Women of Faith 
Pittsburgh
June 25-26, 2004

The theme for this year’s conference was “Irrepressible Hope”. 

The key verse for the conference was …”this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” Hebrews 6:19.  Marilyn Meberg, one of the conference speakers defines hope as “the expectation of fulfillment that is anchored in God’s promise to meet my need”.

The ladies of Sand Fork Baptist and Summersville Baptist began planning to attend this conference in January.  We chartered a bus, reserved hotel rooms, ordered tickets and added our names to the list of those planning to attend.  We ordered matching T-shirts with our church name and the key verse.  Dressing a like is a “girl thing”.

Finally the day arrived and 13 ladies boarded the bus in Summersville and headed to Gilmer County to pick up the remaining 29 in Burnsville.  There were a total of 23 from Summersville and 33 from Sand Fork.  If the numbers don’t seem to add up it is because 10 ladies from Summersville left earlier that morning in a church van.  Their mission was to get there early to pick up the room keys…and of course get in a little shopping before the conference started.  After a stop for dinner in Washington, PA we headed for the conference.

We arrived at the Mellon Arena just as the doors opened.  We waited with approximately 13,000 other ladies for the conference to begin.  At last the lights dimmed and we began to sing praises to our King with the Women of Faith Worship Team.   The sound of 13,000 ladies singing is truly a sweet sound.

Then it was time for the speakers to share with us.  During that evening and the next day we were privileged to hear personal stories from ladies who were published authors tell how God had been with them in what appeared to be Hopeless Conditions, Hopeless Circumstances and even Hopeless Relationships.  They all trusted God that “something was going to be different”.  God showed them (and us through their true experiences) that “nothing of hope ever dies.”  We heard that “success is not measured by status, but by the obstacles we overcome”. 

We listened to CeCe Winans bring glory to God through her singing.  We even heard some “oldies” with the lyrics changed to testify of His love and grace.  We watched with understanding a dramatist, Nicole Johnson, show us the anxiety associated with a doctor’s waiting room and the diagnosis of a seemingly “hopeless condition” such as Alzheimer’s.  We were moved to tears as we listened to singer Tammy Trent, share with us the feelings of hopelessness during the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death.  We were encouraged by each speaker to build a strong relationship with God “the anchor of our soul, both sure and steadfast”. Hebrews 6:19

We were challenged by the speakers to “Live the life out of everyday”!

We would like to thank our church family and our personal families for making it possible by your generosity to allow us to attend Women of Faith.  We appreciate your sacrifices of money and time.  We especially appreciate all the Dads who took care of our children so that we could have a girl’s night out!