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Presenting Co-founding Pastor 

Patricia J. Phillips

Patricia grew up in a small southeastern Iowa community in which farming and coal mining were the main industries. She could identify to some degree with the country music singer Loretta Lynn, in that she was a coal miner’s daughter.

It was in the years after the untimely death of her father when Patricia’s strong character was being forged; she was only six when he passed away. Both she and her husband were raised during the Great Depression years of the 1930s by single parents with large families.

Times were difficult for the Grace Buckallew family; Mrs. Buckallew did a very outstanding job working outside the home and keeping the family together. All six children completed their education and became recognized in the marketplace as achievers. They chose to use the tough times as a motivation to develop a strong work ethic. Patricia learned homemaking skills from her mother and became very efficient in secretarial skills, which later earned her a place as an executive secretary with an investment brokerage firm in Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1951-two years after Patricia’s marriage to Wilson Phillips-their first child, Stephen, was born. Five years had past since the ending of World War II. Traditional family values of the Judeo-Christian culture were changing rapidly. In many households both parents were working outside the home. This brought the American people the highest standard of living of any nation on earth.

While raising their three children, the Phillips’ chose to do without some material things so that they could live on a single income. By many people’s standards, their life-style was "old-fashioned."

Patricia made a commitment to Jesus Christ in 1962 but struggled in her faith because her husband remained uncommitted to the Lord. Nevertheless, she stayed faithful and was overjoyed when her husband made his commitment in 1965.

This joy in the Lord was disturbed in 1966 when her husband announced the Lord had revealed his calling to full-time Christian service. Some fears and insecurities began to surface in her of which she had previously been unaware. Now sixteen years into her marriage she felt threatened at the thought of giving up her house, her husband’s railroad position, and all the "stuff" they had accumulated. The American dream she had envisioned seemingly was being scuttled by her husband’s talk of "leaving all" to follow the Lord.

As the summer of 1967 arrived, the Phillips’ relocated to Springfield, Missouri. With her husband entering Central Bible College, Patricia moved out of the role of full-time homemaker into a dual role as homemaker-secretary; she was employed at the International Headquarters of the General Council of the Assemblies of God. With three children and a husband in school, she worked an unbelievable schedule from early morning until late at night. Her homemaking skills were lifesavers to the family. Proverbs 31 would describe her many faceted duties of sewing, washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and typing her husband’s term papers. All of this was in addition to her 40 hours at her secretarial job.

Patricia felt she could have a breathing spell upon her receiving her "P.H.T." Her husband’s degree was a bachelor of arts in Bible, while hers was a well-earned "Putting-Hubby-Through" degree.

Patricia’s faith had been severely tested through the Springfield chapter of her life. Besides the rigorous work schedule, her family had been hit by some rebellious activities of her teenage daughter.

The Lord led the Phillips’ to an Assemblies of God pioneer church in Sedalia, Missouri, in the summer of 1970. This was to be their "Arabian Desert Experience." As a pastor’s wife, Patricia worked alongside her husband in the church, and they also developed a coffeehouse ministry for troubled teenagers. Her horizons were broadened by exposure to the "Charismatic movement" as well as the "hippie-type" young people. The rebellious sixties and seventies of the Vietnam War era posed quite a challenge to her conservative disciplined upbringing. God was providentially preparing her for the greatest challenge in her ministry.

It was a real shock to Patricia when the Lord led her family back into the Springfield area in 1975 to pastor the Republic assembly of God Church. The years of schooling and pioneer church service had taken its toll financially. She found herself back at the General Council Headquarters in secretarial work to help with the family expenses. She terminated her service in 1982 when the Lord spoke that she and her husband were to move into the city of Springfield with their ministry. The Lord’s word was that "He had set a great open door before them…" but like the apostle Paul in Scripture, they faced many adversaries.

The foreknowledge of God’s leading was unveiled in 1983 when Abundant Life Ministries was formed. The Kingdom principles that God was revealing to Patricia included her being ordained by the presbytery of Abundant Life Ministries in 1986. God was recognizing and releasing her pastoral role in her own right. At the insistence of some of the elders, she was to take the title Pastor Phillips and her husband was to take the biblical title of Bishop Phillips (overseer of pastors). These titles still at times sound strange to a coal miner’s daughter and a pioneer Pentecostal preacher’s son.

A comment that came to Bishop Phillips from Father Richard Bartlett, a Catholic priest and friend, seems appropriate in depicting Pastor Phillips’ role at Abundant Life ministries: "I believe every parish needs a woman’s input."

The elders at Abundant Life Ministries recognized the need and set in order Pastor Phillips’ ministry to follow the pattern given to the older women in Titus 2:3-5: "…be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things - that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers…." Those in the Abundant Life family see Pastor Phillips as their spiritual mother and follow her example as she faithfully tends to her spiritual home.

Proverbs 31:31 seems appropriate in summarizing Pastor Phillips’ ministry. "Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."