True Woman Ambassadors

Leslie Basham: Angela Temples faithfully serves behind the scenes at Revive Our Hearts. Her business card reads: “Administrative Assistant.”

Angela Temples: “What is it that you do at ROH?” Whatever they tell me.

Leslie: Those who work with Angela know that she tackles her tasks with joy.

Angela: It’s what the Lord’s called me to do. For this time in my life, this is what the Lord has called me to do.

René Hanebutt: It’s not like you’re punching a clock. You’re dealing with people’s lives.

Leslie: This is René Hanebutt. Her cubicle sits across from Angela’s. Her business card says: “Event Coordinator.”

René: It’s for eternity. And when you’re dealing on that level, it’s more than a job; it’s our lives.

Leslie: Earlier this year, René and Angela were in a meeting making plans for the True Woman conference coming to Fort Worth in October.

At one point in the meeting, someone came up with an idea. René and Angela were asked to undertake a big assignment. It wasn’t the type of thing that can be easily outlined in a job description.

René: “We’re gonna send y'all out on the road. Would you be comfortable doing that?”

Angela: And, "Could you cover Texas in a week?”

Leslie: The assignment was to travel across Texas, find churches and women’s groups, and let them know about the True Woman Conference coming to Fort Worth in October.

Angela: And we just laughed.

René: I mean, I’m really excited that they would ask, but—scared to death! Absolutely scared to death!

Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. She’s talking with Angela Temples and René Hanebutt about this journey that scared them to death.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: You’re both from Texas, so we sent you back there for several weeks. A lot of your journey has been in that part of the country. Were you glad to be back in Texas?

René: Not for the heat! It was over 100 degrees when we were there, and it was just unbearable. I’m a northerner now.

Nancy: You don’t sound like one. Sorry, René. (laughter)

Leslie: Have you ever been asked to take on an impossible assignment? Today’s story will encourage you. That tough job is possible if you’re doing God’s will and you’re leaning on Him for help.

As Angela Temples prepared for a whirlwind of meetings, she needed to know who to talk with and what to say. So she turned to Jeremiah chapter 1.

Angela: It talks about how "the word of the Lord came to me," and, "I knew you" and, "I consecrated you; I have appointed you." And he responded with, “I do not know how to speak.” But the Lord said, Everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, I am with you to deliver them” (see verses 4-8). 

Over and over again the Lord just continued to say. “I’m going before you, and I’m going to put the words in your mouth."

Leslie: The first challenge was finding people to talk with. They started by scheduling meetings with those they knew of in the area.

Angela: Had they been to a Revive Our Hearts conference? Had they been to the initial meetings where Nancy when there and said, “I might be interested in hosting a group or having a group.”

Leslie: They also contacted those who had called Revive Our Hearts to order . . .

René: . . . a large quantity of promotional materials from us. Maybe a Ministry Partner. Someone who attended the ’08 conference. Those were really “hot” leads that we could go to. They were obviously women who resonated with the message of biblical womanhood.

Leslie: And they just started calling everybody.

Angela: Somebody I knew had been impacted by Nancy at a retreat, and she now lives out west Texas. When I called her, she said, “Okay, I’ll do it. I’m going to start going through the phone book.” And she went through the phone book and called every church and looked for the women’s ministry director’s name and got in contact with them to come to a meeting.

Leslie: These ladies didn’t just need God’s help to set up meetings. They also needed to know what to say once they arrived.

René: I was on my knees before the Lord every morning, just crying out to Him, “Lord, what is it You would have us to share?”

Angela: So we just really began to pray, “Lord, what would You have us to say?”

René: I did not want it to be a promotional meeting where we hand out stuff and say, “Please come.”

Angela: Probably for a week before we left, the Lord began waking me up at 3:30 and 4:00 in the morning and had me on my knees. He would put faces of women in my mind—some of them I could put a name with, some of them I couldn’t. I was just burdened for them and saying, “Angela, pray for them because that’s who we are trying to reach.”

