This week I’ve been with my husband Chad at a preaching conference. As you might imagine, at a Baptist conference for preachers, there weren’t too many women around. In fact, although I think there were two other women there, in some sessions I was the only woman in the room. One room was filled to capacity, and men were standing against the wall or sitting on the floor. Chad and I came in and found a spot on the floor, but as soon as the opening prayer was over, a white-headed pastor stood and offered me his seat. I tried to refuse, but he smiled at me sincerely and said, “Ma’am, I could not sit there while you are sitting on the floor.” Everywhere I looked I saw men seeking God earnestly, great men who love Christ and love His church, men who are doing their best to give their best to the Savior. It was inspiring, to say the least.
I heard amazing preaching. I was moved to tears more than once. I sat and listened as an 84 year old pastor spoke: “YOU are your message,” he told them. “You have to live what you preach.” And, I felt that truth deeply as I sat there, wondering how well that I live out my own words, written to you. My message falls short at times. I fall short.
It would be difficult for me to express to you, really, how much this conference meant to me. What it did for my heart and soul and mind. It would be hard to explain how important it was for Chad and me to be there together, even though I may have been a little out of place. In two and a half days, we heard eleven amazing sermons. We heard theories of persuasion, discussions about rhetorical strategies and proper exegesis. We heard some of the best teaching on studying the scripture that I’ve ever heard.
And, the entire time, I wondered why these aren’t the kinds of things that I hear at women’s conferences.
Now, I get it. It was an event for pastors. The average women’s conference would not need a break-out session about the best use of illustrations in sermons. But, which of us wouldn’t benefit from learning, step-by-step, how to read Scripture? How to outline a passage that we read so that we actually understand it? Which of us doesn’t need to hear the importance of serious Bible study and practical ways to go through a book of the Bible? Which one of us women would not be changed forever by an entire weekend of instruction in studying our Bibles, since this is where real life change happens? This is the only way for us to BE the message of Scripture–we have to KNOW what that message is first.
The truth is that someone out there doesn’t expect that women would show up for that kind of conference. And, I guess that’s a question we have to ask ourselves: would we? Are we satisfied with women’s event after women’s event that insists that women need only to talk about our feelings and get tips on the best way to make a chore chart for our kids? Would we rather go to women’s events just to hear speakers tell us how great we are, how we’re doing fine, how beautiful we are? Would we jump at the chance to go to a seminary someplace for a weekend, just to listen to a bunch of men teach us how to understand what the Holy Spirit is communicating to us in the Scripture?
That is the kind of women’s conference that most of us need.
Are we up to it?
