We had a blast hosting the Lifeway Women Live event and simulcast this past weekend in West Des Moines, Iowa. We had over 700 in attendance at the live location, and we were joined by 188 churches, 147 small groups, and over 700 individuals representing seven different countries! It was a wonderful day spent in worship and studying God’s Word together with friends from around the globe. And guess what? If you missed it, you can still register here for a limited time.

The theme for this event was Pursuing Christ Together in Truth, and that is exactly what we did! The event began with worship with our new friend, Hope Darst and her wonderful band. They did an amazing job of leading us to the throne throughout the day, and we can’t wait to have them join us at a few other Lifeway Women Live events this year.
Our first session of the day was with Jada Edwards who helped us learn how to pursue truth consistently and not just when we encounter a crisis. She took us through Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 and showed us that in order to pursue truth consistently, there are some things we must remove in our lives so we can renew and add the things God has called us to. When we consistently practice this process of removing and renewing, we will be equipped with truth to prepare us for whatever crises comes our way.

Next, we were able to hear from Elizabeth Woodson, who reminded us of who we are in Christ. She showed us that when we forget who we are, we are tempted to believe lies, but we find in Ephesians 2:10 and throughout the creation story, that we were created by God, He has saved us, and He has given us a purpose. When we internalize the truth of His Word and who He says we are, we can live empowered by His truth.
One of our favorite things to do at our events is to highlight ways that participants can get involved with other ministries doing kingdom work around the world. During the simulcast, we were able to hear about the amazing work Compassion International is doing to serve young girls who are disproportionately impacted by the global food crisis. We were thankful to Anthony Wanjiru for sharing his story and Shaun Groves for helping us learn how we can partner with Compassion to make a difference around the world.

Jennifer Rothschild then took the stage to get into our heads and make us think about our thoughts! She took us to Matthew 12 to learn about the importance of our words and where they come from—our hearts! We must be filled up with truth so that our “thought closet” is full of God’s truth so we can replace the lies with truth and have fitting treasure to present to Jesus!

Next, Jen Wilkin joined us via a recorded message since she was welcoming a new grandbaby! In Jen’s talk, she encouraged us to pursue Christ together through truthful speech. She helped us understand how we are sanctified by the truth in our speech and that we should be cautious about the words we say about God, ourselves, and others.

We had a special interview with Rebecca McLaughlin where we heard a bit about her new study, Navigating Gospel Truth, which is a study of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which four accounts of Jesus’s life, told from different perspectives and in different forms but all trustworthy testimonies about Jesus’s life and His teachings that can help us understand and share our faith more effectively. Her new Bible study is out now and also has a teen girls study releasing too!

Kristi McLelland closed out the event for us, teaching on understanding the Bible through a historical Middle Eastern lens. She helped us to see how Jesus chose unlikely characters to follow Him, even in the midst of their shame, because he knew that transformation comes out of proximity to Him. If He was willing to tell a tax collector and a zealot to come follow Him, we can have great hope that the same God is calling us to follow Him as well!

Mickey Pitts serves as the event development strategist for Lifeway Women. It is her joy to be a part of creating new events that impact the kingdom and draw women closer to God. Mickey lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband, two boys, and a crazy Wheaten Terrier named Dexter.