Londa Richardson is in charge of state Ladies Day held at Camp Hickory Hills every year. I've never been before. I've just never desired to go I guess. June Gordon who moved here from New York, was asked to lead worship and put together a team. She's an awesome worship leader. She asked several worship leaders from around the state to be on the team so I went for the first time to Ladies Day to sing with the worship team. I was feeling so tired and worn out from the long work hours. I had pulled a 60 hour work week and then was rushing from work straight to the camp ground Friday night. I was fried. But I'm so glad I went. It was awesome. Before going to this, I had been praying about some things and talking to Jeff about what I was feeling. He was feeling the same way. It had to do with outreach for youth in the area where Jeff teaches. It's not enough to sit on a church bench every Sunday and sing on the worship team and be a faithful church member. That's all good...but there's more to it than self preservation and God has really been speaking to my heart about it. Jeff and I have always been involved with youth ministry and church camps but feeling called to minister out of that comfort zone to kids that really don't have any desire to be apart of what we consider traditional church. What I see is a youth community center with a gym, classrooms, temporary sleeping quarters, and showers. Kind of like a small YMCA. We would tutor, teach GED classes, have sports activities, tournaments, serve food, offer work programs to promote work ethic, give a place to sleep if the need arises, and most importantly love them no matter what. Jeff is seein' it to. I have no idea how to get there to what we're seeing but I'm prayin' we see God's will and follow His lead. So having that in mind, every speaker at Ladies Day spoke on moving past our own selves and our traditions and reaching out to those around us.
The first night, Karen Wheaton spoke and sang. She's a COGOP girl originally so felt right at home with us. She talked about the ministry she started call The RAMP for youth. She talked about how it started in her home with just a few kids. She felt called to minister to the youth of her town but had feelings of inadequicy because of age and not being cool enough. She decided she was just going to love kids no matter what and it grew into a The RAMP. 
Saturday morning we had an Episcopalian Priest name Becca Stevens speak to us about Sanctuary. Sanctuary was the theme of the weekend so her message was timely. She was my favorite. Mainly because her message pierced my heart and confirmed what I had been praying about and talking to Jeff about. She is a priest at St. Augustine’s Chapel in downtown Nashville in the heart of Vanderbilt University. Her message on sanctuary was about her, her husband, and her son's ministry to the prostitutes and homeless women on the streets of Nashville. I was gripped by her story. I really encourage you to read about it. At the end of her message she asked one of the ladies that had graduated from their program called Magdalene Ministries, to come forward. The lady walked to the front of the chapel and looked around at hundreds of ladies from across TN. Those ladies began clapping and cheering her on. At some point, everyone stood to their feet showering her with love through applause and tears. I was crying like a baby. Her life was changed by God's mercy and grace and He used Becca and her ministry to do it. This is what it's about. Unconditional love and washing the feet of the broken that are all around us. More and more confirmation for what was already burning in my heart to do. Read more about this ministry and Thistle Farms at http://www.beccastevens.org/about-becca/.
The weekend was closed out by an Italian lady born in New York and moved to the south. Her name is Sharon Quinto Farruggia. Londa called her an Italian spit fire. And she was. She was bold, blunt, very knowledgeable and says it like it is. She spoke to a lot of issues women deal with. She also spoke of moving out of comfort zones and reaching those who are lost. Basically, stop warming a church bench and start loving people. All three of them spoke about getting down and serving with love. I enjoyed hearing her speak a lot. Come to find out, she's the associate pastor at a church in Knoxville which the senior pastor is my friend Denae's dad. Who knew. Great weekend. I enjoyed it so much and I'm glad I went.