So I really just spent a lot of time in the Word trying to figure out what He wanted us to say.

René: I wanted there to be breadth and depth there.

Angela: And realize that it wasn’t just about a True Woman conference. It’s about a message from the Lord.

Leslie: Finally, it was time to hit the road. Angela and René arrived in Texas; each rented a car and headed different directions. Angela was in a church where 500 women had gathered to watch a simulcast. A popular speaker was addressing them by satellite.

Angela: The speaker was using the same terminology that we had prayed through. “Ladies, we are getting back to biblical womanhood.” I had never heard that speaker share that before. Then she said, “Ladies, there are 300,000 of us listening today right now, and this is a movement of the Lord.”

Leslie: Angela started texting René, who was in a similar gathering watching the same simulcast.

Angela: "Did you hear what she just said? This is exactly what we’ve been praying."

Leslie: Then they were each able to address those local groups, letting them know about the True Woman Conference.

Angela: I was trying to get in touch with somebody that I knew when I lived in Texas. He was out of the office, but I got his assistant. And I had known her through an event we had worked on. So I said, “Edika, would you be interested in us coming and talking to you?” And she said, “What is it about?” Nancy Leigh DeMoss, that’s all I said. And she said, “I just read the Lies book. That was life-changing. Now my sister’s reading it, and so-and-so’s reading it, and I have to take them through it!” And she was just so excited and said, “What do I have to do?”

She is Hispanic. So the area of Texas that we were in, she has a real burden for that population. Her dad’s an Hispanic pastor. She works for an Hispanic man who’s a dean and who is also a pastor in the area. Her burden was for the Hispanic churches in that area.

So she began to say, “I will send this out to all the Hispanic churches in San Antonio and get them to come to this meeting.” And since then, she has followed up and is meeting with some of them monthly—preparing them for the conference. She’s uses some of the True Woman material; she uses some of the Lies material. She met with some ladies, and they came. One of them said, “I know somebody who owns a bus company. Let’s get some buses and go to Fort Worth.” “Well, I can sell tamales, my grandmother makes homemade tamales. We can sell tamales to help raise funds for that.”

The message there was, "We have to get it into our culture because we don’t live according to biblical principles. The husbands are the leaders before we become believers. But once we become believers, in our household, the women step up and take the lead and the men back off. An Hispanic pastor at the meeting we were at said, “We have to have this for our congregation.”

So they are praying as they meet together that . . . First they said, “Let’s pray for the 80 Hispanic churches in our area.” And one of the ladies said, “My women are prayer warriors. You give me a list of all the churches, and we’re going to pray for them. But we’re not going to do just the Hispanic churches; we’re going to do all the Baptist churches in San Antonio. We’re praying that 10 women come for every single one of these churches.” So they are praying daily that that will happen in San Antonio.

Nancy: And just a reminder that we will be having Spanish interpretation and also interpretation for the hearing impaired at both conferences coming up in Indianapolis and Fort Worth. So that’s a whole group of sisters, even if they are not English speaking, who will be able to participate in the conference.

René: We were meeting with friends of a friend. We had no connection with these ladies and had just briefly talked to the lady who was hosting our meeting at Dairy Queen. It was she and two other pastors’ wives. They basically had no knowledge of Revive Our Hearts. They had no idea why there were even talking to us.

Within the first 3-5 minutes, the senior pastor’s wife leaned across the table from me at Dairy Queen, and she said, “What can I do to help? What can I do to spread the message?” Whatever the Lord said to her during that time just really pierced her heart. She said, “We will get this message out.” It was so, so encouraging!

Leslie: The meetings didn’t all go so smoothly. Angela and René sometimes realized that their message of revival and biblical womanhood was not being well received.

