Sunday, March 12, 2006

Newsletter, 3/11/09

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BftH Hits the Road
It's an odd idiom. We just like saying it.

What's the deal with the "conference" tab at the top of our website? It's been sitting there forever, just waiting to be noticed and further explained. Lo, little tab, we have not forgotten you.

Allow me to expound on the rarely-mentioned-and-only-in-hushed-tones "Conferences": This summer, we (Lindsey and Hannah) are packing up and speaking in Texas, Virginia and Maryland. With conferences specifically directed to young women ages 14+, we're excited to have the opportunity to discuss purity, modesty and femininity. But why are we so psyched? Haven't these topics already been covered in full? 

Growing up, there were plenty of books and audio tapes (remember those?) offering guidance on purity and how to spend young womanhood. The problem was that many of those well-written, often-insightful resources adopted romantic language and strayed from simple Biblical truth. Purity became "saving your heart for your husband" and "keeping your first kiss sacred"—metaphors with blurry meanings. Modesty became a dress code, rather than an act of service to our brothers in Christ. And femininity? *Crickets chirp* Who knew what that was?

Most disturbing of all, “biblical womanhood” has been separated from the Gospel. Instead of viewing true womanhood primarily as an outpouring of the Gospel’s transforming work in our lives, it’s often become a main attraction itself—while the Cross is shoved into the peripheral.

But this isn’t a biblical-womanhood-and-purity-centered conference that talks about God. It’s a God-centered, Gospel-driven conference that talks about biblical womanhood. The difference is a matter of word order, but it couldn’t be more massively significant.

We're thrilled-yet-intimidated by this summer schedule, but we know that our God's sovereign, amazing power is most often shown through weak mouthpieces. Your prayers are coveted as we complete our session-writing.

We could write on this forever, but we don't want to take too much of your time. Here are some of the raw facts on our upcoming conferences:

* Dallas, Texas on June 5th. (Featuring a presentation by Christa Taylor, www.christa-taylor.com.)
* Richmond, Virginia on June 20th.
* Maryland workshop. (Date TBA)

Ticket prices: $12 online pre-registration (now open!)/$15 at the door. 

Want to be a part of the Beauty from the Heart conferences in 2009? We'd love to have you on board. Email us at contact@beautyfromtheheart.org if you have any ideas, suggestions, or if you want to help!