I'm back . . . for now . . .
Back from the weekend conference.
It was an E-Women (Extraordinary Women) conference (think Women of Faith on a smaller scale). It was pretty good. Some of the highlights included Anita Renfro (hilarious), Amy Grant (who gave a short, casual concert--very enjoyable), a couple of the author speakers, and Candace Cameron Bure.
At one point, the worship leader, Charles Billingsly, did four renditions of "I'll Fly Away." It was so much fun!
First, we sang it in the traditional southern gospel style.
Then we moved from southern gospel to southern rock. Sang it to the tune of Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama." It rocked.
Then we moved to the . . . black gospel, I guess? . . . style . . . very free form and flowing, and the way he talked about clapping on 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3 (which I totally knew what he was talking about, and it's so true . . . I'm a 2 & 4 clapper by nature), and how you only need one song, and you're good for 20 minutes was hilarious.
And from there he closed with the very formal, full, almost operatic . . . I don't even know who to use as an example . . . style of singing.
The whole thing was a hoot, and I totally want to do that in actual church sometime.
Nancy DeMoss and Karen Kingsbury were really good. Ms. Kingsbury is, I gather, the best selling inspirational fiction author on the market today. She started out with a story about some correspondences she's received from her "reader friends" (read: fans). One such story about a reader introducing her boyfriend to her friends at a party where the attendees all wore name tags of their favorite characters from the books was a hoot. The boyfriend didn't know the particular family in question was fictitious, and he asked why so many people in the same family had the same name. The girlfriend explained that these weren't real people, the attendees were wearing the names of their favorite characters from a book series. He didn't believe her, and didn't talk to her for weeks, until he saw that his mom was reading one of the books. He called her and apologized and explained that he thought she was part of some weird cult. At which point I leaned over to the friend I went to the conference with and said something to the effect of, "They are. It's called fandom." Ha! (End of story: the girl and her boyfriend ended up getting married, and at the reception, everyone who had attended that first party wore their fictitious character name tags. Hee!)
Anyway, Nancy DeMoss spoke about removing masks and being real with God and ourselves and others, and used the woman at the well (John 4) as her text. (I so want to perform that role sometime. There's some really powerful stuff there.) Karen Kingsley talked about love, and the importance of love, hope, laughter, and living life. She shared the story of one of her children's books (written for her daughter), and it's just wonderful. She then shared another one of her children's books (about "lasts") that had much of the audience in tears. I cried some tears that maybe have needed to be cried for a while. Or have been cried before, and might be cried again, due to either opportunities missed or perhaps more accurately mourning what feels akin to lost opportunities and closed doors. Or maybe just doors that aren't there for me to begin with. I managed to refrain from sobbing outright, but I'm glad Friend J came with, 'cause she gave me a shoulder to cry on.
I was very impressed with Candace Cameron Bure. She's extremely well-spoken and passionate and articulate and her story was just really, really good. She shared her testimony, tracing her life from her childhood to her salvation and her husband's salvation. It was very real. Nothing extreme or miraculous in the dramatic sense, but real and practical and realization and change-of-heart.
The trip back from Roanoke was rather stressful, as it's been raining heavily. I'm ready to crash.
Some things were brought to my attention during the course of these sessions, some realizations, and some tears. I hope after some things sink in I'll be able to assimilate them.
It was an E-Women (Extraordinary Women) conference (think Women of Faith on a smaller scale). It was pretty good. Some of the highlights included Anita Renfro (hilarious), Amy Grant (who gave a short, casual concert--very enjoyable), a couple of the author speakers, and Candace Cameron Bure.
At one point, the worship leader, Charles Billingsly, did four renditions of "I'll Fly Away." It was so much fun!
First, we sang it in the traditional southern gospel style.
Then we moved from southern gospel to southern rock. Sang it to the tune of Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama." It rocked.
Then we moved to the . . . black gospel, I guess? . . . style . . . very free form and flowing, and the way he talked about clapping on 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3 (which I totally knew what he was talking about, and it's so true . . . I'm a 2 & 4 clapper by nature), and how you only need one song, and you're good for 20 minutes was hilarious.
And from there he closed with the very formal, full, almost operatic . . . I don't even know who to use as an example . . . style of singing.
The whole thing was a hoot, and I totally want to do that in actual church sometime.
Nancy DeMoss and Karen Kingsbury were really good. Ms. Kingsbury is, I gather, the best selling inspirational fiction author on the market today. She started out with a story about some correspondences she's received from her "reader friends" (read: fans). One such story about a reader introducing her boyfriend to her friends at a party where the attendees all wore name tags of their favorite characters from the books was a hoot. The boyfriend didn't know the particular family in question was fictitious, and he asked why so many people in the same family had the same name. The girlfriend explained that these weren't real people, the attendees were wearing the names of their favorite characters from a book series. He didn't believe her, and didn't talk to her for weeks, until he saw that his mom was reading one of the books. He called her and apologized and explained that he thought she was part of some weird cult. At which point I leaned over to the friend I went to the conference with and said something to the effect of, "They are. It's called fandom." Ha! (End of story: the girl and her boyfriend ended up getting married, and at the reception, everyone who had attended that first party wore their fictitious character name tags. Hee!)
Anyway, Nancy DeMoss spoke about removing masks and being real with God and ourselves and others, and used the woman at the well (John 4) as her text. (I so want to perform that role sometime. There's some really powerful stuff there.) Karen Kingsley talked about love, and the importance of love, hope, laughter, and living life. She shared the story of one of her children's books (written for her daughter), and it's just wonderful. She then shared another one of her children's books (about "lasts") that had much of the audience in tears. I cried some tears that maybe have needed to be cried for a while. Or have been cried before, and might be cried again, due to either opportunities missed or perhaps more accurately mourning what feels akin to lost opportunities and closed doors. Or maybe just doors that aren't there for me to begin with. I managed to refrain from sobbing outright, but I'm glad Friend J came with, 'cause she gave me a shoulder to cry on.
I was very impressed with Candace Cameron Bure. She's extremely well-spoken and passionate and articulate and her story was just really, really good. She shared her testimony, tracing her life from her childhood to her salvation and her husband's salvation. It was very real. Nothing extreme or miraculous in the dramatic sense, but real and practical and realization and change-of-heart.
The trip back from Roanoke was rather stressful, as it's been raining heavily. I'm ready to crash.
Some things were brought to my attention during the course of these sessions, some realizations, and some tears. I hope after some things sink in I'll be able to assimilate them.