So after an incredible weekend of simulcast goodness (were you there? did you love it? did you learn something? tell us all about your experience in the comments!), LifeWay Women's Pam Case and Paige Greene are hitting the ground running this week, and I thought some of y'all might be interested in one of the things they have going on in the next few days.
Tomorrow, September 1st, Pam and Paige will be a part of a LifeWay Women webcast. The webcast is at noon central, and it'll be a great opportunity for you to get updates on upcoming Bible studies, women's events, leadership and ministers' wives training and all sorts of new downloads that will be available here on the LifeWay site.
And knowing Pam and Paige, I can say with great confidence that the webcast will also be a great opportunity for you to laugh. Because oh my word, I don't think those two have ever found a situation where they couldn't find the funny.
If you're interested in being a part this neat online event, you can just click on over to sign up for the webcast. I know Pam and Paige would love to see some of y'all there!
As I type this there are approximately 90,000 women from eight different countries listening to Beth Moore speak via the marvel that is modern technology. It really is unbelievable if you think about it!
I'd love for any of you who attended tonight or are attending tomorrow to leave your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to know where you watched the simulcast and what you thought about it.
I mean, on some level you have to appreciate that we have blogged about it in four of the last five posts. Nobody has ever accused the AllAccess bloggers of falling short in the area of totally over-the-top enthusiasm for, well, EVERYTHING.
But as I've been thinking this week about the sheer volume of details that go into the simulcast - all the crates that have to arrive, all the set-up that's involved, all the hotel rooms that have to be ready, all the technology that has to work properly, all the MIND-NUMBING LOGISTICS THAT WOULD MAKE MY HEAD EXPLODE - I've thought over and over again that this event would be impossible if God weren't in it.
I mean, think about it: it's not like all the people involved in the LPL Simulcast ride up to Wisconsin together on a bus and then get dropped off at the arena. There are DOZENS of flights that have to take off and land on time in order for all of the event personnel to be where they need to be when they need to be there.
Last night I was clicking around on Twitter when I saw this airport update from sweet Paige Greene:
I think anybody involved with a LifeWay event would tell you that God just DOES THE THING. He gets all up in the middle of the seemingly overwhelming details, and He is so faithful to help people like Paige and Beth and Travis and Rich and Ron - and so many others - carry out the tasks that He has called them to do.
This weekend He's called the LifeWay event team to Green Bay, Wisconsin, so that they can minster to women all over the world. Let's lift all of them up in prayer as they travel today and prepare to carry out that calling in such a way that He will get all the glory.
"All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God." - Psalm 86:9-10
Gals, its here! (Its here its there its everywhere!!)The Living Proof Live 2009 Simulcast is this coming weekend live from Green Bay, WI. (you may remember seeing us and/or Beth in a cheese head at some point this year).
The event will broadcast live to some 90,000 attendees in 516 churches in 45 U.S states and 7 other countries including China and Australia. Beth and Trav are truly going to the ends of the earth and we believe God's word will NOT return void! Isaiah 55:10-11.
To say the LifeWay women's team is excited is an UNDERSTATEMENT!! We are so thankful for the 516 host churches and today we'll get on a Web cast with them today at noon along with Trav and Beth to just pray for God to cover it all and MOVE in a mighty way across this nation and the world. Beth will teach out of Psalm 37 "Coming Home to the Heart of our Desires".
If you want to find a host church near you, click here
If you are hosting don't forget to list it on your marquee at church or put a sign out front! Pam said folks are calling their church about coming because they have a sign out.
If you can't make the simulcast event please pray for Beth, Travis, the host churches and for God to change lives and draw women to Himself!!
Yesterday I dropped my little girl off at school for the new school year and my heart ached a little bit that summer was over and we'd have a little less time to spend together every day.
I came home and spent some time reading my Bible and praying for her. Praying that she'd always have a heart for God, praying that she'd like the first grade, praying that she'd have a friend to sit with in the cafeteria at lunch.
And my heart just felt overwhelmed with the love that I have for her.
Then later I was in my car and I heard this song by the David Crowder Band come on the radio. I realized that no matter how much I love my little girl, He loves her more.
He loves me more.
He loves you more.
I just thought maybe we could all use a reminder that, as the song lyrics say:
"We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking."
