If you’re not familiar with OHCW, it’s a FREE annual online women’s conference. It has been my privilege to be one of the speakers each year since its inception.
Join us for OHCW22 – a FREE online women’s conference – *next week,* July 11-15. Get all the details here!
The theme of this year’s conference is Spiritual Sisterhood: Going Beyond the Facade, so each of our speakers will center their teaching around what it means to be godly, genuine sisters in Christ.
The conference will run each day next week, July 11-15, Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (Central time), and “attending” is as easy as watching your favorite TV show! There’s no cost, no registration – just tune in starting at 8:30 (Central) each morning. You can even watch the recordings later, if that’s more convenient, as the videos of each session will remain posted.
I’ll post the YouTube version of each day’s teaching session as soon as it goes live (just like I did last year), so you can watch it here on the blog if you like. Or, if you prefer, you can watch directly on…
I had a such a wonderful time recently sharing with the ladies of The Church at Pecan Creek of Denton, Texas, at their spring women’s conference! Ladies from as far away as Louisiana and Oklahoma, as well as various areas of Texas, came out to fellowship with us.
The FAA’s mask mandate was dropped about ten days or so before my trip to Denton. I fly a lot, and – no joke – I haven’t been this excited to fly since I was a little kid.
Felicia (wife of TCPC’s pastor, Trey Talley) was my charming hostess for the weekend and greeted me with this awesome gift bag when she picked me up at the airport Friday afternoon. Boy, were my husband and sons jealous! They love them some Bucc-ee’s, and we don’t have one in Louisiana. (Don’t worry, I shared a little bit when I got home.)
Dinner at The GreenHouse that night was tasty, and I spent a lovely evening chatting about all things women’s discipleship with Felicia and the other two elders’ wives, Melodie and Carrie.
My dear friends, Beki (Mrs. Gabriel Hughes) and Jennifer (Mrs. Tom Buck), came all the way from First Baptist Church, Lindale, Texas, for the conference. Providentially, we discovered we were staying in the same hotel, so we got to catch up for a little while after dinner. (I was just the tiniest bit excited to see them. :0)
Beki, Michelle, Jennifer Photo courtesy of Beki Hughes
Beki brought along Sonya, another sweet friend of ours, and they blessed me with these great gifts. Beki didn’t know it when she bought the mug, but “You Are My Sunshine” is Louisiana’s state song. They told me that the Lindale Candy Co. is just down the street from FBC Lindale, so both places are now, of course, on my bucket list of places to visit.
Saturday morning, it was conference time!
All of the ladies were greeted by these two handsome gents. Holding the door open for ladies will take you far in life, young men! :0)
Welcome and check in. It was such a great idea to invite conference guests to visit TCPC for worship the next day!
Check out these cool tees!
I like big, heavy wooden pulpits, and this one’s a beauty.
It was super helpful to have the schedule up on the screens throughout the church.
In our first session on Suffering, we explored Jesus as our hero in suffering, the hope in our suffering, and ways to biblically handle our suffering.
Session two was all about Managing Media – being wise and discerning with news, social media, movies and TV, and other media we consume.
Session three was Hooked on a Feeling: Living by God’s Word Instead of Our Emotions. We studied Jesus’ example of living by every word from the mouth of God and some practical ways to be led by God’s objective Word rather than our subjective feelings.
We finished up the day with a fun Q&A session. These ladies asked some sharp questions!
Keep an eye on TCPC’s website for soon to be posted conference video. In the mean time, my good friend Robin Self over at A Worthy Walk was also able to attend, and she has kindly shared her thoughts and notes on the conference with us in her article, A Day With Michelle Lesley.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Buck
Photo courtesy of Robin Self
Photo courtesy of Morgan Lynn
Photo courtesy of Beki Hughes
For lunch, Felicia whisked me away to Rosa’s Cafe, and I am crushed that we don’t have one here at home. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was fun!
All photos courtesy of Rosa’s Cafe.
During and after the conference there was a little time for a few more pictures…
It was a full house!
You’re never too young to learn sound doctrine! Photo courtesy of Morgan Lynn
FBC Lindale brought a group of 41 women to the conference! Photo courtesy of Jennifer Buck
Beki, Jennifer, Michelle, Robin Self I love these ladies! Photo courtesy of Jennifer Buck
And all too soon, it was time to head home.
Many thanks to Felicia, Melodie, Carrie, the pastors, elders, and all of the other ladies and gentlemen of The Church at Pecan Creek who worked so hard to host a great conference, took care of all my needs, and made me feel so welcome. If you’re ever in the Denton area, be sure to stop in to TCPC for a visit!
If your church or organization is ever in need of a speaker for a women’s event, I’d love to come share with your ladies as well. Click here for more information.