René: I think for women who have their life at church in one hand, and that’s a Sunday activity, and yet they have the rest of the week that does not reflect that they have spent time with the Lord, for them church is just an activity. It is just an event on the calendar like PTO meetings or their kids’ softball games.

Leslie: It reminded Angela of the words of Jesus.

Angela: As He sent the disciples out, He said, “Go two by two. Go to a city and stay there. Find the house that will accept you and stay there and bless the house. These houses that won’t accept you, shake the dust from your sandals” (see Luke 10:1-12). 

As we went, it was clear where we shook the dust. Places that were important to me, that’s where I had to shake the dust. That was hard to go in a place and they not accept the message. They not understand the message. Both of us would leave in tears going, “They weren’t ready to hear. They’re not ready to give up their idols. They have the Lord, and they have their idols. Why do they need anything else? They don’t need to have just the Lord because they have everything and nothing’s going wrong in their lives.”

Leslie: But sometimes Angela and René were surprised at meetings that didn’t seem to be going well at first.

René: We’re out in West Texas—where everybody carries a gun in the back of their pickup truck and stuff like that. Pastors’ wives, too—everybody.

So we are sitting in a meeting around a table, and we began to share about the message of biblical womanhood. It was really odd, because at first they kept staring at each other and then looking away and were kind of making eye contact with us, but not really. In my mind I was thinking, “We are either going to get shot or stabbed. They are going to kick us out of here.”

And all of a sudden these women just began to cry and weep and said, “This is what we have been praying for." For weeks the Lord had been preparing their hearts that they needed to do something in the community—across denominations, across demographics. They needed something for the women in their community.

As we began to share, this is what the Lord had been saying to them. One of the ladies began to tell us, she said, “I think that I just need to fly up and go to the conference in Indianapolis and let the Lord deal with my heart there because I don’t really want to fall apart in front of all my ladies when we bring them there.” But they are so burdened for the women in their area in West Texas. They are deeply, deeply desirous for the Lord to work and move in that area of the country. They said, “We will do whatever it takes.”

Leslie: So the work Angela and René were doing was beginning to yield results. Although they didn’t know at first how they were going to fill up their schedule, now they didn’t know how they’d keep up with all the requests.

Angela: As we look at our calendar, it’s filled in with scribbles of people who said, “I know of someone in this town; go see them. I know someone in that town; go see them." And we just continued to add to our calendar. “I have some friends in this part of the country, would you go there? Would you go to Kansas? Would you go to Missouri?"

René: Austin, Odessa, Lufkin, Midland, Wylie, Fort Worth, Stephenville, San Antonio, Greenville. “My home or at my church? Would you come?” So we started booking that third and fourth week.

Angela: We probably could stay out on the road and meet with people every day of the week if we had the time. They’re not concerned about a conference, and we’re not waiting until September or October for the Lord to do something. We’re doing something now! Preparing women now of, “I need change today.”

Nancy: Let’s pretend that we’re at one of these meetings today. We’re at that Dairy Queen or at a restaurant or sitting at my home, and I don’t know anything about true woman or the True Woman conference. Give me the short version of what you would say to me.

Angela: Okay, let’s back up. We share: How did Revive Our Hearts start? Who is Nancy? They might have heard her on the radio. They sometimes ask if you are affiliated with another women’s ministry, and we assure them that it’s not.

Then we from there to share that there is a conference coming. It’s about true biblical womanhood. They still sometimes have a blank look on their faces, “What does that mean?” Taking back what it is that the enemy has told us. The world has told us that we should look a certain way; we should act a certain way—whether it’s married or single, kids or no kids. Whatever it is, what has God called us to be as women?

Leslie: From there, René would share her experience of attending the True Woman ’08 conference.

René: I remember going up into my hotel room the first night. It was probably 12:30 or 1:00 in the morning, calling my parents back home in Texas and just weeping on the phone saying, “I want you here. I want all the ladies I know in Loving, Texas to experience what I was experiencing.” At that point the Lord put a burden on my heart for my women at home, that they desperately needed to hear this message. I had no idea that in two years we would be taking that message into Fort Worth.

