Women of Faith Conference - Debriefed

#1 You can take this seriously...
#2 ...or not.  It's only my opinion.

What: Women of Faith Conference
Where: Duluth, Georgia
When: This past Friday and Saturday
Who: Sandi Patty, Amy Grant, Anita Renfroe, Brenda Warner, Kelly Minter, Mandisa, a good praise band, and others.  (Plus a big group of great friends from my church, Crossroads Baptist!)
How:  How'd I get to go?  I was the grateful, last minute recipient of an unused ticket.  Also, my mom and dad just happen to be coming to town anyway, so they were kind enough to take on kid duty.  It seemed like the Lord wanted me at this conference for some reason. 

Pros:

• We had fun...lots of laughs and good times.  Quality time with friends (of ALL ages!) is never wasted.
• The praise and worship was great! (But I couldn't help thinking they could use a little Christa Rooks. ;) )
• Amy Grant, to my surprise, was probably one of my favorite parts. (I doubt this would be the consensus of my group, but again, this is only MY opinion.)  I haven't followed Amy Grant's career since way back when...sing along! "Baby, baby I'm taken with a notion, to love you with the sweetest of devotion!"...Yeah, that long ago.  I do own at least four of her Christmas albums too, but I had not heard her southern, bluesy, laid-back, acoustic, I don't know exactly what you call it style.  Anyway, I liked it!
• Anita Renfroe was HI-larious!  Some people seemed a little offended by her, but with the husband that I have I obviously am not easily offended. :) 
• Kelly Minter gave a good Bible lesson from Nehemiah, and actually asked us to open our Bibles!
• Brenda Warner had a very moving testimony, and her son, Zach, rapping Toby Mac's part along with Mandisa was priceless!
• They did a lot of "advertising" for World Vision which was cool.  I don't know a lot about World Vision as a ministry though.  I do know Compassion International and really love what they do, and I'm only supposing that World Vision is pretty much the same.
• There were other good things about the conference but those were the highlights for me.

Cons:

• Really, there's only one, but it's a big one for me...(I alluded to it when I mentioned Kelly Minter).  Let's just say, that throughout the conference we were asked to open our pocket books a WHOLE lot more than we were asked to open our Bibles. Books, CD's, t-shirts, bags, and on and on.  Perhaps, this is the expected norm for this conference but it's not what I expected or had hoped for.  I just love Bible study, and though the women did tell stories from the Bible, and seemed to rightly handle the Word in their talks, I feel like they missed out on an amazing opportunity to lead that arena FULL of women in searching out the Living Word of God (Heb. 4:12) for themselves.

Bottom line:  Would I encourage other women to attend this conference?  Well, I wouldn't DIScourage them. If you've got a chunk of money burning a hole it your pocket, and you want to be encouraged, have a good laugh, enjoy some decent music, and hang out with cool friends then go for it.  (Just go with a discerning spirit.) If you want to be lead in challenging Bible study and dig into the Word for yourself then your money will be better spent (or saved, or given) somewhere else.  Afterall, the best gifts of God are FREE. (Romans 6:23)