This afternoon I was in the car with my family when I suddenly thought, "Oh! It's simulcast week!" And I felt just a wee bit giddy inside because I know that so many churches are getting ready to throw open their doors to thousands of women this weekend. It's going to be incredible to see how God uses Beth, Travis & the praise team and the selfless hearts of people serving in churches all across this nation for His glory.
And do y'all know what else? After the simulcast is over, there are only two more Living Proof Live events this year. (How can that be? It seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago when we were all talking about LPL for Ministers' Wives. You know, back in February.)
Just think: after Springfield it'll pretty much be Christmas. And before you know it, it'll be August again. And I'll be writing another post about how it feels like I was just in Memphis way back in October.
I am nothing if not completely and utterly predictable.
Hope y'all have a great week!
And p.s. - If you're going to be at the simulcast, in Memphis OR in Springfield, let us know in the comments! The LifeWay team loves to be on the lookout for y'all!
Since it's Friday I thought it might be a good idea to write a list 'o things that you don't want to miss.
Actually, I didn't really think about it that much. I just got on here, saw the blinking cursor on the blank screen and decided that a list would be the best way to convey several pieces of information.
Because I am a planner.
Here you go.
1. If you are anywhere near Louisville this weekend, then you do not want to miss Priscilla Shirer at Going Beyond at Southeast Christian Church.
I had the chance to see Priscilla back in June and she was amazing.
2. Speaking of Priscilla, she has taken the leap to Twitter. If you're a fan of Twitter and/or Priscilla, You can also follow her brother and worship leader Anthony Evans.
3. And while we're on the subject of the Twitter, there are a few others you may want to follow. Kay Arthur, Vicki Courtney, and Patricia Layton are all tweeting these days.
4. Seriously, tweeting?
If someone had told me five years ago that there would be a cultural phenomenon that would sweep the nation and it involved people letting you know that they were brushing their teeth or washing dishes in 140 characters or less, I would have said that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard of.
Clearly I cannot forecast trends.
5. If you'd like to attend a Living Proof Simulcast event but have no idea where to find one in your area, then click over to this list with a drop-down box for every state and location.
I just ran across this video, and it made me laugh out loud. So I watched it again. And then one more time. At which point I figured I'd better share it with the group.
For the last couple of years - up until about a month ago - I've felt a little bit like I've been walking through completely unchartered territory. I won't bore you with all the details, but in some ways my life felt like a never-ending opposite day: what I thought would happen didn't. What I didn't think would happen did. And after a year or so of learning to expect the unexpected, my husband and I finally got to a point where we could honestly say, "Okay, God. We know there's a lesson here. Help us learn it."
Like so much of life, that time wasn't easy. But you know what? It was good.
Several weeks ago in Bible study we watched a DVD that goes with Priscilla Shirer's Discerning The Voice of God, and she reminded us how God spoke to Moses in the desert. She pointed out that bushes don't burn in palaces, and it's in the "desert times" when we're equipped for God's plan. She went on to say that we need to be mindful that we don't miss supernatural moments with God when we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances, so we need to focus on His activity during our uncertainty.
I don't know what you're dealing with right now in your life - what disappointments you're facing, what plans you're questioning - but please accept this tiny bit of encouragement from someone who has been in the desert before and will no doubt be there again: even when it might not feel like it, He's working. He's preparing. He's equipping. Even when life isn't working out like we planned.
Because here's the thing about when God takes you through the desert: the path may be a little less clear, and the journey may take a little longer - but you'll see and learn things that you would have missed completely if you'd traveled the shorter, easier way.
"Move over Britney, there's a new tart in town. The entertainment news sites were abuzz this morning over Miley Cyrus's performance at last night's Teen Choice Awards that involved um, a stripper pole." Check out full post on Vicki's blog, Virtue Alert.
This week is one of those weeks that's just busy. BUSY. BIZZZZZZZZZZY. And in all honesty, I woke up on Tuesday morning and felt completely overwhelmed by everything on the next few days' agenda. There was nothing ahead of me that I dreaded, mind you, but there was a lot of stuff on deck. And "a lot" isn't exactly my favorite state of affairs.
A couple of hours after I started Tuesday morning's activities, I picked up my journal and saw a verse that jumped straight off of the page and into my heart: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails" (Proverbs 19:21).
I don't know about y'all, but I can get mighty bogged down in my "need-to-do"s and my "have-to-do"s and my "want-to-do"s. I can make to-do lists so extensive that they require subpoints. Sometimes I even like to type them. And then email them to my phone.
