Scenes from the True Woman Movement

Leslie Basham: On Tuesday, March 23, a group of people climbed into a bus in Buchanan, Michigan.

“We’re taking a very long bus ride from Buchanan to Chattanooga, Tennessee.”

Leslie: It was very early.

“I had to get up at 3:30.”

“I didn’t bother with the make-up. We’re just sitting in a bus today with family.”

“Now, some of us just woke up at around 4:00. Some of us just never went to sleep last night.”

Leslie: These staff members from Revive Our Hearts were heading to a conference they had prayed about and worked on for many, many months.

“I have a list of women that I need to meet. I have talked to so many of the ladies on the phone, and there are several that can’t wait to give me a hug and I can’t wait to give them a hug.”

Leslie: At the same time, around the country, conference speakers were making final preparations.

Jennifer Rothschild: My first prayer is that God will let me show up and then get me out of the way.

Fern Nichols: Father, I know it’s Your holy Spirit that makes that message powerful.

Mary Kassian: Father, where does Your heart beat? Where does Your heart lie? What do these women need to hear from your Word? What will minister to them the most?

Leslie: And volunteers in Chattanooga were preparing as well.

“All of us got together last night on a phone conference and prayed for the conference.”

Leslie: All this effort was made in faith that God was about to do something big at the True Woman conference in Chattanooga.

“There is such a sense that the Lord is wanting to do something very significant, right now where we are.”

(bus sounds)

“Well, what do we say? The wheels on the bus go round and round, right? We’ve been having about eight hours of round and round and have two hours left. We’ve had a good time being able to praise the Lord for some of the stuff that He’s done, and we’re going to sing and eat supper, and then we’ll be there!”

(staff singing on bus)

Here I raise mine Ebenezer,
Hither by Thy help I come.

Leslie: So many at Revive Our Hearts have been praying for the three True Woman conferences in 2010. Thank you! The first took place a few weeks ago, and today you’ll hear a report of how God responded to your prayers. Some of the speakers, attendees, and staff are going to give you a taste of True Woman in Chattanooga.

“Lord, thank you that we can sing together and enjoy being together, and we pray now that You would give us a good night of rest tonight and prepare us for tomorrow as we get ready. We ask, God, that You would just touch down here. We’re asking You to do things only you can do, and we look forward to it, in Jesus’ name, amen” (Martin Jones, Executive Director of ROH).

(staff singing on bus)

Seal it for Thy courts above.
(Come Thou Fount—ROH theme song)

Leslie: Wednesday, one day before the conference.

“We’re unloading trucks and setting up tables and resources.”

“I’m trying to make our book tables beautiful and appealing so people can see some wonderful resources that will be an extreme help to their lives.”

“Books and books and books!”

Leslie: At the same time, lights are being hoisted into place, curtains are being set up, sound and video equipment are arriving. The goal is to transform a plain conference center into a sanctuary where women will meet with God.

“Oh, I’m going to guess that there are 30 people over there right now trying to organize the staging set-up. The chairs are already in place in here. It looks fantastic.”

“There’s one piece of everything that’s out, and then drop it into the bag at the end.”

Leslie: Volunteers arrive for the big job of stuffing about 3,000 bags and placing one on every chair.

“I am placing them on the chairs, placing the handles neatly inside, and making sure they are nice and neat for the ladies when they arrive tomorrow. I’m excited!!”

Leslie: It’s Thursday, the day True Woman 2010 will finally begin at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Mary Kassian (interview): It is so exciting to walk in that room the first time. I remember that when I arrived and walked in and could see all the chairs and all the bags, the band was warming up on stage . . .

(Getty’s rehearsal music)

Keith Getty: Coming to conference and doing the sound check, there is a tremendous amount of excitement.

Leslie: Keith and Kristyn Getty will be leading worship all week at the True Woman conference.

Keith: You think of all the families that are represented. You think of all the churches that are represented. You think of all the states and even the countries . . . to be a part of that is a real privilege.

Mary (interview): I immediately pulled out my cell phone and started texting my daughter-in-law who was at True Woman ’08 and said, “Oh, I can’t believe you’re not here. It’s just a buzz.” It so ministers to you. When I walked in ,it was just that whole feeling of reliving it; that anticipation of seeing God move in that same way over again.

Leslie: Thursday afternoon women’s ministry leaders arrive for a special pre-conference.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss (message): We need to be Word driven, Christ centered. Paul said, “I preach Christ.”

Leslie: At the same time . . .

“We are greeting volunteers that are coming to the conference and telling them where they’ll be serving.”

