As I look  at some upcoming speaking engagements, I realize how much I depend on my God! I’m no gifted speaker, so I lean hard on Him, and trust Him to use this willing vessel to encourage Christian women. I spend lots of time writing, but God continues to open interesting and challenging speaking opportunities.

[Most of my travel  is to accompany my husband, Steve, as he works with the 420 Southern Baptist Churches across Indiana. If you'd like to see what God's doing in Indiana, check out www.scbi.org]

Here are several speaking engagements on my schedule in coming months. Pray for me, and if one is in your area,  I hope to see you there:

S. CAROLINA – South Carolina Baptist State Convention’s retreat for Ministers Wives, S.W.A.T., November 5-6 at White Oak Conference Center.

IOWA - Ladies’ Christmas luncheon at Grace Baptist, Waterloo Iowa December 7

TENNESSEE – Ladies retreat at New Heights Baptist, Chatanooga TN April 8-9 2011

OHIO – Southern Ohio’s Scioto Valley Baptist Association’s ladies’ conference May 5 2011, Athens OH.

ALABAMA – Speak for Alabama Baptist Convention‘s statewide Pastors, Deacons and Wives Retreat, September 23-24 2011

UKRAINE – Teach seminary class at Kiev Theological Seminary, May 14-22 2011

INDIANA – several events, including

• Ladies’ Day Nov 13 for Northeast Baptist Association churches.
• Pastors, Deacons and Wives Training (with Steve) for East Central Baptist Association churches, Oct.2, Halteman Village Baptist Church, Muncie IN
• Deacon and Wives retreat (with  Steve) for Southwest Baptist Association churches, October 15-16
• Ladies’ Retreat September 18, Fellowship Baptist in Richmond IN

And thanks for your prayers, my friends!

This will only make sense to you ladies who were at the First Baptist Daytona Beach luncheon last Saturday, where I talked about “The Secret Ingredient.” I’d promised to post my favorite chocoholic recipe–Chocolate Trifle Explosion–so here it is! The secret ingredient is the almond extract. 

A secret ingredient for Christian living is found in Philippians 2:3-4.

—-

Here’s the recipe:

CHOCOLATE TRIFLE EXPLOSION

Note: You’ve got to have a glass trifle dish for this one. See photo above. And don’t forget the secret ingredient*

INGREDIENTS:

1 Duncan Hines triple chocolate brownie mix. Prepare as directed.

1 Chocolate fudge instant pudding mix. Prepare as directed.

1 large Cool Whip. *Mix in 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.

12 oz. pkg toffee bits or Heath bits of brickle (find it in baking section near the chocolate chips)

1 container fresh strawberries, sliced

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare brownies and pudding. Crumble brownies.

Layer ingredients in this order, spreading each layer to tthe edges of the trifle dish.

- crumbled brownies

- chocolate pudding

- cool whip (almonded)

- brickle bits

 - strawberries

Repeat; ending with cool whip.

Garnish with grated chocolate and a strawberry

Here’s an idea you might use for a conference theme.  “Fresh Winds of Change”

West Virginia’s ABW state retreat for women’s ministry leaders used that theme for this weekend’s retreat, with this Scripture:

“Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails!”                        (Psalm 51:7b The Message)

The decor included huge colorful banners hung from the ceiling and behind the stage, with fans to create a gentle breeze.  They were using my book, Fresh Ideas for Women’s Ministry, to show how to do women’s ministry with an “upward and outward” focus, called LIGHT, so the table decor was all sorts of lanterns and lights. 

Each retreat attendee received a soft, colorful scarf as a gift, and their reteat closing sent all 250 women outside, with the scarfs blowing in the breeze. What a lovely visual–rolling West Virginia hills, blossoming trees and flowers all around, and scarves billowing.

It was such a fun weekend, and a great honor  for me to get to share with all those ladies.  Praying for “fresh winds of change” as they go back to their ministries across that state.

If you live near these white sandy shores (DAYTONA BEACH FLORIDA), maybe I’ll see you this weekend.

First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach has an annual ladies luncheon, “Beautiful You,” this Saturday, May 1st, and I’ll get to be there to speak.  Pray that God will encourage and bless each woman there.

And if you’re in the area, get a ticket for the luncheon and join us! See www.firstbaptist.org

I’m looking forward to leading a conference for West Virginia women’s ministry leaders this weekend. You’re welcome to register if you live in that area! It’s for the American Baptist Churches of that state and guests are welcome.  Last week they had 250 preregistered, so it should be a great group.

The title is “Winds of Change”. Their planning team has done an amazing job, and I can’t wait to see how God uses the conference.  Pray for all those who will lead and attend.

Looking for a good mixer for a large church event?  Here’s one we used at the retreat. You can see that the questions are designed for pastors and pastor wives in Indiana, but you can tweak the questions to fit your group.

Hang giant numbers 1 – 9 (made of posterboard) all around the room, high on the walls. Spread them out to cover the entire room. You’ll call out a question, show the answer choices on powerpoint (or posters), and ask everyone to go to the number that corresponds with their answer, and chat with others in that area.  Explain that when the buzzer sounds, everyone stops and moves to the next question.

We gave a new question every 3 or 4 minutes to keep the game moving.  People would move to their answer and immediately begin chatting with others there. We played music a little loudly to make conversaton less intimidating. The purpose, of course, is to allow the group members to quickly discover some things they have in common, stimulating friendships and later conversation. These are the questions we used:

FRIDAY NIGHT SCRAMBLE

[Questions & answer choices on powerpoint; host blows whistle to announce next question.]

COLOR OF YOUR SHIRT

(this one’s for practice…when you get there, tell someone your favorite joke?)

1)    Blue

2)    Red

3)    Green

4)    White

5)    Pink

6)    Black

7)    Brown

8)    Yellow

9)    Other

MY CHURCH LOCATION  (chat about what your town’s known for)

1)    North Indiana

2)    South Indiana

3)    East Indiana

4)    West Indiana

5)    Central Indiana

LIFE STAGE: (if you have children, share your favorite “pastor kid” story)

1)    Married with no kids

2)    Married with preschool kids

3)    Married with school age kids

4)    Married with teenager

5)    Married with college age kids

6)    Married with adult kids

BIRTH STATE  (where did you grow up?)

        Put up a map of the US with colors and have them to the right area by number

ARE YOU… (more than half IN pastors bi-vocational! Q: tell your worst wedding accident)

1)    Full Time Pastor/wife

2)    Bi-vocational pastor/wife

A SPORT I LIKE:  (FAVORITE PLACE/USED FOR MINISTRY HOW?)

1. 1.      Hunting
2. 2.      Fishing
3. 3.      Golf
4. 4.      Team sports (football, baseball, basketball)
5. 5.      Hike/walk/jog
6. 6.      Camping
7. 7.      Archery/Shooting 
8. 8.      Biking/motorcycling
9. 9.      Tennis

CHURCH SIZE: [your church’s high attendance this year](Q: what’s the best thing going on at your church lately)

1)    2-50

2)    50-100

3)    100-200

4)    200-350

5)    350-500

6)    500+

BIRTH MONTH   (a quick one. See if you can find someone who shares your birthdate.)

1)    January - February

2)    March

3)    April

4)    May-June

5)    July

6)    August

7)    September - October

8)    November

9)    December

OUR CHURCH WORSHIP MUSIC STYLE: (talk about how your music helps reach people)

1)    Contemporary

2)    Traditional

3)    Blended

I ENJOY…   (FAST)

1. 1.      Reading
2. 2.      Model building
3. 3.      Knitting/quilting/sewing
4. 4.      Bowling
5. 5.      Gardening
6. 6.      Eating J 
7. 7.      Scrapbooking 
8. 8.      Woodworking
9. 9.      Stamp/coin collecting

CHURCH SETTING: (after you get to your group, tell someone about your most embarrassing moment as a pastor/pastor’s wife.)

1. 1.      Rural
2. 2.      Small town
3. 3.      Medium size town
4. 4.      Large town
5. 5.      Inner city

IF YOU  WERE LEAVING TODAY TO BE A MISSIONARY, WHICH COUNTRY WOULD YOU CHOOSE? (Here’s a fun question for you.) 