I like to think that my crazy is very reliable.
Anyway, reading that verse was like a breath of fresh air to me. Yes, I need to be faithful to keep my commitments. Yes, I need to work efficiently on whatever task is at hand. Yes, I am more productive when I am organized.
But at the end of the day, my plan isn't the point. My busy-ness - whether by circumstance or by choice - isn't the point.
The Lord's purpose is the point.
And you know what? That encourages and reassures me so much.
I think at this point Sophie and I have both mentioned that Miss Kay basically taught the entire book of Hebrews at Deeper Still-Greensboro. And, while we are prone to exaggeration on occasion, we are not really kidding about this. By the end of the night my fingers were tired from all the flipping back and forth between Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 3 and 4.
What I'm saying is that Hebrews and I got a workout.
I also got more than a little convicted. Like my friend Annie turned to me and said, "It's never a good sign when you hear someone reference 'Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me' twice in one day." I may be a little slow but I know when God might be telling me it's time to get my eyes off myself and on Him.
And I think that's why it hit me so hard when Miss Kay made this statement, "REST is the activity of faith".
Think about that for a minute.
If I believe God is who he says he is and he can do what he says he can do, then why do I spend so much time trying to control everything? Why do I spend so much time worrying?
What if I really believed Romans 8:28 and that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose? What if I lived Hebrews 10:23 and held unswervingly to the hope I profess because he who has promised is faithful?
That's the kind of faith that can change the world. That's the kind of faith that would allow us to rest in Him.
Last night Travis Cottrell and his praise team led worship at Jackson Way Baptist Church in Huntsville. My husband thought it would be fun for us to make the trip since my mama is visiting us here in Birmingham, and she LOVES to hear "pretty music." Plus, she's never gotten to meet our buddy Travis. So off we went.
The whole night was wonderful - even the part where a certain six year-old who happens to be my child started singing Veggie Tales songs while Travis was singing an a cappella version of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" - and we had the best time worshiping with the folks at Jackson Way. After the service we drove by Krispy Kreme and were greeted by a "Hot Donuts Now" sign, so clearly the entire evening was anointed.
Anyway, one fun thing that Travis and the praise team are doing during the "Jesus Saves LIVE" tour is singing some old gospel songs. Somehow I deleted the first two off of my camera, but I managed to leave the last one intact. And before you watch, you should know that I have no idea who that is saying "COME ON" while the guys are singing. I can't imagine who would do such a thing in a house of worship.
(I'm sorry. I seem to have gotten a little something stuck in my throat.)
So here's Travis, Kevin Perry, Seth Ready and Wes Willett. I think I will christen their quartet "Los Cientos" since it was approximately 100 degrees in the sanctuary when they sang this song.
(Oh, I exaggerate. It was actually only 97 degrees. Breezy, really.)
(And Paige Greene, you are going to LOVE this.)
I think they should totally add a little Southern gospel to the worship at Living Proof Live. Maybe Beth could play the fiddle.
Last Friday afternoon - while we were at a conference in Charlotte - Melanie and I formulated a plan. We were going to listen to our buddy Lysa speak at 4, walk out of our hotel around 5:30, hop in the car with our friend Annie, make the trek to Greensboro and then pull up at the Deeper Still arena around 6:45. Since DS didn't start until 7, we thought our plan was mighty fine indeed.
But there was one thing we didn't take into consideration: the fact that I-85 would be more clogged than a Walmart parking lot the day before Christmas. It took us about 45 minutes to travel 3 miles, and while I am typically not a person who sits around and longs for ye olden days, I would've LOVED to have a horse and buggy around 5:45 last Friday afternoon. Because let me tell you: compared to crawling along the interstate at two miles an hour in Annie's car, that horse and buggy would have made us feel like we were breaking the sound barrier.
Clearly the NCDOT had no idea that WE WERE IN NEED OF A WORD FROM MISS KAY.
We finally made it to the arena around 7:30, and while we missed worship with Travis and the praise team, we didn't miss a second of Kay Arthur's teaching. And y'all, I have said it before and I'll say it again: if you ever have the opportunity to hear her teach, GO. Don't even think about it. GO. What God does through her is absolutely remarkable. I mean, she taught THE WHOLE BOOK OF HEBREWS last Friday night. Such wisdom.
