I'm back from The Gospel Coalition Women's Conference and so very refreshed. As I said earlier this week, it's been a busy season since before we left for Japan and the month of June has kind of done me in! Though the timing of the conference wasn't ideal (Brad had piles of work to do after three weeks away and had to jump into solo-parenting during a preaching week... any Pastor's wife reading this knows the pain!), in many ways the conference was at the perfect moment. After all, spending four days sitting under some of the most gifted teachers, learning, growing, and catching up with dear friends whom I only see at these sorts of events every couple of years is recipe for rest and joy for just about any Christian woman. Here were a few highlights:
I stayed with two women from Montreal - both English-speakers who are actually missionaries from the States. All three of us were particularly blessed by the worship lead by Austin Stone Worship, since it was the first time any of us had sung in English with a congregation in many months (10 months for me!) Their version of Man of Sorrows was the first song I sang (because we skipped the first session), and it was just beautiful.
In addition to my two housemates who I shared an Airbnb with, I spent the most time with my dear friend Vanessa who I've known since early university days. Vanessa and I kind of have a redemption story going on in our friendship. We started out friendly but not close friends, but at a certain point we clashed and both kept our distance for a couple of years. We were both prideful and stubborn and gradually were convicted of such things, and slowly kept up with one another again, mainly through social media since we don't live nearby. Month after month, we let one another back in and formed a stronger friendship than we'd ever hoped to have. We walked together, thanks to Whatsapp and Instagram, through infertility, loss, dashed dreams, reconciled hopes, babies, job changes, etc. Today she's one of my closest friends and I can't help but sing God's praises when I reflect on how he brought us together and redeemed our broken friendship to be one that really reflects Jesus and brings us each closer to him. Tears!
So yeah, I spent a lot of time with Vanessa, who was staying in another Airbnb nearby. I also reconnected with past co-workers and old friends who are now in Hamilton and Toronto and my old mentor from my university days who lives in Kentucky now. It was so good to see them all! We laughed and cried and prayed together and asked each other for counsel and wisdom. It was really everything friendship should be.
We stayed in the cutest neighbourhood just outside downtown Indianapolis called Fountain Square. It's like Le Plateau of Indiana, if that were possible! Cute bakeries, Indy fusion food, hip brunch joints, rainbow houses... just yes. By the way, if you're ever in Indianapolis, I highly recommend Bluebeard and Milktooth! We ate at a couple other places that were fine, and had to stop by Chik-Fil-A for some fries, but other than that I made salads with hard boiled eggs for lunch and made breakfast at my Airbnb in the mornings.
The conference itself was jam-packed with amazing content, but I've learned over the years of conferenc-ing that I do best and retain most when I cut a few seminars or sessions and don't rush to attend every.single.thing. All of the content from the entire conference is now available for free on TGC.ORG, so I figure I can always catch what I missed this summer from the comfort of my couch :)
The main sessions I attended were Mary Wilson's, D. A. Carson's, Jackie Hill Perry's, Jen Wilkin's, and John Piper's. Jackie and Uncle John were my favourites! Here are the workshops I attended, and I loved them all!
1. Co-Laboring in the Gospel: A Conversation For Pastors’ and Elders’ Wives with Lauren Hansen, Megan Hill, Latoya McCutcheon, Noël Piper.
These women had such wisdom to share, and they even graciously answered one of my questions in the Q & A at the end! I haven't listened to the audio yet to see if my question made the edit, so you'll have to let me know.
2. Marriage and Family: Practicing the Principles of Scripture in the Home with Melissa and Michael Kruger.
I loved this seminar for many reasons - Firstly, it was fun to see the husband/wife duo play out and to hear from both sides on some key issues. Second, I just love Melissa Kruger. She isn't as well known as Gloria Furman or Jen Wilkin, but she needs to be! She is incredibly wise and speaks so gently into challenging topics. I first heard her in 2014 talking about contentment (listen to that talk HERE!), and I've recommended that specific talk to more people than I can count. I've listened to it over and over again. I bought two of her books and her newest Bible Study, too, but more on that below! Lastly, I'm always drawn to anything marriage-related because frankly, marriage is hard! And as we do pre-marital counseling at our church, I love having extra wisdom to share.
3. Still Needed: The Importance of Discipling in the Teen Years with Jen Wilkin and Melissa Kruger.
This was such a great workshop! J Wilks and M Krugs (as we started calling them during that exact seminar, lol) are such a pair! I respect both of those women immensely and have benefited from their ministry for years (Jen's influence dates back to 2011). I loved hearing how they're discipling their teens and ways they're trusting God with their almost-grown kids. I learned so much in that hour, I took four pages of notes!
I can't wait to listen to many of the seminars this summer. It was so hard to choose just three to attend! Here are some that I'm particularly excited to hear (and local friends, I'd love to plan a listening party (June 27, 28, or 29 work, contact me if you'd like to be a part of it or host it!).
- Growing in Discernment by Melissa Kruger
- Heavenly Focus in Everyday Lives by Gloria Furman
- The Gospel Comes With A House Key by Rosaria Butterfield (I just bought the book by the same title on Christian Audio
- The Care and Catechizing of Children by Betsy Childs Howard, Melanie Lacy, Lucy Olson, Irene Sun
- Teaching Old Testament Narrative to the Heart by Carrie Sandom (I heard Carrie speak in 2014 and really enjoyed her, plus British accent = easy listening, ha!)
- Women and God: Hard Questions Grace-filled Answers by Kathleen Neilson
- 'The Church In Her House': The Dynamic Ministry of Women in Early Christianity by Michael Kruger (New testament Prof and President of RTS)
- Shaping Women's Ministry in the Local Church: A Practical Discussion by Danielle Anderson, Courtney Doctor, Colleen McFadden, Jen Wilkin
We were greeted at Registration by a free book by John Piper. What a treat! When I Don't Desire God is an excellent book for all Christians and a top one we recommend to others. I'm re-reading it and only a few chapters in and I can say it's pure gold. I also received a free ESV Scripture Journal for the book of Mark and a Reformed Classic, Little Book On The Christian Life by John Calvin. Then I bought the following:
- Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson
- Identity Theft edited by Melissa Kruger (with lots of amazing authors)
- Joyfully Spreading the Word edited by Gloria Furman and Kathleen Neilson (lots of amazing authors, too!)
- ESV Scripture Journal for the book of Hebrews (my favourite book of the Bible!)
- The Envy of Eve by Melissa Kruger (I've wanted this book since 2014!)
- Name Above All Named by Sinclair Ferguson and Alistair Begg (each chapter explains another name of God in great detail... I love that kind of thing!)
- In All Things - Melissa Kruger's new Bible Study
- For the kids: both boxsets of the series Light Keepers by Irene Howat. One boxset is all about famous women in church history and the other is all about famous men. Each book contains mini-biographies for ten Christian heroes such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lady Jane Grey, Corrie Ten Boom, C S Lewis, Elisabeth Elliott, and Joni Erikson Tada. I'm so extremely excited about these books! We plan to read a chapter every day this summer at lunch!
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