Women Ready to Embrace the Hurting—Answers for Women Conference 2015

Over 500 women attended this year’s Answers for Women conference, Embrace: Compassionate Answers in a Fallen World. It was so exciting for me to walk through the museum early on Friday and see many of the women and their families already arriving! Many took advantage of the free admission to the Creation Museum that we offer attendees and their spouses and children.

It was a sweet time of music, drama, and teaching by the speakers. Most had very moving testimonies to share dealing with the topic they were addressing. It was encouraging to see how God had brought them through very difficult circumstances and into a closer relationship with Himself. All of the speakers emphasized the importance of knowing God’s Word intimately. They taught us how to use God’s Word to present truth and hope and to embrace with compassion the hurting all around us, to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those that weep” (Romans 12:15). Below are just a few quotes I jotted down that really impacted me:

Stacia McKeever: "People don't need to be reminded of God's grace, they need to experience God's grace."

Camille Cates: "Is what I'm posting [on Facebook, Twitter] full of grace and truth?"

Rose Colón: When you are going through those difficult times, "immerse yourself in the Word of God."

Rosaria Butterfield: As she read the Bible as an unbeliever, she noticed "admonitions of sin followed by offers of grace."

As I read through the surveys completed by attendees, several themes kept reappearing:

• Information presented was practical.

  I was so glad to see this as we really strive to help women put apologetics (defending the faith) into practice.

• Hard issues were addressed and need to be addressed more from the pulpit.

  We dealt with very weighty topics: abortion, adultery, homosexuality, abuse, and disabilities. Women (and I’m sure men too) want to hear their pastors speak on these issues so they can be equipped to embrace the hurting with compassionate answers that are only found in God’s Word and the hope that is only found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• I am struggling with . . . or my friend, family member, etc. are struggling with . . .

  It’s easy to think that many of these issues are only concerns outside the church but they are not.

I wanted to let the women who attended Embrace share with you in their own words how they were blessed by this conference.

SO MANY TIMES I wonder, “What do I say/do in this particular situation?” This conference was so grateful to me in this way.

I have a brother and two cousins involved in homosexuality as well as a friend who is embracing transgenderism . . . so there was so much that was helpful to me. Thank you for talking about these issues.

This conference is so wonderful. I feel like I am not alone in my walk with Christ—specifically to walk in His truth. I’ve met wonderful ladies and we’ve been able to share our lives with each other, and I have been encouraged to dig even deeper into God’s Word and to challenge my notions on how to be truly helpful and loving to others. Thank you!

All of the speakers were excellent. It really made a difference that the speakers had first hand experience. It helped me realize that I was not as compassionate as I thought I was. The conference was a real blessing.

Praise God for your burden in equipping us, we can take this home and equip and help heal. I was blessed! There is so much “meat” to this conference.

The themes presented are all controversial even within “the church.” I’m grateful to have biblical information to equip me for the tough conversations.

The focus of this conference was equip us to better help others and I now feel that I can approach others more comfortably knowing what to say (or what not to say) and I know how to direct them to the help they need in a specific way instead of a general way. THANK YOU ALL!

Each speaker’s presentation was useful and the content overlapped with Jesus as Healer and Answer for all our questions and trials and God as sovereign over our lives—wonderful!

Being an older mom that was raised in a Christian home. Where our family has been involved in a small church, lived in a small community and children have attended a Christian school. I realize how much of a bubble I live in. When my daughter wanted to come, I looked at the subjects offered and thought there was nothing I would be interested in. I didn’t want her to come alone so I came. Boy, was I wrong! I thoroughly enjoyed and will be excited how God will use this in my life.

I appreciate the honesty and openness of all the speakers. I especially appreciate the deep grounding of everything in Scripture.

It hit on so many needs we have in our own lives and in our congregation. We feel so encouraged to go back to our church family and help bring God’s healing into hurting lives.

I truly believe it has opened our eyes to our need to be brokenhearted and compassionate in new ways to these issues. New ways to “see” issues, new ways to pray and respond in love. Our hearts and minds have been opened in great ways. I wish it could have been longer to hear more practical ways of helping. It was a great intro and now I will pray for wisdom. I’m excited and eager to help the “orphans and widows” in my own sphere of influence. Thanks for including so many relevant scripture references.

I’m so grateful the women felt comfortable to share their testimonies and lives with us. I thank you all very much for the hard work you have put into this. I struggle greatly with connecting with women and I think this was a very helpful step for me.

[In response to the question, “What information was useful?”] Honestly all of it, how to be a Christian woman and having His Word always be the core and have our actions reflect this.

Another exciting aspect of this women’s conference was that we recorded the presentations and will be releasing DVDs (and most likely an accompanying study guide) later this year. If you weren’t able to attend or want to use the presentations for a women’s Bible study group, this will be a great resource for you.

Download this video (10.5 MB).

We are already gearing up for the 2016 Answers for Women conference, Discern: Engaging the Culture with Wisdom and Grace. Keep watching the website for more details. From the survey we discovered that most women learned about the conference from a friend or relative. Word-of-mouth marketing reigns supreme, so be sure to share with others in your church and community!

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith.