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Ways to Let Your Women Know that You Care

Blue-Logo-150x1504They say “the squeaky wheel gets the grease;” there are those women who demand our attention, and we can’t help but give it to them.  But how about those women who do not “demand” our time and attention?  We can’t assume that they don’t have pressing needs as well.  We need to find ways to show all of our women that we care for them.

Sometimes it is easy to get so involved in the group “women’s ministry” that we neglect the women’s ministry on a personal level.  Here are a few suggestions:

1.  In my opinion, the hand-written note really can’t be replaced.  Even though we are living in the social media/email generation, there is still a place for the note that arrives by snail-mail.  Just an encouraging verse or a simple “I missed you last week” shows that your care.  What better use of fifty cents?

2.  Just because I’m partial to the hand-written note doesn’t mean that a quick phone call, text or email isn’t meaningful.

3.  Keep their prayer requests close to your heart, and follow up with them.

4.  Take time to really listen. If this is hard, as it can be during a group meeting, pull them away privately after the session.

5.  Be liberal with your hugs.  A loving touch can go a long way to express your love.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Little Things Make a Big Difference!, Ministry at the Retreat, News & Information

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Guest Speakers (That’s Plural)

Press conference. Microphones isolated on white background

Have you ever had an event with more than one guest speaker?  How can it work?

We have…and, in fact, our most recent retreat had four different speakers.  Actually, it was a decision borne out of much prayer. There were four teaching sessions at the retreat, each a different aspect of our main theme.  Each was taught by a different pastor’s wife.  We asked three pastor’s wives, whose women have joined us at our past retreats, to assist our pastor’s wife with the speaking responsibilities.

Probably the biggest challenge in having more than one guest speaker was communicating with each one regarding the topic she would be speaking on.  How do we make sure that they are all on the same page as to the theme of the event and that the sessions flow together, while at the same time trying to keep them from stepping on one another’s toes in their teachings?

Our solution was to make up a very general outline of the four sessions of the retreat, being very specific about how the sessions were differentiated.  The outline included each topic, its title, a few short sentences about each topic and suggested scriptures.  This way, as they prayerfully considered their individual topic, they also had before them an outline of all topics and a short summary of the direction given to the other speakers. We did not tell them what to say; we just gave them a guide to make sure that they were aware of the parameters given to each speaker.  And, of course, we kept our speakers in prayer as they prepared for the retreat.

Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit who brought unity and directed each teaching tocontribute to the overall theme of the retreat.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Your Guest Speaker

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The Importance of Reflection, Part 2

Time For Reflection Message Means Ponder Or ReflectTwo weeks ago I mentioned that we schedule times of personal reflection during our retreat.  But, in addition, we have a time at the very end of the retreat that we call “Reflections.”  This is a time where we have the women consider what they have written down–how the Lord has spoken to their heart throughout the retreat.  It could be something directly from the teachings, but often God speaks personally to the women through quiet times, through prayer times, through promise scriptures, through worship and through communion.  We use this last hour of the retreat to give our women time to share with the whole group what God is doing in their lives, and how He has spoken to them.  This is a time to share what God has done.  I believe that sharing it both solidifies the truth for the one sharing,  but it also ministers to the group as they hear how God has worked so individually in their friends’ lives.

Of course, because we women like to talk, time to share has to be limited to two or three minutes so that no one woman monopolizes the time. It has always been a blessing to hear how God has spoken so individually and meaningfully to those who choose to share.

Posted in: Ingredients for a Great Retreat, Lessons Learned, Ministry at the Retreat, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning

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Last Minute Scramble

Not registeredHas this every happened to you? You are at the retreat, and people are arriving. They are coming to the registration table to check in, pick up keys and name tags and booklets and you are checking them off your list.  Everything is going smoothly, until….someone shows up who is not on your registration list!
Well, this year that happened to us, and there was a mad scramble which I missed because I am not normally involved in registration at the retreat, and I wasn’t even present when this was happening.  So today, my guest blogger is Pam, one of our leaders who was there:
Here’s what happened:  Two women showed up, saying that they had registered for the retreat, but they were not on our list.  We didn’t have money for the two of them, we didn’t have a registration card for either of them and therefore we did not have a room for them!  We questioned them a bit to try to track down the mistake, but they were adamant that one of them had turned in their forms and paid.
We were tempted to panic.  How had we possibly overlooked these two precious women?  We had reviewed the registration cards and the rooming lists numerous times prior to the retreat.  How could we have made this error?
This year our retreat was held at a retreat center. Had we been at a hotel, it might have been easy to get another room.  Here we had to guarantee that we would occupy a certain number of rooms and pay for that number, regardless of our final registration numbers, and the place was full.  Fortunately, we had one extra room that no one was assigned to, and we were able to give these two women that room. Had the Lord not provided in this fashion, we would not have turned them away; we would have doubled up on some other room and made a way for them to stay.
Our prayer in the months before the retreat is always that God would make a way for those He wants to come to the retreat.  And He certainly did this time.
A week or two after the retreat, this lady came to the office between services and sheepishly help up the two registration cards that she had forgotten to turn in and the credit card payment slip. We were so relieved that it was not our error, and we had not overlooked her.
This particular situation had never happened to us before, and we pray it will never happen again.  But if it does, we will let the Lord lead us though it and He will be given all the glory!
 

Posted in: Lessons Learned, News & Information, Registration, Retreat and Event Planning

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Wisdom in Scheduling Your Retreat

We learned the hard way that before booking your speaker for your retreat on a certain date, you should have done at least some preliminary checking for availability.  If there is a big event in your city, it could be that hotels are already booked or expecting to be booked to capacity, even when you are planning ahead.  Don’t assume that since you are planning nine months ahead of time that you are ahead of the game.  Others plan ahead too.  And as always, prices are higher when the demand is higher!

Consider our experience. m1Z11Svv2mdbcYsDUJmVwdQ

It is not that hard to find a block of hotel rooms to book for our retreat.  But Dallas has a few big events that max out our hotel capacity.  And even if the hotels aren’t completely booked, the roads can be a mess in certain directions due to the event.  One of those event is Dallas is the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament.  While we no longer have spring women’s retreats, if we did, we would be sure to work around that busy weekend.

 

Posted in: Lessons Learned, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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