This past week I've found myself going back to Hebrews during my quiet time. Honestly, Kay pointed out a whole bunch of stuff that I had never picked up on before (I'm a work in progress, people). And while I know that Kay's Covenant study is DEFINITELY going to be in my future, I've also found myself wishing that I could tap into a little bit of her wisdom in the here and now.
We at LifeWay Women are so excited to announce the 2010 events list. We are coming to some wonderful cities and towns next year across the U.S. and Canada next year. Each one we believe is chosen by God for such a time as He would have us come.
There is everything from You and Your Girl with Vicki Courtney for Mom's and daughters to events for individual women and church groups. There are events for leaders called YOU Lead that are in front of many of our Living Proof Live events. Priscilla will be back in her Going Beyond event and at Deeper Still.
We have prayed long and hard on this list and we can't wait to see you next year. What a privilege! Web registration is open for LIving Proof Live and Going Beyond. Deeper Still and You and Your Girl will open very soon and we'll keep you posted on that:
GOING BEYOND: With Priscilla Shirer and Anthony Evans:
February 19-20 - Ft. Worth, TX - McKinney Church
February 26-27 - McLean, VA (D.C. Area) - McLean Bible Church
August 6-7 - Tulsa, OK - The Church at Battle Creek
September 10-11 - Hattiesburg, MS - Temple Baptist Church
October 8-9 - Columbia, SC - Shandon Baptist Church
March 12-13 - Toronto, Canada - Toronto Congress Centre
March 26-27 - Tucson, AZ - Tucson Convention Center
April 16-17 - Tampa, FL - Idlewild Baptist Church
May 21-22 - Grand Rapids, MI - VanAndel Arena
June 25-26 - St. Louis, MO Chaifetz Arena at SLU
July 9-10 - Irvine, CA - Mariner's church
August 13-14 - Lexington, KY - Rupp Arena
August 27-28 - Richmond, VA - Richmond Coliseum
September 18 - Chicago, IL (one day event) Rosemont Theatre
October 1-2 - Boston, MA Tsongas Arena
October 29-30 - Spokane, WA Star Theatre at Spokane Arena
November 19-20 - Rapid City, SD - Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Don Barnett Arena
Deeper Still with Kay Arthur, Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer and Travis Cottrell:
June 11-12, Denver, CO - Magness Arena at Denver Universtiy
December 3-4 - Birmingham, AL - BJCC
You and Your Girl with Vicki Courtney and the SonFlowerz
March 27 - Olive Branch, MS - Longview Heights Baptist Church
April 17- Carrollton, TX - First Baptist Church Carrollton
September 11 - Syracuse, NY - North Syracuse Baptist Church
October 23 - Covington, LA - First Baptist Church Covington
YOU Lead Pre-Conference training events will be before events in:
Tucson, AZ, Tampa, FL, Grand Rapids, MI, St. Louis, MO, Boston, MA, Spokane, WA, and Birmingham, AL (Deeper Still)
Between Us Pre-Conference for Minister's Wives will be before events in:
*note - Registration for the 2010 National Women's Leadership Forum will open during the 2009 Women's Forum.
That's it girls! We will see you very soon. In the mean time we are working and praying towards our upcoming evens including Going Beyond Louisville, KY at Southeast Christian, LIving Proof Live in Fargo, ND, Deeper Still in Orlando and You and Your Girl in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma!
We can't wait to see your sweet faces this year and next!
I know you are in great anticipation of the release of the 2010 list and I PROMISE. We will post it first thing in the morning! So stay tuned.
In the meantime, I wanted to tell you who visited our office on Monday. We had a VERY special guest (or guests). A few months ago, I put a prayer request for Ian Miller on this blog. Ian was diagnosed with a rare cancerous tumor on his brain. He has since had extensive surgery and has begun chemotherapy treatment at St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis. His sweet Mom, Anna, is one of our long time Women's Events team members and former LifeWay employee. We love Anna and we have been praying diligently for Ian and his parents.
I walked onto our floor for my lunch break from an all day meeting and there he was, the precious 19-month-old Ian Miller, with all of the energy and vibrance and joy (and pushing the elevator buttons over and over) that any healthy vibrant almost 2-year-old has. Some of my team members were there along with Ian's parents and we were just mesmerized by him. Here he is with our sweet team member, Michelle Hicks:
And you know why? not just because it was so wonderful to see him so lively and squeeze him and smooch him but because the very presence of Christ was all over him. He plopped into my lap to play with my cell phone and I just felt his tiny life and how much I love him and I barely know this child. So how much more do his parents love him? and how much MORE does Jesus love him? And you could just FEEL His presence with Ian. Jesus is the King of suffering and He is close to the broken hearted. And He says let the little children come unto me. And boy does He come unto them too. I could cry just retelling it.