“Thank you so, so, so much. We cannot do it without you.”

Leslie: Finally, at 5:30, the doors open. Women begin to take their seats. Erin Davis is blogging and getting ready to interact with young women on the teen track.

Erin: I can’t think of a better way to spend your time. I’ve just been here about an hour and a half. The excitement is palpable. There are beautiful women everywhere; they are just waiting to hear what the Lord has to teach us. There’s just something about women being together.

“The different women of God from different places. Whether they are from Florida, South America . . .”

“Clarksville, Tennessee”

“Columbia, South Carolina”

“Ringgold, Georgia”

“Odessa, Texas”

“Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin”

“My name is Lamiria Miller, and I’m from Fayetteville, North Carolina.”

“You get different women coming from different places. We’re women of God, women who are seeking God.”

“We have a desire to come here.”

Holly Elliff: There is just such a sense that the Lord is wanting to do something much larger than we can imagine in the heart of every woman who is here this week. And so, I guess if I was going to just think of a word for this moment at the True Woman conference, it would be anticipation.”

“And as Nancy Leigh DeMoss always says, “Now is the time!” And that is the slogan for True Woman, and I believe it with all of my heart!”

Holly: I cannot wait to see what the Lord desires to do.

Pastor Voddie Baucham (message): God gives us godly, manly elders and pastors.

“I just felt that it was awesome to open the conference with a man’s perspective, particularly on the passage of Titus 2.”

Pastor Baucham (message): Titus 2 womanhood, true womanhood within the context of the ministry of the local church.

Pastor Baucham (interview): This is meaningful to me for a number of reasons: For women to understand how dangerous and destructive feminism is, and how beautiful and majestic biblical womanhood is, is something that is extremely important.

“I loved listening to him weave together the whole vision of what God’s ideal is, versus the vision of what does it look like in circumstances where it is broken.”

Pastor Baucham (message): I didn’t grow up with godly manhood in my life. I did not grow up with godly examples in my life.

“Because I think so often we feel defeated because my life is not like that . . .”

Pastor Baucham (message): I grew up in drug infested, gang infested South Central Los Angeles, California. I was raised by a single, teenage, Buddhist mother.

“. . . my marriage isn’t like that; my kids aren’t like that; my home isn’t like that. We have these feelings of inadequacy that we don’t match up to God’s plan.”

Pastor Baucham (message): Be grateful for what you have. Be honest and repentant over those things you don’t have because of your own sin. And trust in the great God of the universe to make up the difference for those things you don’t have and can’t even see how you could receive them, because here’s what I know. God can do more with what you don’t have than you can do with what you do.

“That was a great introduction. It caused me to feel secure, validated, and then I felt that Nancy Leigh DeMoss probably did the finest exposition of that entire text in its context than I have heard anyone do.”

Nancy Leigh DeMoss (message): God put that passage on Pastor Voddie’s heart. I believe He put it on my heart, too.

“And then when she came behind him saying the same thing, talking about the same Word of God, but her perspective . . .”

Nancy (message): Ladies, the world is never going to be convinced by our arguments about the existence of God, about moral issues, about abortion, about same-sex marriage. I don’t think those are arguments we are going to win in the secular world, because they have never bowed the knee to the authority of the Word of God and to Jesus Christ. But I’ll tell you what is persuasive, and that is the reality of the Gospel lived out in our lives and relationships.

“There is so much meat to chew on. I’m going to have to take this and take my notes and sit at home and meditate.”

Nancy (message): What the world really needs in order to see that culture transformed is Christians who actually live what they claim to believe.

“There’s a very special anointing on this conference. And so you could sense the Spirit really going into the hearts and lives of women.”

“You can tell when you walk into this place that it’s been covered in prayer.”

Leslie: As Thursday night draws to a close, women are invited to a concert of prayer starting around 10 pm. And Friday morning begins in prayer as women gather at 7:30 am.

“We understand that we are very needy of God’s grace. We are crying out to Him for Him to do the work here."

Mary (interview): I have that sense of wanting to give what the Lord wants to say. There’s a weightiness of really wanting to communicate what is on God’s heart.

Mary (message): How many of you have messed something up because you thought you knew what you were doing but were too stubborn to read or follow the directions.

“I see myself as Mary Kassian talked about the big overview of the feminist movement from back to the early 1900s.”

Mary (message): We decided that women need more power and prestige and control; and that we should become gun-slinging, karate-chopping, hyper-sexed, Wall Street savvy, independent, saucy, sassy, male-bashing heroines. We’ve got “girl power.”

“Everything she said is like going, “Aww, okay, aww, oh, now I see.”