I had a wonderful time last week sharing and fellowshipping with the ladies of Providence Bible Church (and the surrounding area) in lovely Culpeper, Virginia, at the Faithful conference!
I arrived in Culpeper on Thursday evening, so there was plenty of time to rest up and prepare before the conference.
My hosts for the weekend were the perky Miss Katie and her aptly named husband, Happy. They live in a beautiful home on the lake, and I loved hearing their testimony of coming to Christ, and to each other!
My view while working Friday morning
Some sweet hostess gifts were waiting in my room
Friday, Katie was kind enough to treat me to a delicious Italian lunch followed by a little sightseeing.
Culpeper is home to the Packard Campus of the Library of Congress’ National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, “where the Library of Congress acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts, and sound recordings.”. On my trip to Faber, Virginia, last year, I learned that the local flavor is often captured in a LOVE (“Virginia is for lovers”) sculpture. Culpeper’s is made of film reels, paying tribute to the Conservation Center.
We also stopped by Culpeper National Cemetery. Originally established in 1867 as a burial ground for Union soldiers who were killed in the area during the Civil War, the cemetery is now the final resting place for over 7500 of our nation’s heroes.
Friday night, it was time to get down to the business of teaching and studying God’s Word. (Conference audio/video will be available on PBC’s website as soon as they’re able to get it processed and posted.)
After check in and worship…
Check out what was in the ladies’ “swag bags”! I really liked the little packet of memory verses (about faithfulness, of course!) with the wooden card holder. What a great idea!
These ladies did a wonderful job leading us in song and prayer
…we kicked things off with Faithful to the Word, a teaching session on the basics of how to study the Bible.
Next up was a hearty baked potato bar for dinner in the gym. Didn’t the planning committee do a fabulous job of decorating?
Me with the planning committee 1
Don’t you love how all the flowers match the flower art on the Faithful materials (programs, PR materials, etc.)? I love continuity of theme, and these ladies did it spectacularly!
Isn’t this rough-hewn bench gorgeous? You can see it sitting under the arbor in the picture taking area in the photo above. Heather Edgecombe, wife of PBC’s pastor, Jarred, is the one who initially reached out to me last year to speak at the Faithful conference. A few months into planning, her cancer recurred, and, sadly, she was unable to attend the conference due to undergoing treatment for it. A husband and wife team created this masterpiece to raise money for Heather’s treatment. Y’all take a moment to pray for Heather, please.
Our last session for the evening was Faithful to Our Roles, discussing the beauty of the biblical role of women in the home and in the church. The ladies then broke into discussion groups to talk over the material.
Prayer is imperative. 2
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Saturday morning started bright and early with Faithful Discernment. What is discernment, and how can you tell if what you’re being taught matches up with Scripture? Faithful in Suffering was our final teaching session. As Christians, there’s a hero for our suffering, there’s hope in our suffering, and, in Christ, there’s a way to handle our suffering.
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After teaching, the ladies rejoined their discussion groups to share what they had learned.
Our last gathering was a fun time of Q&A.
Ladies from all over Virginia and from as far away as Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina came out for Faithful! It was a great turn out!
Lunch and fellowship was a great way to end the day!
Just a bit more sightseeing before heading home – we passed by the Pentagon on the way to the airport. I was told this was the side of the building that the plane crashed into on 9/11. Sobering.
Many thanks to Heather, Julie, Lesley, Katie and Happy, Danielle and Rob, and all of the other ladies and gentlemen of Providence Bible Church who worked so hard to make Faithful a great conference, took care of all my needs, and made me feel so welcome. If you’re ever in the Culpeper area, be sure to stop in to PBC for a visit!
If your church or organization is ever in need of a speaker for a women’s event, I’d love to come share with your ladies as well. Click here for more information.
Photo Credits
Photo of Michelle in front of “LOVE” sculpture by Katie Hash.
Photos marked “1”- Photographer unknown (if it was you , let me know so I can credit you! :0)
What a joy it was to fellowship and share with the ladies of Agape Bible Church and several sister churches, last week in charming Willits, California, at the Women’s Advance Conference!
It was a little frosty!
This lovely mural is on the wall just outside the sanctuary.
I arrived in Willits late Thursday night and checked in to the lovely Baechtel Creek Inn. Now, I wouldn’t normally take the time to recommend a hotel to you, but I travel a lot and I stay in a lot of hotels, and two things most of them don’t have is good water pressure in the shower and decent lighting in the bathroom for applying makeup. Baechtel Creek Inn has both in spades. So if you’re ever in the area and need a place to stay, I highly recommend it.
Friday’s festivities started off with lunch with the conference organizers at a cute little sandwich boutique called The Loose Caboose Cafe.
In addition to great food, The Loose Caboose has an homage wall to Seabiscuit, the famous racehorse. Seabiscuit retired to Willits, and is buried at Willits’ own Ridgewood Ranch. (The Baechtel Creek Inn has a Seabiscuit themed room, too, if you’re a fan and want to visit.)
