Women seeking spiritual enrichment with a side of basic car maintenance or beginner Facebook skills need look no further than the women’s conference Jan. 13 and 14 at First Baptist Church.
FBC’s women’s ministry team has put together the Recipe for Life conference for women age 12 to 112.
Beverly Raburn, a member of the ministry team, said the event is designed for all women in the community, not just church members.
“We don’t want any lady to come to this event and feel invisible or lonely,” she said. “Everybody who walks through those doors should know that we’re glad they’re there.”
She said they have prepared enough sessions and resources to accommodate 400 people. Most of the planners, speakers and session leaders come from within the church.
“The conference is totally headed up and supported by volunteers,” she said. “We’re using the church membership and the church family to do leading and fellowship.”
The conference will begin Friday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. with a Sweet Blessings food tasting and a worship service.
Saturday’s activities will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. There will be two worship times, and attendees can choose any four breakout sessions to participate in.
“There’s something here for everybody,” Raburn said. “The sessions cover every area of life – from insurance to an introduction to finances. Some are biblically based and some are more for secular needs.”
The session topics include floral decorating, ministry, makeup tips, couponing, exercise, missions, puppet ministry, car maintenance, self-defense, Facebook 101, arts and crafts, parenting, finance, insurance, interior design, scrapbooking and prayer. Several sessions are particularly geared toward teenage girls.
Katie Lewis, a member of the women’s ministry team, is teaching a session on couponing and menu planning called Is It Soup Yet?
“We’ve got five kids, so I rely on menu planning big-time,” she said. “I’m also trying to dispel a lot of extreme couponing. I’ll be teaching the basics of couponing. It’s something that everybody can do.”
Lewis will give a presentation describing where to find coupons and which stores in the area are the best for couponing. She will cover building a stockpile in the pantry, finding coupons for low-cost staples and using sales flyers to build a menu.
“I think as a whole the conference will allow women in the community to bond over things we all strive for in our families, like saving money,” she said. “It will be a good chance to learn something and be productive but also make some new friends.”
Tinye Harding, also a member of the women’s ministry team, is teaching a session called Art with a Heart with her friend Jody Thomas.
The session will include painting with acrylics on canvas, and no artistic skills are required, she said.
“It’s just a way to creatively express the talents that they may have or discover talents they didn’t realize they had,” she said.
Harding said the conference is geared toward both spiritual and practical enrichment.
“It will touch a variety of interests and meet some immediate needs people may have and hopefully lead to them discovering spiritual needs that they have,” she said.
Raburn said the conference will give women the opportunity to start the new year on a positive note by learning something new and building friendships.
“I hope everyone will walk away with some tidbits of knowledge and information,” she said. “More importantly, we want people to leave thinking, ‘I have never felt so welcome, wanted or loved as I did at First Baptist Church.’ ”
The guest speakers will be the Rev. David Lambert, the minister of youth at FBC; the Rev. David Walker, the minister of education at FBC; and Ann Watts, a representative from the Georgia Baptist Women’s Ministry Union who will speak about human trafficking.
The guest music leader is Stephanie Greene, who serves as the music director at Union Baptist Church.
Tickets for the conference cost $10 per person, which includes breakfast and lunch on Saturday.
“If someone wants to come and doesn’t have the money for a ticket, they will not be turned away,” Raburn said.
They are available at the First Baptist Church office or at the door. For more information and a schedule of events, visit fbcthomson.org or call (706) 595-4252.
