For those of you who don’t know me, let me introduce myself. My name is Conda Halcomb and my husband Harvey and I have been members of FBCW for 18 years. I am employed by FBCW as the Solid Rock Preschool and Mother’s Day Out Director, and I also serve in the WAM Ministry. Now, God has placed on my heart to take up the Women’s Ministry, dust it off, and give it a new look. And, in my spare time, that is what I am doing.

I am a busy woman. I am a wife, Mom, mother-in-law, Gigi (grandma), friend, administrator, employee, preschool choir director, and much more. I bet if you started listing all of your roles, it would be longer than mine. And yet, within all of these areas in which I am involved, something is missing. I have come to realize that I miss meeting together with women. I really don’t want or need to discuss the latest cleaning tips, watch a fashion show with the latest styles on dressing modestly, swap recipes, or make a craft—I have Pinterest for all of that! Instead, I long to hear from other Christian women, real women, women from our church, and I desire to hear from them the lessons they have learned from God.

I have a longing to sit at the feet of other Christian women who are a little farther along in age and life experiences and hear how they lived life. I desire to know how each woman dealt with disappointment, heartache, depression, a wayward child, illness, death, divorce, addiction, and so much more. I want to know these things because I deal with many of these issues in my own life, not all at once, but in seasons. I want to learn how they continued to connect with and have a relationship with God as they struggled through life. I want to know what verses in the Bible came alive to them during that season and how God showed up and carried them through the difficult times. I want to meet women who have lived a God-honoring life well and can help me to do the same. Wouldn’t you like to meet these women in our church?

I hope that you will join me starting this fall at our quarterly Women’s Fellowships called “This Is My Story.” At each fellowship, we are going to sit at the feet of a woman in our church and give her the opportunity to share her life. We will hear her triumphs and tragedies, her success and failures, the times she was so very close to God, and the times she wandered. And yet in this current season of her life, we can look at her and say she has lived life well.

I hope you will join me at our first ministry meeting in October. Be watching for the exact time and date in the weekly bulletin. Joanne Lockard will be sharing her life with us. We will also hear some wonderful singing from some very talented women in our church. Oh, and by the way, invite a friend or two because don’t we all have the desire to connect with other like-minded women? You won’t want to miss it!

These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God. Titus 2:4-5

Are you interested in helping me organize women’s events? Listen girlfriend, I am really good at planning, but I need a lot of help executing the plan. If you would like to join me in serving women in our church and community, please email me. I will inform you of our first planning meeting and we will get together and bond over our love for the Lord and some yummy snacks!

As I reflect on this past Sunday’s church service as we welcomed our youth back from their mission trip to Kansas and we prepared to send off another group to Puebla, I am so full of joy. It is so encouraging to watch people and families gearing up and preparing for mission trips overseas and across state lines. I love hearing the sweet stories upon their return of relationships built, seeds scattered and hearts softened and cultivated. Serving is such a pivotal act of worship for the believer.

We have heard it a million and one times that we are on mission right here in our hometown. But for some, myself included, it can be difficult at times to see ourselves “on mission” here. It is easy to envision a mission trip to a third world country. But something just happens here at home. It is almost like we kind of become numb to the needs around us. Please, do not misunderstand me. I am not trying to suggest that we are completely blind to the fact that there are needs all around us or that we are not doing anything at all. We just get fastened to our to-do lists and buckled in to the routine of life that we neglect keeping our minds mission focused.

I have one way you can be on mission right here. Two years ago my husband and I started a ministry called GROW (Gleaning from and Reaching Out to Widows). One goal of our ministry is getting the congregation involved, while working together with the Deacons to discuss ways to best serve these precious women. Below are some things we have done:

Assist with home moves
Air conditioner repairs
Plumbing repair
Service opportunities for the youth (yard work, window cleaning)
Group of young girls made cards and delivered baked items and prayed with the women
Valentine’s Day luncheon

One small statement had such a profound impact on me once after we visited one of the women. It was after the girls and I dropped off some cards and freshly baked bread. She was so happy to see all the sweet little girls, the life and laughter really had brightened her day. You could tell. We chatted for about fifteen minutes and had to head out. As we were leaving she cheerfully said while waving with a smile on her face, “Come back when you have more time. Goodbye.” That statement alone has echoed in my mind since that very day. You see, the ministry of TIME is so, so important.

In the fall, there will be some new ways for you to get involved! We will host game nights where you bring games from home, your family and a snack to share while we mingle and spend time getting to know these women and each other better. Our widow’s dinners will also begin. Once a month, we will meet at a local restaurant for dinner. We will be looking for other women who are interested in treating one of our widows to dinner and fellowship!

Isaiah 55:8 says, “God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.” Likewise when we serve there is so much more going on than what appears on the surface. A multi-faceted greater good is lying deep within each act of service. God is such a great multi-tasker! His plan is not only for those whom we are serving, but for ourselves as we serve - for our hearts to be encouraged and our faith to grow, for those who are onlookers, watching us serve with glad hearts as we overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. God is just so incredible, how vast are His thoughts!

It is my prayer that you would actively seek ways to serve where you are right now. You are on mission! Serving is at the very core of our Christian faith. Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

If you would like to get involved with the widows ministry, please contact myself or my husband, we would love to share how you can be blessed by being a blessing!