My community experience - Women of Faith Conference, Over the top
This weekend was far more than what I've usually experienced at women conferences. There were so many siesta's in the American Airlines Center—20,000 was the unofficial count given to me. Yes, that many women give or take a few.
Let me just tell you that feeding off the adrenaline rush of so many excited women will not only be an experience that I carry with me for a life time, but it is one that I put in the category of being "Over the top" for sure! Not to mention that I think my husband is "Over the top" with coolness for being brave enough to come with me!
Men who worked the conference and women attendees constantly came up to my man saying, "I bet you've never been around so many women before in your life?"
Indeed it was a shocker for him when we arrived to see so many sisters standing in line waiting for the doors to open. He was surprised and deeply moved by the crowd, but he was touched even more by seeing "strangers" come together in the name of Jesus. Strangers connecting, connecting as if they've known each other for years. He said that we are very different in behavior than men at conferences.
We met new attendees and old. The oldies loved meeting we newbies, and they enjoyed telling us their stories of what initially brought them to the Women of Faith Conferences.
In talking to the women, I discovered that a lot of the ladies feel special connections with many of the speakers thanks to social media.
Twitter, Facebook and blogging have put a new spin on how we connect to those we admire. I found that many feel as if they know many of the speakers, even feeling as if they've walked through some of the most difficult and trying times of the speakers lives with them because it was shared on Twitter, Facebook or in blog post by the speaker themselves. In this way... seeing her tweet about a problem and watching it unfold through follow-up tweets and Facebook statuses the admirers see the speaker live out their faith in a personal, and to them, more intimate way.
These connections are much different than the methods we used to connect only a few years ago with those in the public that we feel drawn to. These are time-sensitive connections. No longer are admirers having to wait until the next interview or magazine article to hear about Patsy Clairmont's son, they have the option to hear what's going on with their favorite one as things unfold and most often they have the chance of hearing it from the horses mouth. This gives the conference woman a better feeling of being connected, making her feel as if she's "in the known."
So by the time the conferences come around, a lot of the ladies are familiar with a bit of the story the speaker is sharing and she's nodding her head, nudging others, filling them in on what she's read from a tweet, Facebook status, or blog post.
Community. Family.
There is a huge sense of community and pride that each Woman of Faith brings and takes away. The longer she's been attending the more prideful she is about the gem that she's discovered in listening to her friends porch side conversations about what God is doing in their lives.
I must admit, after hearing the speakers you leave the conference believing that you matter. You believe that you are important to Patsy, to Marilyn, to Lisa, to Women of Faith, to Thomas Nelson Publishing— Book Sneeze and more importantly to God .
Women of Faith Conference most certainly feel as if they belong. They walk with their heads up and their chest stuck out as if they have found the secret to life!
The Women of Faith speakers are good at honing it the fact that God is interested in our life and that God has a purpose for our life.
God really is one who does not play favorites. He has no respect of person.
Normal— everyday people are who Women of Faith speakers are. And the message that God has given them is to show you and me, Ms. Normal-everyday woman that He will use our lives if we give him the opportunity by getting out of His way.
I'm now a Woman of Faith for life.
Until next time . . . xo, Angela
Hope you enjoy the slideshow.
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Let me just tell you that feeding off the adrenaline rush of so many excited women will not only be an experience that I carry with me for a life time, but it is one that I put in the category of being "Over the top" for sure! Not to mention that I think my husband is "Over the top" with coolness for being brave enough to come with me!
Men who worked the conference and women attendees constantly came up to my man saying, "I bet you've never been around so many women before in your life?"
We met new attendees and old. The oldies loved meeting we newbies, and they enjoyed telling us their stories of what initially brought them to the Women of Faith Conferences.
In talking to the women, I discovered that a lot of the ladies feel special connections with many of the speakers thanks to social media.
Twitter, Facebook and blogging have put a new spin on how we connect to those we admire. I found that many feel as if they know many of the speakers, even feeling as if they've walked through some of the most difficult and trying times of the speakers lives with them because it was shared on Twitter, Facebook or in blog post by the speaker themselves. In this way... seeing her tweet about a problem and watching it unfold through follow-up tweets and Facebook statuses the admirers see the speaker live out their faith in a personal, and to them, more intimate way.
These connections are much different than the methods we used to connect only a few years ago with those in the public that we feel drawn to. These are time-sensitive connections. No longer are admirers having to wait until the next interview or magazine article to hear about Patsy Clairmont's son, they have the option to hear what's going on with their favorite one as things unfold and most often they have the chance of hearing it from the horses mouth. This gives the conference woman a better feeling of being connected, making her feel as if she's "in the known."
So by the time the conferences come around, a lot of the ladies are familiar with a bit of the story the speaker is sharing and she's nodding her head, nudging others, filling them in on what she's read from a tweet, Facebook status, or blog post.
Community. Family.
There is a huge sense of community and pride that each Woman of Faith brings and takes away. The longer she's been attending the more prideful she is about the gem that she's discovered in listening to her friends porch side conversations about what God is doing in their lives.
I must admit, after hearing the speakers you leave the conference believing that you matter. You believe that you are important to Patsy, to Marilyn, to Lisa, to Women of Faith, to Thomas Nelson Publishing— Book Sneeze and more importantly to God .
Women of Faith Conference most certainly feel as if they belong. They walk with their heads up and their chest stuck out as if they have found the secret to life!
The Women of Faith speakers are good at honing it the fact that God is interested in our life and that God has a purpose for our life.
God really is one who does not play favorites. He has no respect of person.
Normal— everyday people are who Women of Faith speakers are. And the message that God has given them is to show you and me, Ms. Normal-everyday woman that He will use our lives if we give him the opportunity by getting out of His way.
I'm now a Woman of Faith for life.
Until next time . . . xo, Angela
Hope you enjoy the slideshow.
blog subscription | twitter | facebook
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