The conference, a marriage and ministry enrichment retreat for Baptist ministers and their spouses, will be held at Marriott's Griffin Gate Resort. Lowery, who laces his straight talk about relationships with ample doses of humor, says couples in ministry face the same kinds of relationship struggles as other couples but may be less inclined to admit that they have difficulties. Lowery says everyone views the world in different ways but that it is often not until marriage that individuals are forced to confront the fact that other people do not think and feel quite the same way they do. Most of the time, we are attracted to people who don't have the things that we have. Incompatibility is why we get married, but it's also used as a reason to divorce.
Incompatibility is just a lack of communication.
Lowery, an extrovert, finds that if he needs to discuss an important issue with his wife, Penny, it is best to write out what he wants to say. Penny, an introvert, needs time to process his issue. Unless you communicate, it's difficult to know how to love another person. I think cleanliness is next to impossible. But the Lowerys, who recently celebrated their 29th anniversary, have turned their differences into an opportunity to grow and learn.