Final Conference Post!

Below are a few more pictures from our last conference in Duluth 3 weeks ago!

This church began to feel like our home after being there for a week straight!! Since it was right on Lake Superior, the view was beautiful and the air was so fresh. That meant lots of walks around the parking lot… 🙂

Sarah explaining the important principle of the two kinds of purity.

The best part of each conference is seeing the Lord work in girls’ lives. Here is an encouraging e-mail Bekah received from one of the young ladies in her discussion group. (We have permisison to share it.)

“… I went home and told my Mom about an errand I have to run. About 5 years ago, I stole 2 rings from a store and I need to get that right with God, which means admitting to that and compensating for them. I remember how much they were and I’ve calculated tax and added that on, so that’s where I’ll be today…The sermon [at church yesterday] was on idols, well, I don’t have any of those, right? I went home and I’ve started memorizing a list of verses that I found on the heart, a pure heart, a godly heart, a godly woman, a godly wife, and a godly marriage. Now I’m set! Well, I did want to share something with my Mom, something I’d hoarded away-love letters-from guys in the past. I realized those were my idols and I’m de-guying my life!!! We burned them all, and now she knows why my heart was always troubled. Well, we both do. I got rid of an idol that was forcing Jesus out of my heart, and with that gone….There’s only room for Him!!!! I’ve had SO much joy, Bekah, and no one understands, but they will. I’m going to be the brightest light for Him that I can…And a pure one!
P.S. I’m deleting my guy contacts and friends on Facebook. I will not be a “fisher of men”, just the one God intends- and until then, I’m waiting on Him and using my single years for His Glory!”

Special relationships made…

We made a list of some of the little details in which we saw God answering prayer. Here are a few of them:

• When Nickie was printing the name tags for our final Radiant Purity conference in Duluth, she noticed that the supply of pink paper was very low. With only about 2 hours before the conference began we were worried that we might not have enough. But God answered prayer and we had the EXACT number of sheets to print the nametags.

• There were 2 missing items that we really needed to find. After praying about it, we found them both in about 2 minutes!

• We heard many testimonies from small group leaders who had girls with specific needs assigned to their team and they were able to effectively encourage because of common family situations, personal struggles, etc. It was humbling to know that the Lord was guiding and blessing us even in the “regular” tasks of assigning girls to small group teams.

• One leader wanted to talk with a certain girl in her group alone. She prayed about it during the main session, and immediately after the session was over, this girl came and found HER, wanting to talk about questions she had regarding the gospel!

• My dad and Sarah had especially been praying that the Lord would bring 400 people to each Strong in the Lord conference. Including late registration we reached (and exceeded!) that number each time.

These are just a few examples of answered prayer. I wish I could record them all. It is humbling and very exciting to serve a powerful God who works in so many ways–many of which we often don’t even see or recognize!

The last morning my dad took us to watch the sunrise over the lake. What a special conclusion to the week.

As we were watching the sun rise, someone brought up the analogy of waiting for Jesus to return–our true Sunrise. The anticipation and excitement beforehand…the warmth and beauty after…what a clear picture we see, every morning, of that one day coming soon.

“Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring (NASB: Sunrise) from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)