So this past Friday was a webby first for LifeWay Women: a live stream from the National Leadership Forum. When Melanie and I walked into the webcast area I was totally impressed - they had a control room and cameras and everything.
FANCY.
Keep in mind that if I were the person in charge of a webcast, everybody would be standing up and crowded around a webcam. Perhaps this is why I have never been employed in the fields of radio and/or television production.
It really was a bunch of fun to watch and to participate in the webcast, even if I never got the hang of the two-camera system EVEN A LITTLE BIT. It made me laugh because Paige and Melanie were so comfortable and such naturals at the whole thing, and meanwhile I was darting my eyes back and forth like a cat with some sort of nervous disorder.
Anyway, if you got to watch some of the webcast this past Friday, would you mind sharing a little feedback with us? How was the overall experience for you? Is it something you'd like to participate in again? Did you have any technical difficulties? Did you like the chat feature? And most importantly, were you as wild about Priscilla's dress as Melanie and I were?
But here's the thing: once those people sit down (or stand up - I really have no idea whether sitting or standing will be the webcast preference, so let's just pretend we land somewhere in the middle and everyone is sitting on a tall stool, thank you), Paige and Pam are going to need some questions for them. Since that's sort of how an interview works and all.
So.
You know how we usually ask y'all for questions for the panel part of Deeper Still? Well, we're going to do the same thing today. We need your questions - whether serious or light-hearted - for the webcast. Your questions can be directed to a particular person (Dear Priscilla, How do you make your hair so pretty? Love, Me) or your question can be general (Dear People, What's your favorite way to eat corn? Love, Me). And please know that if your question is general, you can expect to hear it over and over again because whoever's doing the interviewing will WEAR IT OUT and ask every single person about their favorite way to eat corn.
That's what you call hard-hitting journalism, my friends.
Leave your questions in the comments - and thanks in advance!
Next week Melanie and I are going to Nashville for LifeWay's National Women's Leadership Forum. We're going to teach a couple of classes on blogging, and we're also hoping to eat a meal or two where we don't have to cut up somebody else's food.
Our dreams are big. Our hearts are filled with expectation.
Anyway, the LifeWay folks are going to be doing a really cool thing on Friday, November 13th. And that really cool thing is a day-long webcast that you can watch right here on AllAccess. You see that video of Pam and Paige over to the right? Well, next Friday it won't be there. But what WILL be there is the live feed from the Leadership Forum - from 8:30 in the AM until 9:30 in the PM.
Isn't that the neatest? You can sit on your couch in your pajamas and eat fried chicken and listen to Travis Cottrell and Priscilla Shirer and Kelly Minter and Mary Kassian and a whole host of other wonderful people. Paige and Pam will be doing interviews throughout the day, and Melanie and I might show up to perform an uplifting duet or maybe even a lyrical ballet routine to "On The Wings of Love."
We're still ironing out some of the details, not to mention our choreography. So really, there's not a bit of telling.
We'll be talking more about the live feed - and even asking for your input - over the next week. We're so excited that even if you're not with us in Nashville, you can still be with us in Nashville, and yes, that TOTALLY makes sense.
A couple of weekends ago, Christi (LifeWay Women's designer, and a very amazing designer at that!) and I went to a women's event called Iron Sharpens Iron in Bloomfield, CT. Anyone from around that area? It's beautiful up there for sure. Crazy, but that weekend it was as cold in Nashville as it was in New England.
So, anyway, we gave away lots of LifeWay Women STUFF. Many of you ladies up there knew us but I say a bunch of you didn't know who we were. So it was a good experience and great to meet ya'll. Also, we were able to see one of our very own Bible study teachers, Shaunti Feldhahn, who I just love and who's coming out with something new in 2010 so stay tuned! We hung out a bit with Anthony Evans, Jr. who led us in some mighty worship! Anthony leads worship at our LifeWay Women Going Beyond events with his amazing, God-gifted Bible teaching sister, Priscilla Shirer. Check out 2010 events to worship with both Anthony and Priscilla at an event that will certainly change your walk with Jesus!
Now, I'm gonna end with this little video clip. The beginning shows what we do - the calm before the storm at a marketing table where we give out lots of stuff and talk to you about all the great Bible study resources LifeWay Women has to offer. Then you'll see a glimpse of Anthony leading worship.
PS: Don't miss the lady knitting during Praise and Worship. That's priceless!
Ya'll have a good weekend and be safe. As we dress up our kiddos, let's remind them of who's King and who's coming back for us!