It was life-changing for me. It was amazing to see all the women sitting there with their Bibles open on their lap, soaking up the Word of God. That was absolutely incredible. And to hear those women sing and raise their voices and worship the Lord, you can’t put human words to it. There was nothing like it.

Leslie: Angela and René also shared how True Woman ’08 affected other women.

René: The mom who came home and was cooking dinner in the kitchen and the kids walk in, and she had just returned home from the conference. They walk in and they can tell there is a difference in mom. They begin to ask her, “Mom, what’s different about you? Mom, who are you?” The kids, without her saying a word, could tell she had spent time alone with the Lord.

I often tell the women in those meeting that when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, that his face shone because he had spent time with the Lord. In that kitchen, that woman’s face just glowed. She got down on her hands and knees with those kiddos and began to share about what the Lord did in her life that day.

There’s a woman who wrote in to us a few weeks ago who asked for some promotional material. She went to the conference in ’08. And she said, “I went to this conference because I expected the Lord to change my attitude on some things, but I did not expect the Lord to change my heart. So my attitude toward my kids is completely different. I’m not angry and frustrated with them anymore. My relationship is so much better with my husband. I want every woman that I know to be there.”

In fact, she said, “I want every woman in the world to be there.” And this was two years after the fact! So this was a continual process between her and the Lord. It was not just some mountaintop experience for her and then her life went back to the same thing. It has been life change.

Angela: I think what we continue to say to women is: The Bible will be open on your lap from the time you arrive to the time you leave. It’s not just hearing a speaker, “Oh, that was a great speaker, and that was a great message.” But, it’s what did the Lord say to you?

René: As we begin to share about the breakout sessions that are offered, some women have literally started to weep. Something strikes a chord with them.

Nancy: Tell us what some of those breakout sessions are.

René: The one that Alice Moss does for women with unbelieving husbands, women who are widows. There’s a breakout session for women who are single. We’ve had women who will come up to us and say, “Is this only for married women?” We’re like, “No! We’re single, and we love it!” Really, there’s something there for everyone.

Angela: The other breakout session that women really resonate with when we share in the meetings is: We have a teen track all day on Friday as a breakout session for the girls. It’s from 8:30-3:30. Dannah Gresh is in there sharing about modesty, purity, their identity in Christ.

It’s neat to watch as those young girls come in (9th-12th grade girls), as typical women, checking out the room of, "Who’s here?" and "Who am I going to sit with?" and “Is anybody going to talk with me?” And they leave as sisters in Christ, knowing they can take a stand for Christ in the public school, in home school, wherever God has placed them. That resonates a lot with the women.

We had a teen girl at one of our meetings that said, “Mom, let’s get all this material, and I’m going to take it to school and give it to all my friends. Do not talk to their moms because they will not come if their moms talk to them. But I’m going to talk to them, and they’re going to come with me to the conference.”

Leslie: Angela and René had flown to Texas, then traveled 5,000 miles throughout the area. It was time for the trip to draw to an end.

Angela: We were exhausted. In the 30 days we were there, we had 40 meetings.

René: We were on the front line, I felt like. We were proclaiming a message that needed to be told, needed to be shared, but it was very hard—but totally worth it! Totally worth it! We’d do it all over again.

Leslie: After their travels in the Mid-South, Angela and René hit the road again, traveling in the Midwest, letting women know about the True Woman Conference coming to Indianapolis.

René: Edwardsburg, Covington, Nashville, Carmel.

Of course, we were like, give us a few days and sure, we’ll be ready to go back out there.

Angela: Pierceton, Granger, Hudson, Anderson.

Leslie: True Woman is coming to Indianapolis September 23-25.

If you’re in the Mid-South, join us at True Woman in Fort Worth, October 14-16. To register and to get more information, visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

And when you arrive at the True Woman Conference, make sure to say hello to Angela and René.

