Rebecca Davis

AFA Journal staff writer

Above, Lauren Green McAfee and Jackie Green

August 2018 – “Legacy is something that each of us is shaping every day. … [It] is the story of our life that will live on after we leave this earth,” Lauren Green McAfee told AFA Journal.

McAfee is the daughter of Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby and founder of the newly opened Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. She works as a corporate ambassador for Hobby Lobby. Along with her mother Jackie Green and entrepreneur Bill High, McAfee recently co-authored Only One Life: How a Woman’s Every Day Shapes an Eternal Legacy.

Jackie Green is co-founder of Museum of the Bible, philanthropist, adoption advocate, and full-time homemaker who values her roles as wife, mother of six, and grandmother of four.

Green and McAfee share a love for the Bible and want to use their everyday lives to share biblical principles and encourage women to be intentional about passing on their faith to the next generation.

Only for women
In Only One Life, mother and daughter tell other women: “Let’s use our precious days on earth to make an impact that will last. No matter who you are, no matter what qualifications you feel you have or don’t have, we have 24 hours in a day, and we have a desire for God to use our lives for His glory. So let’s be women who get busy doing good with the time we have.”

Green said they want to challenge women – of any age and stage – to see even the little things in life as opportunities for intentionally shaping their family or life legacy.

For believers, the everyday should always point to the eternal in tangible ways such as investing in others, encouraging others in their study of God’s Word, caring for others, and making disciples.

Only for eternity
As Green wrote in Only One Life: “Faith carries multigenerational influence.”

She told AFA Journal, “You can influence and impact a person’s life through your multigenerational faith by living out the example and passing along the core values and guidelines that are given to us through Scripture and by living a life pleasing to God. … Christian women can and do lead.”

This is proven true in the lives of women from the Bible, throughout history as well as present day. In their book, Green and McAfee profile 36 of these world-changing women as a challenge to today’s Christian women to live boldly with an eternal purpose. Those profiled – well known and unknown – include Mary Magdalene, Catherine Booth, Christine Cane, Harriet Tubman, Queen Esther, Lottie Moon, and Joni Eareckson Tada. These are ordinary women who have done extraordinary things.

Only for the ordinary
“These were women who were just living their everyday lives but with intentionality,” McAfee said. “We can do the exact same thing. They weren’t especially gifted or exceptionally talented. They were faithful. They gave everything they could and stewarded it well for God’s purpose. We have the same opportunity to do that.”

She explained how the concept of legacy might sound like a grandiose idea, something that is daunting and lofty, something only an elite few will accomplish. But that is not so.

Green said it all starts with the little things, setting small goals and taking baby steps, while realizing that every woman’s life truly does impact future generations either for good or bad.

“We set the pace for the future generation,” she added. “[And] we only have this one life to do it.”   

Only One Life is available at
online and
retail booksellers.