Over the last few months more and more of our LifeWay buddies have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. A few of them reserve their updates for family and friends, but many of them are tweeting for all eyes to see in the great, wide-open interweb prairie.
Strangest figurative language ever, by the way. I have no way where that whole "prairie" metaphor came from. But I'm rolling with it.
Anyway, I thought I'd break down the Twitter friends into categories, mainly because I'm a smidge obsessive and I LOVE ME SOME LISTS, AMEN.
Okay. Two things: 1) I have now typed the words "twitter.com" more times than I have typed my own name. EVER. 2) I know I've unintentionally left out somebody - I KNOW I HAVE - so feel free to add additons or corrections in the comments. Or to reprimand me via email. Whatever it takes.
Day two of the video shoot for Scouting the Divine was a success. Check out this video to hear from director Brad Jones (Haven Productions) and Margaret Feinberg about our experience filming in a Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee, field.
This week, we are filming video for the Scouting the Divine: Searching for God in Wine, Wool, and Wild Honey leader kit by Margaret Feinberg, which will release from LifeWay Women and Threads in January 2010. We want to give you a sneak peek of the first day of shooting at a rural Tennessee farm. Sheep were the main feature of this Bible study video, but we spent the day with lamas, bulls, dogs, chickens, and a few roosters.
Links: Margaret Feinberg Threads LifeWay Women
We're still working on the details of our little AllAccess get-together at Living Proof Live in Memphis (I'm hoping to email y'all all the details by Monday at the latest), but in the meantime I wanted to share some very exciting LPL Memphis-related news.
However, I should probably add the disclaimer that if you've never read my personal blog, the next paragraph probably won't make any sense to you at all. So just feel free to stare blankly into space when you read it. Or, if you're like me, you can squeal and clap your hands and pretend like you understand. That's how I react to about 60% of my life, by the way.
Anyway. The news is that I'm going to have a very special travel companion with me in Memphis (besides Melanie, of course). And that very special travel companion is none other than Martha / Mother / "Martie." My mother-in-law.
I KNOW.
Martha has never been to any sort of LifeWay event. She's only seen one video of Beth Moore teaching, but when she saw it she thought Beth was "darlin'! just darlin'! and SMART AS A WHIP!" Martha is beyond excited about going to Memphis - she keeps referring to it as "the trip of a lifetime" - but I also know that she has absolutely no idea what to expect.
And I say this because last night she asked me what sort of jacket I was planning to wear Friday night, and when I said, "I don't know if I'll wear a jacket," she said, "Well, don't you think it'll be a little cold when we're sitting outside?"
"Sitting outside?"
"Well, aren't we going to be in something like a football stadium?"
And at that point I realized that she thought that LPL was something akin to a Billy Graham crusade in the 70s.
I explained to her that we would in fact be indoors, and she said, "Well I didn't know! I didn't know! I know there are a lot of people and I just assumed, I mean I just assumed that we'd be outside! But I'm so glad we'll be inside! That will be perfectly wonderful!"
And now I'm thinking that I probably need to do a better job of getting Martha up-to-speed on what she can expect next weekend.
So. I know lots of you are veterans of LifeWay women's events, and I'm sure you have all sorts of wisdom to offer. What do you think are the top three things Martha needs to know before she gets to LPL? What would you tell someone who has never been to a LifeWay event before? What information do I need to make sure to share with her on our drive from Birmingham to Memphis?
Priscilla Shirer is working on a new book about the interruptions that God puts in our lives and she needs your help.
If you have a story you'd like to share about a circumstance that interrupted your life and how you responded, you can email it to openaccess@goingbeyond.com.
This weekend Melanie and I are going to a conference in Charlotte to lead a couple of sessions on blogging, and since we've been committed to the conference for a pretty long time, we figured that going to Deeper Still Greensboro wasn't going to be an option for us.
But then we, you know, LOOKED AT A MAP.
I'll tell you what. Maps are handy.
Anyway, once we realized that Charlotte and Greensboro are only about an hour apart, we checked our conference schedule, realized that Friday night was free and clear and GLORY, HALLELUJAH a quick little road trip was born.
It'll be just like college - only without the acid-washed jeans and the teased bangs that defy all nature.
We'll only be at Deeper Still Friday night - we'll have to drive back to Charlotte after the event so that we can be up and at 'em for our conference sessions on Saturday - but we cannot wait. And if any of y'all are there, we would love to meet you. We'll be sitting somewhere on the floor (well, not actually on the floor, mind you - no criss-cross-applesauce will be required because we'll be in actual seats on the floor), and we're usually in the general vicinity of the praise team. If you're not in a mad rush once the event is over Friday night, come find us so we can hug your neck.
Unless hugging makes you uncomfortable. In which case we'll be happy to just shake your hand. But just FYI: Melanie and I are certified huggers. Consider yourself warned.
Dr. Phil show to re-air audience favorite, featuring encouragement from Bible study teacher Jennifer Rothschild
Don't miss this TOMORROW: July 2nd on Dr. Phil show!
Most of us find raising children is challenging enough, but imagine that your child could neither see you, nor hear you. Now imagine having three children like that. Liz is the mother of deaf and blind triplets. Her three daughters are now 6 years old, but one of the girls communicates at a 2-year-old level, and the other two at only a 10-month-old level. Liz's world is consumed with their 24-hour care, plus the care of her oldest daughter, who is 10 and often overlooked among the chaos of the triplets.
See this story on Dr. Phil along with our gal, Jennifer Rothschild, who's world was turned from light to dark at the age of 15. She's got a message for George and Liz. Don't miss this heartbreaking and heroic story!
After the Dr. Phil show, we'd love to hear your comments and stories. Let us know what you think and if you've done the new study, are doing it, or now plan to do it . . .
Last year at Living Proof Live in San Antonio, Melanie and I were about to leave for LPL on Saturday morning when Beth Moore and her daughter Amanda walked into the hotel lobby. They were as cheerful and kind as they always are, but I noticed that Amanda was carrying a pretty good-sized box that had definitely seen better days. I think my expression pretty much screamed "What in the sam hill is THAT?," and Amanda smiled and said, "It's Mom's fan."
Since Melanie and I had spent a substantial portion of the previous night wide awake because we'd both forgotten to pack our sound machines (ALL THE QUIET WAS ABSOLUTELY DEAFENING), I found some comfort in the fact that Beth likes to have a fan running when she sleeps. And while I thought that it must get a little inconvenient for her to haul that fan on a plane, I figured that given how much she travels, she must have her packing down to a science. And I didn't think anything else about it.
Until I went to Pittsburgh. And discovered the red box.
Because LOOK WHAT I FOUND INSIDE!
Beth's fan!
According to the event team, when they first started doing LPL events, Beth would arrive with a GINORMOUS suitcase even though she was only going to be in a city for around 24 hours. The event team wondered what in the world she was packing - how many wardrobe options could one girl need? - but then they realized her suitcase was so huge because SHE WAS PACKING A TWENTY-INCH BOX FAN IN HER SUITCASE.
So the event team decided that, in light of the fact that a fan that size pretty much wipes out any possibility of only packing a carry-on bag, it might be easier if they assumed the fan-transport responsibilities.
Beth has told the event girls that she really doesn't have to have the big honkin' fan, that something small and compact would work just as well. But I think that for the LifeWay crew, the big fan is a bit of a tradition. It travels in the red box to every single event, and it stays wherever Beth stays, and then it's returned to its red box home on Saturday mornings.
So there you have it. All of the red box-related information you never knew you wanted. Except for one thing that I just thought of right this second, and OH MY WORD I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.
Do y'all think that fan is somehow part of Beth's secret for achieving maximum hair volume?
I'm sure that at some point I'll move on to topics other than Living Proof Live in Pittsburgh, but I still have SO MUCH STUFF to tell y'all.
(By the way, there's an LPL in Stockton, CA this weekend.)
(Melanie and I won't be there, but we'd love to hear from you if you will be.)
(Anyway.)
One of the things I'd never really considered about an event like Living Proof is that at some point the volunteers have to be trained. Whether they're working with special needs attendees, distributing worship guides or ministering to women who need encouragement, the volunteers really are the unsung heroes of any LifeWay Women event.
So here's how it works.
At a pre-arranged time on the day of the event, the volunteers check in at the event site, head down to the arena floor and meet as a group with the event coordinator. In Pittsburgh the event coordinator was Amy Cato. Amy is calm, organized, upbeat - and did I mention that she's calm? I never saw her even remotely flustered throughout the whole event, even when there were unexpected hiccups.
In Pittsburgh, Amy thanked the volunteers for their willingness to serve, gave them some basic instructions, prayed with them - and then the volunteers split off into groups to get some more specific instructions.
The encouragers in Pittsburgh - who were fortunate enough to wear the beautiful blue vests - had the added bonus of getting a sassy vest-related fashion show from Kaye.
The city coordinator and her volunteers are such a critical part of each and every event, and the work they do ministers to so many. It was cool to get a glimpse of how LifeWay incorporates those women into the event team - and to see how truly eager they were to serve.
Have you ever volunteered at an event? What was your experience like? Or if you haven't volunteered, have you ever thought about it?
This past week a couple of people asked me what was the most memorable part of my weekend at Living Proof Live in Pittsburgh, and the fact of the matter is that it was ALL fun. Every bit of it.
But there is one thing that stands out to me - and it's probably not anything you'd expect.
Ready?
It was putting the signs on the chairs.
Seriously. Putting the signs on the chairs.
Friday morning I went to the arena with the event team, and Amy gave all of us an assignment. My assignment was to help Betsy - one of LifeWay's event coordinators - tape reserved seating signs on the backs of the volunteers' chairs. So we counted out about 75 hot pink signs, grabbed a roll of packing tape, and walked over to the far side of the arena floor.
We'd taped about two signs when Betsy began to pray over those chairs. She prayed for the women who would sit there later that day. She prayed for their families. She thanked the Lord for their willingness to serve. She prayed that God would have a special word just for them.
Listening to her prayers touched me so deeply. Because all weekend, every single time I'd ask one of the event team members how they stayed so unified, or how they chose their city coordinators, or how they made sure everything got done before the event, or how how how how how, the answer was always the same: prayer.
The women behind-the-scenes are the real deal, y'all. They're humble and funny and servant-hearted and completely dependent on God's grace. They ministered to me so much through their faithfulness - I have such a long, long way to go in that area, and I was so encouraged by their example.
So. There you have it. Pink signs. Most touching part of the weekend for me. 'Bout near sent me into the ugly cry.
After Living Proof Live was over Saturday, the event team brought out a birthday cake for Beth, Tammy (who sings on the praise team) and Kevin (who plays drums and who, as you may remember, PROPOSED TO HIS GIRLFRIEND Saturday morning).
Since today is Beth's birthday, I thought I'd share the cakey love.
And Leanne from Canada, when I read your comment about the red box being full of Travis' sweater vests, I ran over to him and said, "SOMEBODY GUESSED THE RED BOX IS FULL OF YOUR SWEATER VESTS, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA."
"HA."
Fortunately we share a similar sense of humor, and he laughed, too. Because if he hadn't laughed that might have been a little awkward.
But no, no sweater vests in the red box. And no hair products, either, though that may have been my favorite guess of all.
So. Here's the big reveal.
There are all sorts of crates and containers inside, and all of those crates and containers are filled with event materials. See those blue things on the top? They're nylon bins that go in the lobby/concourse of each event so people have a place to drop off their evaluations.
And this is a file folder container with all the signs that designate reserved seats. If you've ever seen signs for special needs seating, volunteer seating, encourager seating, special guest seating, etc. - well, those signs are stored in the red box. Along with a whole bunch of packing tape. And at some point before an event - usually on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning - the ladies from the event team tape those signs to the backs of chairs.
I don't know who I thought taped the signs - fairies, maybe? - but it's the women from LifeWay. And you've never seen more cheerful, prayerful sign tapers in your life.
Here's a storage container with Kleenex inside. I have always seen Kleenex boxes scattered around the event platforms, but I had no idea they were transported in a big, red, steel box all the way from Nashville.
That Kleenex should feel very special. Especially since it gets packed atop the blue encourager vests (a couple of you guessed that the red box had the blue encourager vests in it, and you were exactly right).
That's sweet Amy J., who works at LifeWay, carrying the vests back to the red box. Aside from carrying blue vests like a champ, Amy makes friends with everybody she meets, serves about as cheerfully as anyone I've ever seen and can execute some stunning U-turns while driving a minivan. She's one of those people you meet and immediately think, Oh, she is a DELIGHT.
There's also a portable cart in the red box (so the event team can easily transport listening guide boxes and whathaveyou without having to track down a dolly at the venue), all sorts of materials for women who make first-time decisions for Christ, banners that you see displayed when you walk in an event - the stuff that the LifeWay folks use over and over again.
And there's one more red box item I want to tell you about, but it requires a story. Since this explanation is already forever long, I guess we'll have a part two sometime later this week.
But for the time being, you can rest in the peace of knowing that you've discovered almost all of the contents of the red box. It's like you've been given the keys to the LifeWay event kingdom, my friends.
Melanie
Melanie
Sophie
Sophie
Pam
Pam
Paige
Paige
Kris
Kris