Oh it makes me love Jesus so much. In the hardest, sweetest, weirdest places, He shines the brightest and the clearest. He just shone through that sweet boy. Thank you Anna and Jason for blessing us with an Ian, and a Jesus, visit.
Please join us in continuing to pray for Ian. He is continuing his chemo treatments and his first one went so well. Praise God. You can follow updates on twitter by following his dad @jasonlionchaser or pulling the #ianmiller. And/or check his caring bridge Web page at :
**This post written by Jen Hatmaker
As a believer for 26 years, a full time church staff wife for thirteen years, after diligently serving the church my entire adult life, and after writing six Christian books for women, I thought I was done with entire life interruption for the kingdom. And yet...
God enlisted me in the cause of my generation, the mission of His true church when I thought I already had the Christian life figured out. I have never experienced transformation like I have in the last two years. I liken my life interruption to an adult conversion experience, which is exactly what it has been for me. I've never written about a subject that is more meaningful than this one. I am obsessed, convinced, transformed, and zealous. Everything about our life has changed, and I want to drag as many people as possible over the edge with me.
Part memoir, part journal entries, part confessional, and part exhortation from a girl whose comfortable involvement in the sequestered Christian subculture was interrupted in favor of serving the last, the least, the forgotten, and the forsaken. This is my story of moving from the west side to the south side, from big rockin' church to teeny missional church plant, from serving the saved to serving the least.
As one member of the marketing team for Interrupted put it: "This is the book no one wants to read because everything might have to change." I hope it will help you cast off the spiritual anchors of apathy, complacency, comfort, and boredom, which are drowning an increasing number of believers, rendering their faith and their churches irrelevant and obsolete.
I was asked recently, "How did Jesus interrupt your life?" The better question is: How HASN'T Jesus interrupted our life? Every bucket that held a paradigm, a worldview, a value, a habit, a system, a preference, a discipline, a comfort, or a conviction has been overturned. We spend our money differently. We celebrate holidays differently. We spend time with different people doing different things. We serve different people. We pray differently. We are burdened for different needs. We moved. We changed. We reimagined. We are being transformed.
Amid the chaos of utter change, we discovered a new joy in serving Jesus in the least of these, where He said he could always be found. We are learning what it means to be the church, a people who do not fight against culture, but for it. We have discovered the dangerous, exciting, unpredictable world of living on mission, and we'll never go back. After 28 years of being a believer, I feel as if I'm finally starting to truly commune with Jesus.
I heard the concept of "God's kingdom" reframed recently, as kingdom language has less relevance to western believers who don't live in that political context. Whenever we read "God's kingdom", imagine it as "God's dreams for this planet." So my new prayer is:
"God, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." -------------- "God, may all your dreams for this planet come true, starting with me."
Last Friday was the first Deeper Still event of the year and it was in Greensboro, North Carolina. Sophie and I just happened to be at another conference in Charlotte and decided it would be fun to make the hour and a half drive to hear Travis lead some worship and listen to Kay Arthur speak.
That was before we realized that the North Carolina Department of Transportation had decided that Friday evening would be a great time to shut I-85 down to one lane. We were already worried we were going to be late, but once we sat in that traffic for over an hour it was inevitable.
Here are Sophie and our friend Annie sitting in the front seat as we made our way to Deeper Still. I was in the back experiencing vicarious road rage and a touch of the carsickness.
Sure enough, we totally managed to miss worship but made it just in time to walk into a huge round of applause as Beth, Kay, and Priscilla appeared on stage. It didn't feel awkward at all to be walking right in front of the front row when that happened. And by not awkward, I mean I wanted to the auditorium floor to swallow me up.
A few minutes later though, Miss Kay started reading from Hebrews 1 and I was so grateful that we'd endured the traffic and that the auditorium floor didn't swallow me. She was absolutely amazing. Listening to a seventy-five year old woman who has walked with God long enough to gain some serious wisdom is just a delight to every fiber of my soul. It challenges me, encourages me, and inspires me.
It also helped that she basically taught us the entire book of Hebrews in the course of two hours.
Melanie
Melanie
Sophie
Sophie
Pam
Pam
Paige
Paige
Kris
Kris