“Now I’ve heard Mary’s message from [True Woman] ’08. I heard it. I’ve also read her books, but to have Mary here in front of me is electrifying.”

Mary (message): God’s design for manhood and womanhood is truly spectacular.

“I just waiting, just waiting for the move of God.”

Jennifer Rothschild (interview): Right before I go on stage at True Woman, I feel an incredible sense of stewardship. The immense privilege that it is to stand before women and be a voice of encouragement and a voice of truth and a voice of grace is an astounding privilege, and it is also an incredible responsibility.

Jennifer (message): Blindness is one of those words like cancer, like divorce, like autism, like bankruptcy that we just don’t ever expect to hear. And we certainly don’t ever expect it to become our word.

Jennifer (interview): My goal when I step on the stage is to merely steward the message that God has given me. And to steward it in such a way that I not only speak it with my words, but that I know I’ve lived it with my life, that I’m going to model it with my life on that stage. And when I step off of that stage, through God’s grace I’m going to continue to live out the message so that it is really an authentic message lived out in a life.

“I see the women with casts on their feet, and women in wheelchairs like myself, and then (I don’t want to get emotional), but the blind woman that spoke, it is a blessing because God can use every one of us . . .”

Jennifer (interview): I do think that my message reaches a person that walks with a disability in a very personal way because I know what it’s like. I know what it’s like to experience loss and to walk with confinement and to have to be dependent. Anyone with a disability or a handicap knows what that feels like. So I know that my message, no matter what it is that I’m speaking, is going to resonate very intimately with that person who shares in this world of disability.

“. . . but God allows whatever we go through. God brings us through it, not for us, but for you to tell somebody else.”

Jennifer (interview): I also know that everybody has experienced loss. Every single one of us living in this fallen world knows what it feels like to lose something, to be disappointed, to have a crushed dream. I think everybody identifies with loss.

Jennifer (message): Blindness is not what makes me broken. If it is not well with your circumstance, that is not what makes you broken. That is simply what God can use to introduce you to your own brokenness.

“I think I can listen to that message several times and glean from it.”

Jennifer (interview): He spoke to women’s hearts individually. We saw such fruit, such an expression of the kindness of God within this place.

Bob Lepine: We still have some women trickling in, and there are some seats around the back . . .

Leslie: Women can choose from eight different breakout sessions at the True Woman conference.

“I really enjoyed Bob Lepine’s breakout session on “What Your Husband Wishes You Knew about being His Wife.”

Bob (message): We need you to give us grace and still love us when we make mistakes and fail.

“For me to question my husband on things that he’s doing, I forget. You forget in everyday life that it steals his manhood. I certainly don’t want him to be esteemed by other women or someone in the workplace when God has given me the job as his helper to do that.”

Bob (message): If your response to his mistakes is to be critical, harsh, judgmental, it will shut him down. If you respond with grace, he will see Christ in you; he will be drawn to the Christ in you.

“That was really powerful!”

Devi Titus (message): My mission and my goal and my passion in life is to record the dignity and sanctity in the home in the way taht you think about home in the relationship to human hearts.

Leslie: Devi Titus is leading one of the breakout sessions at the True Woman conference. As the founder of Virtue magazine, she’s had a vision for an event like this for decades.

Devi (interview): I’m so full in my spirit. I’m very grateful to be invited to be part of this. I feel that the Lord has rewarded my prayer for almost 40 years.

Leslie: Dannah Gresh is looking forward to leading the Teen Track at True Woman in Chattanooga.

Dannah Gresh (interview): We’re just praying for the girls, asking God to open their hearts.

Dannah (message): Finding a modest sundress is really hard. I’m like, “But, oh, it’s so cute!” You know, it’s hard.

Dannah (interview): I'm asking God to create an environment in their lives at home. Some of the girls, for example, are in relationships they shouldn’t be in. I’m asking God to reveal to them the faultiness of that relationship.

Dannah (message): I thought today we would have a lies young women believe fashion show. How many of you would like to have a little fashion show?

Pastor James MacDonald (message): Ask God for wisdom about your trial. But you have to ask in faith without doubting.

Kay Arthur (message): I know my God. I know why I was born. I know why I’m living. I know where I’m going.

“Obviously, God is in this room.”

“The Lord is here. He is with us. And that is truly all the really matters.”

Leslie: Saturday morning volunteers are ready to go at 7:00 am, making sure each chair in the auditorium holds a copy of the True Woman Manifesto.

