As I type this, I am looking out at the ocean from the condo we are so blessed to be staying in for the month of February. The beauty and power of the ocean are constant reminders to me of the very nature of the God we serve. He is our creator, our sustainer, our provider, our protector, our redeemer. He is all powerful and yet so loving that He cares about every detail in all He has created and in every detail of our lives. This very God loves us and has called us to be His hands and feet in reaching the lost.

I am grateful for the Women’s Ministry at FBCW and have been so blessed by the leadership of Dana Mosher and her team while attending the “This is My Story” events they hosted. I loved hearing and have been so encouraged by the many testimonies the ladies of FBCW gave about how God has worked and is continuing to work in their lives.

When Dana announced that she felt God was calling her to step back from the Women’s Ministry, I began to pray and seek God’s direction about the prospect of stepping into that leadership role. I have learned through my years as a Christian, to step back, spend time praying and make sure that it is where God wants me to be. After praying, I felt confident this was the direction He was leading me.

For those who don’t know me, my husband Mark and I have been members of FBCW for about 4 years. Prior to God calling us here, we were members of a church in St. Peters for 33 years. During that time, I served as the Administrative Secretary in the office for 20 years, working with both our church and school, taught Sunday School from 1st grade through Adult classes, led our Senior Adult Ministry for about 4 years and then was called to lead our Women’s Ministry for about 3 years. God grew me and blessed me with each ministry in which He allowed me to be a part.

I am so excited to see where God leads our Women’s Ministry this coming year. I believe that the first and foremost priority of any ministry is to use whatever methods God gives us to reach the lost. I am praying our Women’s Ministry will accomplish that goal through three ministries within the Women’s Ministry:

1. Missions: I believe God has brought a mission field right to us through the HOPE food pantry and a new LINC ministry I have had the privilege to be part of, H-U-G-G-S (Helping Unite Gift Giving Sponsors). The purpose of H-U-G-G-S is to provide help to folks in crisis by connecting them with a group, business or individuals who have already volunteered to provide physical or financial assistance to prevent what may be a relatively small crisis from becoming an overwhelming one. How does that connect with the Women’s Ministry? When families come to the food pantry, daycare or are connected to H-U-G-G-S, there is very likely a woman who is in need of something the women of First Baptist Church Wentzville Women’s Ministry can provide. It could be a listening ear, someone to pray with, or to be part of a Bible Study or a night out to have fun and connect with the ladies at our church.

2. Bible Study: I believe to make an impact on the world around us we can never quit growing in our knowledge of God and His plan for our lives. The more we know our God, the more we can represent Christ to the women who need to know His love and the encouragement we can offer them through a relationship with Jesus.

3. Fellowship: In order to grow as sisters in Christ, I think it is so important that we are also just having fun together. We grow close as a church when we grow close as individuals. Our church family is so important to our lives and to our spiritual growth—we cannot do it alone. I love to have fun and share laughs with other women and this can be done through so many different events: fun/silly fashion shows, dessert bake offs, and special themed Ladies Nights Out that can include the community.

I would ask that you pray about where God can use you in this ministry, whether it is to be a leader of one of the 3 areas of ministry within the Women’s Ministry or to help in so many of the other positions necessary to make this ministry one that will bring glory to God.

Looking forward to all God has planned!

On March 1-3, our student ministry was a part of an event called DNOW (an abbreviation for Disciple Now). DNOW functions like a retreat, but it is all held locally. The event begins Friday evening and then ends at church on Sunday morning (except this year when untimely snow had us cut out the Sunday portion of our event!). The weekend consists of three sessions, each session has worship, led for the third time in a row, by Bryant Urich, followed by a teaching session. Our speaker this year was Donnie Smith, and each session taught revolved around our theme of FEARLESS. Our goal was that students would spend the weekend being challenged to be fearless followers of Christ. This is facilitated by following each session with small group questions that aid in fostering the thoughts and points of the previous session. One of the unique things about this event is that students are able to still “get away” from home through staying in host homes—shout out to the volunteers that allowed students to crash at their homes—you are a blessing! Throughout the weekend it stays incredibly busy and it is always a blast!

That is a quick overview of what our DNOW event looked like—but why do we do it?

DNOW’s purpose is to help students to:

1) Grow in their faith

Each DNOW, the youth pastors involved seek to pick a theme that they believe is relevant and beneficial to their groups of students at the time. The goal then, is that through the weekend they will begin to understand that concept and begin to apply it in their own life. We wanted students this year to understand that we often live our Christian lives afraid of the consequences of completely living it out in front of others. When we put that fear aside, and replace it with our faith in Christ students will begin to see other’s lives around them change. We wanted to show students what it means and what it would look like in their own personal context if they were to begin to set aside their fears!

2) See the church beyond their own group

Every year, this event involves other groups outside of our own. We did this year’s event alongside FBC O’Fallon (who hosted), FBC Lake St. Louis, and Calvary Chapel—Troy. We had around 175 students and over 200 people when including adult volunteers! Students are able to connect with other believers that may be in their neighborhoods and schools!

3) Reach their friends

We want the student ministry to exist as a tool that students can utilize to reach their friends that don’t know Christ. We want the gospel to be at the heart of what we do so we encourage students to invite their friends to DNOW—especially friends that would turn down the typical church invite—because we know they will have multiple instances of hearing the life-changing truth of the gospel!

DNOW is one of my favorite events of the year—it is awesome seeing so many students from our area gathered together, worshipping our Creator! We already set our dates for 2020—Feb. 28, 29, and March 1! You can already begin praying for the students that will be impacted through this event!