Grace Notes

Moms and daughters arriving and picking up their nametags!

We are definitely aware that prayer is the one main necessary component for a conference to be successful, and we rejoiced at many answers to prayer throughout the two weeks of conferences. One answer to prayer was the attendance the Lord brought. We prayed for a specific number for each conference and those numbers were exceeded each time. Thank you to all of you were joined us in praying for these conferences!

The sisters who could not get along…

After the first evening, we had some complaints about crying babies so around 11pm Stephen drove to Wisconsin (okay, actually it was only a 30 mintute drive), bought a speaker system, and set it up in the lobby. Things were SO much better the next day. Yea!

The “Good Conscience Sisters”

The “Guilty Conscience Sisters”

We had some problems with mics making loud and unusual noises the first night. They have never done this before, so we included this issue as a prayer e-mail we sent out. The next day we had little to no problems with the mics. Praise the Lord for how He answers prayer and helps us fix problems in all the dimensions of the conference.

An answer to prayer–Hannah, who joined our team for the first time at this conference, knew sign language and was able to fill a need perfectly by helping with the interpreting at the conference.

Enjoying small group times!

Moms and daughters, ready for the next session to begin…

The horse race is beginning in 5 minutes!!

“Let it shine till Jesus Comes. I’m gonna let it shine….”

More pictures coming soon! In the meantime, if you’d like to see a report from the conferences on Emily Schuurman’s blog, click here.

Or to see a fun collection of photos from Chelsy Bontrager’s camera, see her blog here.

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life…” Philippians 2:14-15

Here’s Bryant putting together packages of the Bright Lights Songbook and CD for our booktable at the conferences. We had to resort to our old system of shrink wrapping using an iron since our shrink wrapper broke!

Tuesday moring, our team of leaders gathered for “teacher’s training”, sharing in the Word, and prayer. These are always encouraging times! It’s always refreshing to hear the special verses that have encouraged the other leaders as they have spent time with the Lord preparing for the conference.

Here is the “Folly / Wisdom Skit” in the first main session. This skit tells the story of Wisdom, a girl making good decisions based on an eternal perspective, compared to Folly who just does what feels good.

We gathered as a group of leaders for “cool down” after the first evening to share encouraging stories and prayer requests.

Bekah and Karissa were very dramatic in acting the skit of the two sisters who could not get along…they did a great job.

Enjoying “the pyramid activity!” in small group time as we talked about brothers and sisters learning to be teammates and work together.

The “Dead Conscience Sisters,” reviewing their skit lines backstage. We enjoyed having Laura (Nickie’s sister) on our team again this time! Since she has two kids now she can’t travel with us anymore but she was able to help since the conference was local.

We all love the relationships we are able to make with the girls in our small group teams.

One of the most encouraging things for us is to hear testimonies of lives the Lord touched through the conference. I thought I’d share a few comments we recieved:

“I am going to try to read the Bible for 15 min or a chapter every day. I am also going to try to honor my parents and be kinder to my sister.” -13-year-old girl

“My oldest daughter already has her Bible reading plan commitment in place! My 8 year-old told me last night that she is SO happy and that she feels like a new person inside, , and maybe this is what it feels like to really BE a Christian. What joy! ” -Mom

“We were at the Bright Lights conference this past Tuesday and Wednesday. We so enjoyed ourselves… I was especially blessed when my 10 year old daughter approached me yesterday morning to tell me of some things that were weighing on her conscience.” -Mom

We are so grateful for those who have upheld this conference in prayer. The Radiant Purity Conference which followed also went wonderfully, and I will report about that soon. We are now in MN preparing for the next Strong in the Lord Conference which begins tomorrow evening. Please pray that hearts would be changed at these next two conferences.

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The Bright Lights conference at the Creation Museum was a climax to our recent Bright Lights conference trip.

Our team of leaders, taking advantage of the beautiful picturesque grounds.

Below are a few examples of ways we saw God working and answering prayer at this conference.

-Just a week and a half previously, a man designed and donated a Bright Lights registration sign (as seen in the registration pictures on the slide show) and delivered it to us at our conferences in Virginia. It was a wonderful addition to our registration booth outside the museum. God provided at just the right time. My dad says you might call it a “sign from God.”

-A family from Wisconsin planned a week long family trip many months ago to Ohio, intending to spend several days of that week at the Creation Museum. The mother had also wanted to come to a Bright Lights Conference sometime but had not been able to work it out to come to any previous conferences. This mother told us that she began praying that a Bright Lights Conference would be planned somewhere within driving distance of the museum during that same week since they had that time available. A few days before they left, she checked our website and found that there would be a Bright Lights Conference right at the museum itself the first day they were there!

-The weather was beautiful, allowing us to do the small groups in the outside gardens and pavilions.

-Our whole team of leaders stayed at a guest house on the museum grounds. A few museum volunteers who were staying in the same location decided to get up at 5 AM to make a pancake breakfast for our entire staff. This was completely unexpected and very much appreciated!

-Although unexpected complications could have developed from running a conference at a location where there’s already so much going on, the whole day went smoothly. From registration, to the main sessions, to the small groups outside, everything stayed on schedule, and there was an enthusiastic spirit among everyone.

-One mother gave four extra planetarium tickets to Nickie, asking her to pass them on to anyone who could use them. Praying that God would direct her to the right family, Nickie approached a mom with two daughters in the main hall and offered them the free tickets. They joyfully thanked her, and as they were walking away the mom said to the smiling little girl, “See? God gave you the desire of your heart!”

-Many girls indicated on their response forms that they made commitments to spend time in God’s Word every day, to honor their parents, to keep a clear conscience, to minister to their brothers and sisters, to keep themselves pure from polluting influences, and to be strong for the Lord in their youth.

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” Psalm 145:3-4

In Ohio we did the same schedule conference as Virginia. Strong in the Lord Conference, free day, Radiant Purity Conference. It was a great week! Everyone had their “tired moments” but the Lord’s grace is always sufficient and we were all excited to see how open and responsive the girls were to the lessons we were teaching.

Attendees

Leaders

God brought together an incredible group of leaders who persevered though all the early mornings, new pressures and responsibilities, long hours on the road, and being with people day-in and day-out. They kept serving sacrificially and cheerfully, and were a great example to me of Christ’s character. Our times of sharing from the Word and praying together were a highlight for everyone. Even though many hadn’t known each other previously, there was a special fellowship and unity in the group. True fellowship takes place when you are serving the Lord, side-by-side, and encouraging each other even when the going gets rough.

My brother Stephen is a very alert person. Always aware of his surroundings, he notices details other people don’t notice. He stays on top of all the “behind the scenes” technical elements of running the conferences. Projectors, lapel mics, speakers, sound mixer, lights, video equipment, computers, printers, scanners, you name it… Stephen seems to instinctively know how everything works and goes the extra mile to pursue excellence.

Daniel and Stephen can fix just about anything, and they had lots of opportunities to put their mechanical skills into practice (i.e. we are good at breaking things).

And by the way, thank you to those of you who were praying for the video! We haven’t viewed it yet, but we think we were able to get some good footage.

Singing with our staff on our free day

We also had a great game of Ultimate Frisbee game on our free day

I’m sorry I’m a little behind in posting! After our free day in the woods, we did a Radiant Purity Conference in the same church in Virginia, and then drove to the Columbus, OH area where we will be doing our next two conferences. The Strong in the Lord Conference is beginning in about a half hour.

Adjusting cameras

We’d appreciate prayer that we’d be able to capture the conference on video. Please pray that the Lord would bless the project and cause the everything to run smoothly.

Samuel, Nathan and Daniel unloading another box of cables

Stephen and Daniel have been working very hard the past two days laying down cables and setting up speakers and the sound systems, lighting, cameras, back drops, etc. We’re also very grateful to David, Nathan and Samuel for the sacrifices they made to be here to run the cameras.

Setting up the lights

We’ve already seen the Lord fit many details together and we’re so grateful for our team of skilled young men who are willing to help in this way. A good video of the conference would enable us to be able to reach so many more girls with the message of Bright Lights. But there are always many things that could go wrong, so we’d appreciate prayer that God would cause it to be a success. Thank you so much. The conference starts tonight and runs through tomorrow at 5pm.

Praying with our group of leaders before the conference starts.

Girls and mothers arriving

…picking up their name tags…

…and gathering for the main session.

Throughout the conference we go back and forth between the main sessions and small group times. The groups have names such as “Stars”, “Fireflies”, “Flashlights”, etc.

“What was your favorite part of the conference?” I often ask the girls. “The skits!” they often reply with a little grin and twinkle in their eye.

We use the skits to reinforce what we’re teaching. This skit is called “The Conscience Skit” and teaches the importance of confessing your sin and keeping a clear conscience.

The “CBN Broadcast Skit”

We concluded the conference with candles and encouraging the girls to “…Let Your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and praise your father in Heaven…!” (Matthew 5:16)

One of the highlights after the a conference is talking with the girls and moms as they are leaving. Many moms and explain with emotion how much the Lord used the conference in their lives and their daughters’ lives. We are reminded that even though we can’t see all of the fruit right now, we must “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 1 Cor 4:18

After about 17 hours on the road, our “Bright Lights Team” is still looking cheerful as we arrive in Bristol, Virginia. We were very encouraged about how God put this team together. We’ve already had a lot of good talks and good times together.

The first two conferences will be held at this church here in Virginia.

Today was spent unloading, setting up, practicing music, practicing skits, entering last minute registrations into our database, and organizing countless details… Everyone has a different area that they are in charge of. For example, Abigail and Tia put up signs all over the church indicating where each “small group” will be held. They did a terrific job. Here’s a little glimpse of their afternoon….
“How should we arrange these signs so the girls can find their small group rooms easily?”

“Should we put it there?”