Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Oh what a night...late September back in...

One year ago, September 15, 2007, I along with three women I barely knew, drove to Greenville, SC to meet with another lady. It was to be my "final" interview so to speak, Freedom's Call. I was so excited to become part of this team of women. Women who share the same passion for the Savior, His Word and seeing other women experience Him.

Over the past year God has been so busy in each one of our lives. If you were to talk to any one of us, we would tell you that as much as we want to be doing this ministry thing ALL THE TIME, we want to be at the feet of God MORE. And let me tell you, this past year each one of us have experienced a season that has done nothing but keep us on our face before Almighty God. Believe me when I say, I really think He wanted each of us to experience heavy stuff so that when we stand before a group of women, we can understand from personal experience what they are feeling.

I think it was very fitting that our first team event was almost one year to the day of the anniversary of me joining the group. (Oh and get this! It would have been on the exact date, but Jill, who organizes conferences for a certain author that oh...wrote "The Prayer of Jabez", had a HUGE conference last week. The church we were at last night was able to move the date so we could come...how cool is that?!)

Okay...enough of my walk down memory lane here are some pictures!!!


I'll give a brief disclaimer here: The air conditioning in the fellowship hall/gym we were in..did not work yesterday. It was about 102 degrees in there!

But God.

And I mean that in all sincerity, made it cooler on the platform area than on the floor. I am serious about that! (If our faces look extra shiny, just imagine it's a holy glow instead of sweat.) Once again He reminded us He is in control.

Worship:

from left Amy, me Debbie F. and Debbie M.
We were singing "The Solid Rock" here. (Travis C.'s arrangement)



This was during "Everlasting God". Debbie F. is reading the Isaiah passage about being lifted up on wings of eagles during the middle of the song. Notice we had no hand held mics. Nope...they handed us four lapel mics when we walked in for soundcheck. At first we all looked at each other like..."do what?". Once we got wired up and got our sound check we LOVED IT!!! It was SO freeing to be able to MOVE around handsfree...So Cool.. :)



Jill had Debbie M. write a short drama..this was my acting debut. It was a riot.



Jill bringing the Word. She spoke on:

New Beginnings...

This church has a new pastor and the message was so timely. For us too!



I wish you could hear her! You feel like you are having a conversation with her while she teaches. Jill reminded us that once we are covered by the blood of Jesus, God sees us as His beautiful, glorious bride. She challenged us to make the statement out loud each day..." I am the Bride of Christ!" Boy, doing that totally changes your perspective. I had to stop, look in the mirror and say it SEVERAL times this afternoon. (I had a bad, bad attitude.)

Toward the end of Jill's teaching, Debbie M. sang "Beauty for Ashes". As she sang, Amy walked in the back door, weaved in and out of the ladies and wound up on the stage looking pretty nasty. She sat down with all her junk and began to dig through her bag.



I won't give away much more, because I hope one day you'll see it in person, but during the song Amy takes off the old and puts on the new.





Each lady left with a wedding ring to remind her she is the Bride of Christ. It was touching to see them come forward to receive their ring.

What a night. It was almost ten before we got on the road and I pulled into my driveway a few minutes before 2:00 this morning. BUT God has been gracious and we've had a good day..and I will probably go to bed EARLY tonight. :)

Thanks Melanie for taking pictures for us last night! THANK YOU Durham Memorial Baptist in Charlotte for hosting such a lovely evening. You made us feel right at home and were just a beautiful group of women. It was an honor to serve you.


After last night, I can hardly wait for Women of Faith this weekend!!! My mom and two ladies from her church are coming down to go with me!!

If any of you are going, leave me a comment and let's try to meet up there....

8 comments:

Leah Adams said...

Oh Steph, what an awesome event. I know that the Lord was smiling so big down on ya'll. Thank you for sharing. God bless each of you!!

Leah

Patty said...

back in 63' what a very special time for me, sorry, you got me to singing with that title. lol! A dangerous thing. :)

The whole evening sounds wonderful and praise God for directing this entire night for you all!! You have such a sweet and fun spirit and I am thankful to know you!! It's fun to sit back and watch God work in your life!!

Thank you for sharing your conference and I am the Bride of Christ!

Have a great day!
Love,
Patty

connorcolesmom said...

That looks like a wonderful time!
What a JOY to be part of such a ministry :)
I am so glad you got home safely
Have fun at the WOF
Love ya sweet friend
Kim

God's girl said...

Girl this looks so good. What a blessing. Hope you have fun this weekend!
Much love,
Angela

Profbaugh said...

Oh I so wish I was going to WOF with y'all. Have a great time!!

Loved your post. Thanks for sharing just a glimpse of the weekend with us. Wish I could have been there.

BethAnne said...

Sounds like lots of fun and lots of worship --- no microphones? Bet that took a little getting used to.

Anonymous said...

did you get this on tape? I would love to watch it..

I saw a video from another church that did something similiar with lots of men and women, while the song play..Oh how HE loves us..tears, just tears..

Carol said...

Oh WOW! I bet this was so good!