Mary (interview): I really like the fact that we have a True Woman Manifesto. The True Woman Manifesto isn’t Scripture. It’s based on Scripture. It’s a fallible document. So what we chose to put in there, to include, to leave out, you could debate things about that.

But the thing about it is that throughout history there have been times when the body of believers have put out a statement to address some of the major issues that were coming up against the truth of the gospel.

Nancy (message): We come to a sacred time here, a holy time. We’ve been on holy ground.

“We believe that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe,
and the creator of life, and that all created things
exist for His pleasure and to bring Him glory.”

Dannah (interview): It’s thorough, and it covers each of the areas not only that God says are important things in our lives, but that the culture has attacked.

“We believe that the creation of humanity as male and female
was a purposeful and magnificent part of God’s wise plan . . .”

Mary (interview): All the different creeds and stands that we have throughout history, what they were, were responses to cultural pressures that were coming against the truth of the Word of God at that particular time in history.

“. . . and that men and women were designed to reflect the image
of God in complementary and distinct ways.”

Mary (interview): And so I view the Manifesto that way. At this particular time in history, these faulty ideas about manhood and womanhood are threatening the truth of the Word of God.

Fern (interview): I believe as women read this, it defines a great focus of who she is as a woman.

“Men and women are both created in the image of God and are
equal in value and dignity, but they have distinct roles and
functions in the home and in the church.”

Fern (interview): It’s very exciting!

“My name is Cindy Rojas, and I work for Moody radio. It’s just wonderful to be able to have something in writing and to ask women to actually make a commitment by signing it. I think it is important because we can get all excited about what happened here. But when you really put your name on something, that means to me that you’re really going to take it seriously. Every single point on there was deep and thoughtful things that we hope with God’s help we can commit to with our families, with our friends, with our husbands.”

“Selfish insistence on personal rights is contrary to the spirit of
Christ who humbled himself, took on the form of a servant,
and laid down His life for us.”

Nancy (message):

“We will show proper respect to both men and women,
created in the image of God, esteeming others as better
than ourselves, seeking to build them up, and putting
off bitterness, anger, and evil speaking.”

Women: Yes, Lord.

Mary (interview): Having a mass of people saying, “Yes, this is true,” historically, whenever that has happened, that has shifted the tide.

Nancy (message):

“We will be faithfully engaged in our local church, submitting
ourselves to our spiritual leaders, growing in the context
of the community of faith, and using the gifts He has given
us to serve others, to build up the body of Christ, and to
fulfill His redemptive purposes in the world.

Women: Yes, Lord.

Mary (interview): When enough people agree that the direction we’re going in is wrong, you can actually turn the tide and things can begin to change.

Nancy (message): As a pebble dropping in the water sends out ripples, our desire is that the ripple effects of this weekend would touch every corner of the earth for Christ’s name sake, and for the sake of His glory, and the advancement of His kingdom.

Lord, I want to pray for my sisters. I thank You for their earnest, eager hearts; for their, “Yes, Lord” hearts; for their attentiveness and connectedness during this weekend. We’ve had a lot of long sessions, long hours, long messages, short nights, and our bodies are weary. But we’ve been strengthened in our inner man by the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Lord, we’re here as Your handmaidens to say we love You; we worship You. This is not about us. This is not about True Woman. This is not about Revive Our Hearts. This is certainly not about Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I am so weak, but You are great; You are strong. I pray that as a result of what You’ve done here this weekend that the women of the Church of God would arise.

“I would do another one.”’

Fern (interview): When I think that God did not just choose Chattanooga, but He chose also Indianapolis and Fort Worth, He had in mind some specific things that He wanted to say to the women in those areas.

Mary (interview): I just finished speaking, and I’m already looking to the next sessions, and I’m thinking, “Hmm, I’m not going to do the same thing. I’m going to do something different.

Dannah (interview): I’m actually going to take a busload of people to Indianapolis from my home community. I’m very excited that a group of moms and daughters will being doing a mother/daughter weekend.

Leslie: The next conference will be in Indianapolis on September 23-25.

“If you’re in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and you get an opportunity, go! Because all you will get is blessed.”

Leslie: True Woman is coming to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area October 14-16.

“Got to be there!”

Dannah (interview): I beg you to, if this is just the slightest bit of interest to you, this is the best investment you’ll make in your spiritual life for the next few years. Come be with us in Indianapolis and the Dallas area.

Leslie: If you’ve done any shopping lately, you’ve probably looked at a piece of clothing and asked yourself, “Is this modest?” Get at the heart of this issue starting tomorrow. Join Nancy Leigh DeMoss for the series, Modesty: Does God Really Care What I Wear?

That’s tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts.