Kari Stainback (MABC, 1997) serves as the Senior Director of Women’s Ministries at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas. For twenty-seven years and counting, she has overseen countless women’s Bible studies, orchestrated events, offered her voice during senior leadership meetings, and counseled others, providing both mentorship for those seeking to be counselors and pastoral counseling to those within her church family. Kari loves to see the Lord lead. She delights in his hand as he shepherds her own life, and she finds it a joy to watch the Lord direct the paths of his children.
Kari’s story begins on Easter Sunday, when she and her twin brother made their very first appearance in this world in Oklahoma City. Kari counts being born on Easter as a precious gift. It is an annual opportunity, despite sorrows or dying dreams, to remember the resurrection hope belonging to believers. The resurrection and, as a result, her birthday remind Kari that the Lord will eventually make all things well. Not long after her birth, Kari’s parents moved to Greenville, Texas, where she and her brother grew up. In the late 1980s, the twenty-something-year-old Kari moved to Dallas; she worked for an inner-city ministry located right across the street from Dallas Theological Seminary. In her early thirties, Kari began to recognize that if she wanted to continue in ministry, she needed a degree. After witnessing the impact counseling had on her roommate, who had recently lost her husband, Kari applied to the seminary across the street and started pursuing her Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling.
Kari worked full-time and lived off campus. She kept in touch with her previous friendships and made new friendships with her classmates, some of whom now serve on staff with Kari, including Pete Hatton (MABS, 2000). Conversations both inside and outside of the classroom sharpened her mind and enriched her relationship with the Lord. Kari enjoyed Dr. French Jones (ThM, 1980), who served as her supervisor and supported her throughout the program. Dr. Lucy Mayberry-Foster (MABS, 1986; ThM, 1989) modeled a character and confidence that blessed many DTS women, including Kari.
One of Kari’s professors, during a frenzied human development discussion, held up his Bible and said, “To be an effective people helper, you have to study your Bible ferociously for the rest of your life.” That caught Kari’s attention and led her to the bottom line: as God’s people come to know more and more of Jesus, they come to know the truth better.
Sometimes it’s not the lectures or amazing speakers but the small moments that go straight to your heart. A little line tucked into one of Chaplain Bill’s (ThM, 1962) prayers still sticks with Kari. He prayed that the students and staff would be more excited about spending an eternity with Jesus than experiencing relief from a broken world. He wanted them to look forward to the day when tears would be no more, but more than that, Chaplain Bill wanted them to long to enjoy their Lord’s face. His prayer continues to shape Kari’s prayers today as she asks the Lord to help her love him more and to look forward to his presence so that her desire for him is grander than her good desire for relief in this present world.
Toward the end of her degree, Kari started working with Spiritual Formation. She continued in that role for two more years, working part-time for the seminary while trying to rack up enough counseling hours to make ends meet. Pete Dyson, who was working with the Hendricks Center, mentioned that his church, Park Cities Presbyterian, was looking for someone to disciple women part-time. Kari applied. During the interview, she could see how the job would allow her to use her different gifts rather than focusing on just counseling. It would also allow her to serve on a team within a larger community, while still offering one-on-one opportunities. After four years, that part-time role morphed into a full-time role, Director of Women’s Ministries. It wasn’t what Kari had planned, but the Lord kept confirming that he was the one leading her, and so she kept following.
Some are a little leery about women’s ministry, but Kari can confirm that she doesn’t spend her days picking out candles and table settings. That’s not at all what women’s ministry is. In her words, “It’s feeding the sheep.” The women’s minister is tasked, like every minister, with building up the church family, of which women are very much a part. Kari loves seeing women catch a real love for God’s Word and watching as God transforms lives. She really enjoys seeing college-age women mature—craving deeper Bible studies, asking thoughtful questions, and responding to what the Holy Spirit’s stirring in them. She also enjoys watching women recognize and operate from their giftedness and seeing their giftings pair with their callings. Kari encourages men and women to work together to better reflect God’s image and to better care for the church family, an all-hands-on-deck task. The relationships she’s formed as a women’s minister have sharpened her, grown her love for the Lord, and made her laugh a whole lot.
The church is God’s family, and as a single woman, Kari is especially careful to keep the church as family foremost in her own mind and in the church’s. It is a core value for her and also for her church. The Lord, who has made his image bearers to be at home with him, has given the members of his church to one another that they might love each other like a family. That core value shapes how Kari leads the women’s ministry. She and other ministry leaders at her church refuse to operate apart from one another. Each leader looks for ways to encourage growth across the church family, not just in their particular area. Understanding the church as God’s family has also helped Kari stick. God called her to her particular church family. That’s where he wanted Kari to grow up, and she’s committed to loving that family.
One of Kari’s favorite things is the emphasis on God’s sovereignty for the comfort of his church. Recognizing that the Lord is in control, even if you don’t always feel like it, encourages growth and rest. The Lord’s hand has been on Kari throughout her life. He led her to her current role, where she gets to walk alongside others as they, too, learn to follow the Lord’s lead. Kari gets to see God writing their stories. Every Sunday, she gets to watch her brothers and sisters walk past her to receive communion. She knows, in part, what the Lord has already led them through; moreover, she’s been there long enough to see how God has redeemed some of their stories, even the ones that seemed hopeless. She gets to see joy, where once there were tears. She sees a settled-ness in God’s provision, where once there were only questions. It is one of the many delights of being there so long, long enough to see the hand of God leading his people.
Morgan Dau (ThM, 2023) is an administrative assistant for the Alumni and Career Services Office at Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD student and writer. She and her husband, An, along with their black cat, call Dallas home.