The Very Latest News!
Latest Update:
On April 24th, 2010 S.W.O.R.D. Ministry put on its 3rd conference, What Are You Wearing?The day was filled with joy, song, tears, and JESUS! Guest speakers were Mercy Rice with a comical God's Girl Moment...Gigi Rodriguez sang "Don't Stop Working in Me"...Rebecca Pessina did a heart-moving dance to "Royalty" and Jennie Garret was a guest speaker who talked about finding the enemy of your camp and finding your voice. It was a day filled with grave clothes removed, making a decision to 'do whatever it takes!', learning how and when to 'shake it off!', nails laid down, and baptisms for all who desired! Check out the Smilebox link to see the day unfold! http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5463774e7a6b324e5452384f5455314d4445334e513d3d0d0a&sb=1
Update: I've just returned from a 3 day retreat in Bradenton, Florida aptly named, Friendship Feast, put on by the women of Everglades Community Church in Pembroke Pines (November 6-8). Wowee, what an amazing time of growing closer to GOD and to the 100 women present!
The retreat had four speakers - Tricia Heng, Laura Dahne, Kat Silverglate and Stephanie Green - but it could not have been the success it was without the help of every woman who made it a labor of love, namely Ana Adler (Annie Red!), Kris Rivera (Girl Friday!), Margarita Sosa, Becky Gerhardt, and Gladys Cabrera. I came away from the retreat loving GOD even more as well as wanting to continue the work of helping women bear their burdens even more,too!
Take away thoughts of the weekend: Keep the change! Empty your pockets! Move the hand that is thrust out in front of you saying,'No Thank You!', Olive God! Walk it out! Cry it out! Pray it out!
For more information on the ongoing women's bible studies at ECC check out their site at http://evergladescommunitychurch.org/women/
Update:
On Saturday, October 17, 2009 the SWORD Ministry put on conference number 2, "Where Do I Go From Here?" What a day of music, ministry and message!
Our day opened with a homemade video of us SWORD ladies hula-hooping, swinging, and just having fun, all set to the music of "We are Family!"
Shelly McKnight kicked off the conference messages with speaking on how to grow in intimacy with God, using the Song of Solomon as her backdrop. And if you've never heard Shelly teach you about the Woman at the Well, well frankly, you haven't really met her...at least in my opinion!
Michelle Schumacher roused the audience with her command for the women of God to "Rise Up!" She declared that we are not victims but rather we are victorious. She taught on what soul ties are and the danger of making vows. Believe me when I say there was no one sleeping through this message! And I am pleased to say that many reported back that the message of rising up was one they needed to hear!
After a beautiful and inspiring interpretive dance performed by the anointed Chantal Phillips, I, Laura, spoke on the subject of forgiveness, through the lens of scripture of course. Many women were surprised to learn that biblical forgiveness is conditional...that it is the gift that is given in lieu of repentance. I shared how God commands that we be willing to forgive should our offender be repentant, and that if our offender is not repentant that we are then to release them to God as according to Romans 12:17-19. Then we turned an eye inward as we looked at the parable of Lazarus, along with the warning found in James that "it is sin to know what to do but not do it" and we were reminded that we are in need of forgiveness oftentimes for the things we fail to do!
Tracy Thomas was our worship singer and wow, did she bring it! Her sweet spirit of humility was the perfect doorway through which to usher in the Presence of God! She brought along a talented musician, Kenny Day, who also ministered to the women throughout the day.
And believe it or not, after all this, the real ministry of the day took place! However, I will not share what that ministry was because we will once again do this conference and we would like this part of the conference to be a sacred surprise for the women who will attend. What I can tell you is this: It is POWERFUL beyond mere words!
A shout of heartfelt gratitude to all who made this conference a success, and there were many! May it be counted as unto righteousness for all of you!! To view photos of the day, please click on this link! http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5449784d7a55304e4456384f5455314d4445334e513d3d0d0a&sb=1
Update:
June 6, 2009 was the very FIRST event put on by The S.W.O.R.D. Ministry (Simply Women Of Righteous Design)! The conference was titled, "Who Are You Lookin' At?!" It was attended by over 100 women and what an amazing and wonderful day we had!
The focus was on who it is we see when we look in our mirrors. Upon arriving, each woman received a beautiful SWORD notebook and pen, a colorful mirror, a raffle ticket and a personalized nametag.
Our day started off with a funny drama by my very gifted friend Bobbie Starks. It’s focus was on what us women are really thinking when we go to a conference! We then moved into 30 minutes of rousing worship led by the very talented Regina Hodges. I was the first speaker up and I spoke on Core Truths that are anything but the Truth!
The second speaker, Shelly McKnight, spoke on the Black Mirror that reflects everything that is true about us - good and bad - and the White Mirror that we receive when we come to Christ! It was an inspiring message to say the least!
We had some Mary Kay giveaways donated and led by my dear friend Mercy Rice. (Looking for a MK lady? She’s the one!) Two other giveaways were also presented. One was a beautiful gem-studded T-shirt that read, “I Am So Beautiful!” (thanks Jennie!) and the other was a beautiful PINK new bible (thanks Gigi!).
The women then had a beautifully prepared lunch and fellowshipped before we headed into the next part of the day which started off with a funny video by Anita Renfroe while we served the ladies Cuban Coffee! What a way to get the second half of the conference going!
Afterwards, there was another drama by Bobbie, but this time it was sobering and inspirational all at the same time! That drama paved the way into the last message of the day, given by the founder of SWORD, Michelle Schumacher. Michelle spoke on how we, through the power of God, can be free, even from a life filled with abuse and pain.
We then invited the ladies to come forward for prayer. We also had an important exercise that we invited them to participate in. See, we had purposely chosen the Clubhouse we did, simply because it was near a big body of water. This was significant because what we wanted the women to have the opportunity to do was to take a stone, that we had set aside for them, and to attach to that stone every sin, every regret and every fear that had held power over them, and for them to then throw that stone into the lake, which served as ‘the sea of forgetfulness’ that day! There were so many tears and so much freedom gained with each throw!
Afterwards, when the women came back inside and the time of prayer ministry was through, we all looked into our mirrors and repeated what the Word of God says about us and who it says we are!Then us Ladies of Sword closed out the day by giving the ladies a bag of jewels that represents our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
There are SO many testimonies already of changed lives, of buried past hurts brought forth and healed, and how the power of God led the day! We’ve already had the women plead with us to ‘do it again’ and we will. When God leads. Where God leads.
For those of you who contributed in ANY way to this event, "Thank You" a thousand times over for what you helped make happen! It couldn’t have been done without you! Yes, God gets all the glory. But God credits you for investing in His beloved people!
To view the pictues of this event, please click on the link below! Smiles!!
Update:
I, along with Kat Silverglate, spoke at a 3-day Women's Retreat in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina this past April 24-26th! Needless to say, we had a blast! The focus was on Friendship and the scripture foundation was Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times."
We talked about how God covers our naked shame so that we can live our lives naked and unashamed! We talked about the great need of "salting" one another - because salt preserves and because we have been called to be salt and light! We talked about how we can kill the time-clock by saying "YES" to God and "NO" to things that steal our time! We examined what the Non-Negotiables are in our life and were aghast to find that there were so few of them!
I applaud the ladies of Joy Church, namely Susan, Regina and Alison, for 'setting the table' so that God's daughters could eat and drink, laugh and grow!
Enjoy the photos!
For more info on Kat Silverglate you can contact her at photosbykat.com
To order The Master Gardener by Laura K. Dahne:
http://the-master-gardener.com/index.php?p=1_18_To-Purchase-Book