of Christian living books and autobiographies. But if I’m exhausted or stressed out, I need a good fiction book. Sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading gives me a lot of peace. I’m trying to learn to relax through exercise. I’m still working on that.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find a lot of inspiration from the life stories of overcomers. I love biographies, and I’m very inspired by personal testimonies. I also find inspiration from the Word. And I find inspiration from just being among people. I’m very inspired by people.

Do you like to travel?

I love to travel! Although I did end up missing that trip to Egypt, last year I went to Israel, Greece, London, India, Sri Lanka and Dubai … and I’m just itching to go again. I always knew people were lost in the world, but I grew up in the Bible Belt where everyone says they’re a Christian and attends church. I knew that many, many people in the world did not know Jesus, but in my travels, I saw the magnitude of the lost and that kind of messed me up. But then in the midst of all those places, we would gather the believers and worship, and it would be exactly the same … He’s the same everywhere and how people exalt Him is really the same. I realized how small the world is and how great the need is.

What’s your favorite movie?

Somewhere In Time with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve.

What’s your favorite TV show?

I’m a reality TV show freak! I like all kinds of reality TV shows, and our family has been a Survivor watcher for years. I’ve seen every episode.

What’s your favorite game?

Spades is fun, and I love Pictionary-type games. The Pink team introduced me to Farkle, and that’s pretty fun!

When do you feel the most beautiful?

I feel beautiful when I’m experiencing either great gratitude or great joy. I think that there has been a birthing of gratitude in my heart through this cancer experience that I’ve never had before, and I think it softens me and makes me more tender.

What’s your favorite book?

One of my all-time favorite books is Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. I absolutely love it!

What’s your favorite food?

Anything Mark cooks … he’s a fantastic cook!

What is the biggest challenge in ministry that God has helped you overcome?

I think the biggest challenge I’ve had to overcome, and I’m still overcoming, is dependence on God instead of self-reliance. I believe I am gifted to do what I’m doing. I have a natural gift to rally people and to communicate and to lead. I realize that He gave me a gift, but the gift doesn’t really have anything to do with my character. I think it’s easy when you’re walking in your gift to start thinking that it’s all about what you’re doing. It’s when He anoints my gift that there’s this ease in it. I think that’s a continual challenge for me not to get caught up in feeling like I have to perform through my gift when really what I have to do is submit my gift every day to Him.

Do you have a life motto?

I love you. I like to tell people I love them and mean it. One time I saw a young woman at church, and she was sitting by herself on the end of a pew. I just walked up to her and introduced myself, and said, “I’m so glad you’re here. Is there anything I can do for you?” She was very quiet and didn’t really respond. So I said, “OK, well I’ll see you later, but I just want you to know I love you.” She looked at me, and said, “How could you love me?” And I said, “You don’t understand … I can love you because I can see you for who you really are.” If I can break through the things on the outside to see the person on the inside, I always feel a compassion and love for them.

What do you want your legacy to be?

I hope that my legacy will be that I loved well. It wouldn’t matter to me so much about what I did. I really hope I’ve sown relationship seeds and that people remember I was a good friend and I loved well. That would be very important to me. And I hope that I’ve declared Jesus faithfully.