Women’s conference provides

ABILENE?When Southern Baptists of Texas Convention women get together, the result is encouragement, equipping, and fun, said several women who attended the SBTC’s Regional Women’s Conference in Abilene last month. The two-day conference, with the theme “The Lydia Principle: A Life with Purpose,” headlined by ministry leaders from churches throughout Texas, offered West Texas women an opportunity to learn more about the importance of women’s ministry in the church. The West Texas event was one of five regional conferences scheduled in Texas this year. Conferences were held March 26-27 in Corpus Christi and April 2-3 in Arlington. Future meetings are scheduled April 30-May 1 at East Paris Baptist Church in Paris and Sept. 24-25 at San Jacinto Baptist Church in Amarillo.

Brenda Greer is a member of the SBTC Women’s Ministry Team and helped her church, South Side Baptist, host the recent Abilene conference. “The goal for these conferences,” she said, “is to equip women for ministry in the local church.” This year’s theme is “The Lydia Principle: A Life with Purpose,” based on the example of Lydia in Acts 16.

For as many ladies as possible to attend, Greer said the event is “designed to fit easily into the weekend schedule of most women.” Beginning with registration on Friday evening, the conference lasts less than 24 hours?but much is accomplished.

Each conference’s schedule includes both large-group and “breakout” sessions led by women from a team of seven experienced speakers. Three corporate sessions include worship time and messages that focus on using one’s God-given abilities and living with godly purpose.

Three smaller sessions allow for choices among a wide range of seminars, with topics that include combining home hospitality with evangelism, group accountability, and effectively using the Bible in ministry to others. Each of the themes discussed, Greer explained, is meant to help “women who are either already involved in women’s ministries within their local church, or women who desire to begin a women’s ministry.”

“These speakers,” she said, “are women who have had firsthand experience and are actively participating in women’s ministries in their own church as well as some who are serving on the state level. Most importantly, they are women who know the challenges of balancing their faith, home, families, and ministries. They are all ? in tune with the lives, priorities, and responsibilities of today’s women who desire to serve within their churches.”

One attendee to the Abilene conference, Shana Shuler, said the program blessed her in many ways. Shuler, who is involved in her own church’s ministry to women, noted that the event offered her and other women new perspectives, a push forward in their faith, and encouragement to fulfill their purposes for the Lord.

Shuler also said the conference effectively ministered to and uplifted the ladies who attended, making it easier for them to return to their churches and minister to others. She said she liked the speakers’ insistence on growing in personal relationship with the Lord. “Every speaker I heard spoke strongly of daily prayer and reading of God’s word,”

One benefit Shuler and Greer both noted in the Abilene conference was the joy of joining with other women in pursuit of similar goals and the same God.

“My favorite part of events such as this is always standing back and watching sisters in Christ love on each other,” Greer said. “The chatter, laughter, tears, hugs, and smiles are all a part of being daughters of the Most High God. How it must bless his heart to see his girls learning from and loving each other.”

Not only are such encounters joyful, Greer noted that connections made at the SBTC’s Regional Conferences “also offer women the opportunity to network with other women in the area who might be of help in beginning or maintaining a women’s ministry.”

Greer said emphasizing ministry to women within a congregation blesses the whole church. “When a church experiences a vibrant, growing women’s ministry, the results will not only occur in the lives of the women personally, but marriages and families will be enriched and impacted for the cause of Christ.” Greer said that the SBTC has much to offer churches in this area, the most valuable asset being the women on the state leadership team. These women, including Greer, are “trained and ready to help any church begin and develop a women’s ministry of their own,” Greer said.