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Who Would You Add to Christianity Today’s 50 Women to Watch List?

The October issue of Christianity Today highlights and celebrates women who are making a difference throughout the body of Christ in various channels of influence. Sarah Pulliam Bailey and the editors compiled a list (in no particular order) of 50 who are shaping the life of the church and culture in significant ways. (To order your copy, click here.)

I was thrilled to see friends and soon-to-be-friends on the list. I couldn’t help by cheer with Sara Groves whose music I’ve long adored, Ann Voskamp (when are we having that sleepover?), Elisa Morgan who continues to lead leaders, Jo Ann Lyon who is a fearless leader among the Weslyans, Kara Powell whose research is changing the way teenagers are raised, and so many more.

But I also can’t help but notice that any list like this has its limits, as noted by the editors of Christianity Today. These kinds of lists raise the questions of who should be included and who would you nominate.

I know many more “Women to Watch” than any list like this could ever contain—I bet you do, too. I know women like Heather Zempel who is changing the way community life and small groups are done at National Community Church in Washington D.C. Women like Amena Brown who are carving out a unique place in the church as a spoken word artist. Women like Tammy Dunahoo who help lead the Foursquare Denomination. Women like Selma Wilson and Faith Whatley who are providing guidance in their roles at Lifeway. Women like Sheila Frost who are using their gifts to serve faithfully at a church outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Women like Christa Flannery who are raising suburban’s full of kids to know and love Christ.

Christianity Today’s list wasn’t meant to be complete—not without your name on it (if you’re a woman). But rather this list is an invitation to begin looking at the women all around who are passionately serving Jesus and using their gifts for His glory and be inspired to do the same.

Will you join me? Oh, and who would you love to add to this list?

  1. Jennifer Wiseman
  2. Nancy Sleeth
  3. Katharine Hayhoe
  4. Bonnie Wurzbacher
  5. Dorothy Chappell
  6. Tracey Bianchi
  7. Roberta Green Ahmanson
  8. Sara Groves
  9. Roma Downey
  10. Jordin Sparks
  11. Mavis Staples
  12. Bethany Hamilton
  13. Marilynne Robinson
  14. Elisabeth Elliot
  15. Lauren Winner
  16. Luci Shaw
  17. Ann Voskamp
  18. Margaret Feinberg
  19. Rachel Held Evans
  20. Brenda Salter McNeil
  21. Christine Caine
  22. Bethany Hoang
  23. Lynne Hybels
  24. Amy Sherman
  25. Jenny Yang
  26. Joni Eareckson Tada
  27. Kay Coles James
  28. Condoleezza Rice
  29. Sarah Palin
  30. Jean Bethke Elshtain
  31. Michele Bachmann
  32. Priscilla Shirer
  33. Carolyn Custis James
  34. Anne Graham Lotz
  35. Joyce Meyer
  36. Kay Warren
  37. Beth Moore
  38. Jo Anne Lyon
  39. Amy Julia Becker
  40. Elisa Morgan
  41. Juli Slattery
  42. Leslie Parrott
  43. Jen Hatmaker
  44. Katherine Leary Alsdorf
  45. Esther Fleece
  46. Elaine Howard Ecklund
  47. Nicole Baker Fulgham
  48. Kara Powell
  49. Kim Phipps
  50. Shirley Mullen

To order your copy of Christianity Today’s “50 Women to Watch” and read more about each of these remarkable women, click here.