Friday night, it was time to get down to the business of teaching and studying God’s Word.
I love the big posters a lot of the conferences are using lately for signage and to decorate. Here’s some of the print work that greeted conference attendees.
The theme of Women’s Advance 2022 was Finding Hope, Peace, and Victory in Times of Suffering. In our first session Friday night, we studied Isaiah 53, exploring how and why Christ suffered. I don’t know whether or not the audio from the conference sessions will be made public, but if not, you might enjoy reading my article, Christ- the Suffering Servant, on which session 1 was based.
Each session started with worship music led by these sweet ladies: Kelly, Cindy, and Julie.
Next up was a delicious lunch of hearty soups, salad, and dessert, followed by our last conference session – a super Q&A where some very astute ladies asked some very good questions!
Aren’t these great centerpieces? They went along with the conference theme.
I got “hope” and “victory,” but neglected to get a shot of “peace”.
ABC’s Pastor Paul Henebury was so kind to make sure that before I left, I was given an autographed copy of his latest book, The Words of the Covenant. It looks like a great read! Thank you, Pastor Paul!
Many thanks to Julie, Cindy, Chris, and all of the other ladies and gentlemen of Agape Bible Church who worked so hard to make Women’s Advance 2022 a great conference, took care of all my needs, and made me feel so welcome. If you’re ever in the Willits area, be sure to stop in to ABC for a visit!
If your church or organization is ever in need of a speaker for a women’s event, I’d love to come share with your ladies as well. Click herefor more information.
Photo Credits
Photo of Baechtel Creek Inn courtesy of HotelGuides.com.
There’s a lot of great stuff going on in Christendom lately, and I didn’t want you to miss out (especially if you’re not on social media)! So, “in case you missed it”…
Several weeks ago, just for fun and encouragement, I put out the call on social media for women who are using one of my Bible studies – either individually or in a class – to send in some pictures of their study time. Here are the responses I’ve received so far:
Natasha lives in Kiev, Ukraine and is currently working on Imperishable Beauty: A Study of Biblical Womanhood. (She has also completed Living Stones: A Study of 1&2 Peter.) Natasha says: “I pray that God will help me understand and study His Word. And this is not easy since I have 4 children and three of them are under the age of 4…But God is good to me.” I’m sure many of us can relate to that!
Megan says: “My friend Paige and I are working through the Colossians Bible Study!! It’s been so refreshing to actually study the Bible, not someone’s book!! We have a group on Facebook1 for people to join (WOMENONLY, but we’d love to have more ladies join us!) and watch any recordings if they can’t meet. We got to meet in person for the first time this morning to work through the 5th lesson! Thank you so much for what you do!”
1Just a reminder, Facebook groups, pages, and Bible studies – even mine – are great, but they are not a biblical substitute for active, faithful membership in a local church.
Are you or your ladies’ group working through one of my studies? Send me a picture (email or social media private message), including the study’s title image, if possible, the name of the study you’re using, and a brief comment. I’d love to share it on social media and/or the blog!
Can you believe my A Word Fitly Spoken podcast partner, Amy Spreeman, and I have only spoken at one women’s conference together? We’d like to change that. If you’d like to book both Amy and me to speak at your next women’s event, please click here.
Don’t despair that you can’t find a church in your area or that there are so few listed. For a brand new site with an application process, this is quite a good number of churches. I’ve got it all linked up at my Searching for a new church? tab (in the blue menu bar at the top of this page), so you can keep checking back from time to time to see which new churches have been added.
If you’re looking for a new church right now and you can’t find anything near you on G3’s map, be sure to check out all the other wonderful church search engines and resources at Searching for a new church? I highly recommend the Founders and Master’s Seminary search engines.
And speaking of G3, the hits just keep on coming! You’ve loved their national conference, maybe you’re looking forward to a regional conference, and you’ve probably heard about their expository preaching workshops for pastors. But did you know they’ve added another workshop specially geared toward worship pastors?
Grab this link for G3’s first Biblical Worship Workshop, and pass it along to your pastor or worship pastor. (And you might want to tell them to hurry up and register. I’m really surprised it isn’t already at capacity.)
The singing portion of this video was recorded at my church. You can briefly see yours truly (at the 0:05 mark, near the top of your screen) in the pink glasses and black sweater. Fun stuff! :0)
Another reason I’m excited about this particular G3 workshop is that one of my own pastors, Laramie Minga, is going to be one of the instructors. He knows his stuff, and your pastor will really benefit from sitting under his teaching. (The other guys are good, too! :0)
Also, in case it wasn’t clear from my saying that this workshop is for pastors, this one is for men only, ladies, particularly men who are already pastors or who are on track to becoming pastors.