1)    Chili

2)    Ireland

3)    China

4)    India

5)    Brazil

6)    Mongolia

7)    Iran

8)    Australia

9)    Zimbabwe

AGE GROUP I’M DRAWN TO FOR MINISTRY: (if you could only do ministry with one age, which would you choose?) 

1)    Senior Adults

2)    Adults

3)    Young adults

4)    Singles

5)    Youth

6)    Children

7)    Pre-School

WHICH COLOR WOULD YOU RATHER DYE YOUR HAIR? (Here’s your chance to tell about your funniest ministry story (baptism, evangelism bloop). Divide this way, then share.)

1)    Blue

2)    Green

3)    Pink

4)    Purple

5)    Yellow

6)    Orange

AGE: (couple/use younger age) (name your favorite restaurant)

1)    20s

2)    30

3)    40s

4)    50s

5)    60+

MINISTRY DRAW:  (Besides preaching, what’s an area of ministry that you really enjoy?) 

1)    Music

2)    Media/Arts/Drama

3)    Administration

4)    Prayer

5)     Benevolence

6)    Teaching

FAVORITE SEASON: (what’s the most unique ministry your church does in this season?)

1)    Summer

2)    Fall

3)    Winter

4)    Spring

FAVORITE STYLE OF MUSIC (Just for fun, which of these styles of music do you like best?)

1)    Jazz

2)    Rap

3)    Bluegrass

4)    Rock

5)    Classical

6)    Techno

7)    Country

I just returned from Texas, where we enjoyed a wonderful visit at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, time with family there, and then I got to help lead a conference for deacons’ wives at Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie. What a lovely group of women!

Here’s an idea that Inglewood is using to invite unchurched friends to attend worship on Easter Sunday.  They had a mountain of Peeps marshmallow candies in the church foyer with an invitation to church attached to each.  Everyone at church was encouraged to take as many as they would give to neighbors, friends and coworkers.  What a simple, creative way to invite guests to hear about Jesus! 

I’m not sure what their invitation note said, but it could have a variety of quotes along with the details of when and where the church meets, such as…

“I wanted to invite all the Peeps I love to church with me this Easter. Hope to see you there.”

“There’s more to Easter than just chicks and bunnies! Meet me at church on Sunday?”

“Hi Neighbor! Here’s my sweet invitation for you to join me for church Easter Sunday.”

Or you could be less corny and just give them a Peep and an invitation…

Just returned home from the WMU Missions Celebration in New England. What a grand weekend! I now have new friends in six different states! The conference theme was “Energize” and I had the privilege to sharing ideas to energize the women’s ministry programs in churches.

It was such a delight to meet so many Christian sisters who serve in churches across the Baptist Convention of New England — New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut.  Such a gorgeous part of our country, and such a great mission field. I was amazed to see how God is moving and working there. Thanks, new friends, for a wonderful weekend.

Here’s a fun idea they used: DEAP.  Several times during the conference, a big bell would ring, and everyone would DEAP (that’s Drop Everything And Pray).  Each conference attender’s name badge had the name of an SBC missionary on the reverse side, and she was assigned to pray for that missionary, whose birthday was that day. It was short, but very effective. 

Our Indiana Baptist ladies retreat is this weekend, and 800+ ladies will be coming to Indianapolis for a wonderful, inspiring weekend. It’s always a big highlight of the year. Will you pray for safe travel as they travel across our state? Snow is predicted!  

My breakout class:  The topic for my breakout class this year is “Terrycloth Christianity.” It’s a class for Christian leaders about Jesus’ style of leadership: servant leadership.  It begins with a fun “towel” fashion show. 

Ministers’ Wives Breakfast: One highlight of the retreat is a breakfast especially designed for pastor wives in our state. I’m delighted that we have one hundred pastors wives registered for our Ministers Wives Breakfast this Saturday! Pray for these important leaders who will attend–that God will use the event to encourage them, help them find new friendships, and inspire them.  I’ll get to recognize ten church planters’ wives, too.  Can’t wait! 

And if you know a pastor or a deacon in Kentucky, be sure they know about it!  Here’s the link for registration:  Kentucky Pastor-Deacon-Spouse-Retreat