René: I think I’ll be speechless probably, for the second or third time in my life, and completely, completely overwhelmed. Just the thought of seeing those women there brings me to tears.

You’ll be connected with those women. I consider those women we met with my friends. We connected with them on a heart level. When the Lord Jesus Christ is the central reason why you’re there and why you’re meeting and talking, automatically your relationship and your friendship goes to a much deeper level very quickly. So I think that happened. And just to reconnect with those women and to hear about what’s going on in their lives and what the Lord is doing, that’s something I really look forward to.

Angela: So to think that from our initial contact and what did we share there and who comes from that, I think that I will stand at the back and just be overwhelmed at the women who will be there.

Leslie: Again, to be part of the conferences at Ft. Worth or Indianapolis, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call our special True Woman number at 877-966-2608. You can attend one of these conferences at a substantially reduced rate if you help us host this conference. Here’s more detail.

Nancy: René, you were responsible at that first conference and will be at the upcoming conferences as well for overseeing and training and mobilizing a whole host of volunteers who are serving in a lot of different capacities. Tell us what they do and what that experience was like for you working at True Woman with those volunteer women.

René: It was incredible to be surrounded by women who have a heart to serve and love the Lord and want nothing more than to serve their sisters and love Christ during the weekend. From the moment that we gathered together to pray before the conference, I could just tell that this was a unique group of ladies that love the Lord.

Just to see them serve and care for and go above and beyond, just to make the conference experience more pleasant for all the ladies who were attending. They were serving as greeters, ushers, also in the resource center. Those women would stay back there. They wanted to be standing at a table where a book was being sold that had greatly impacted their life.

Women would say, “Could I please stand next to the Brokenness books. This book has impacted my life and the life of my church. I would love to be able share as women come by—you need to buy this book.” So, of course, we said, “We would love to do that.” Story after story of women who want people to grasp the message. Whatever opportunity the Lord gave them, that’s what they wanted to do during the conference—to serve Him and to serve the women who were there.

Nancy: And there are some benefits to being a volunteer besides serving the Lord and others.

René: Yes, there are many. The first thing is you are going to get to register for ½ price. The next thing is that if you serve during the conference, you get to go in and pick your seats before the conference opens. That’s a huge deal. Also, they get to wear these adorable pink aprons. The women love wearing those and are excited to take those home and show their friends these pink aprons that say “True Woman” across them.

Nancy: Ten years ago did you think that you would be at a woman’s conference wearing a pink apron and excited about it?

René: (laughter) No way! No, not at all!

Nancy: So why are you excited about it now?

René: Because the Lord has totally transformed my life. It’s so exciting what He’s doing in the hearts and lives of women across the country—women who are surrendering their lives to Him. There’s nothing more beautiful than that.

Leslie: Again, get more detail by calling 877-966-2608, or visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

Are you free to be real? Nancy will address that question Monday. Learn more about Jesus’ interaction with the woman from Samaria, Monday on Revive Our Hearts.

Nancy: I’ve been so thrilled to see the way your efforts are really saturated in prayer. Would you lead us in praying for a movement of revival and reformation in the hearts of true woman all across this country.

Angela: Lord, I do give you praise and glory for what you are doing, of raising up women who are hungry for you, hungry for something different in their lives. God, I pray that You would do something in the lives of ROH staff before those events; that You would bring revival in us as individuals; that we would take a long look at what we are doing, getting caught up in the busyness of doing ministry and missing You. God, I pray that would not happen and that You would not just work outside of this, but that You would work here in our hearts.

You have a plan. You continue to remind me as you did with Habakkuk, “Stand back, look, and be astonished. If I told you what I was going to do, you wouldn’t believe it.” God, I pray that would be the case.

René: Lord, you know that what our desire to do is so much bigger than a date we have on the calendar that we can set aside. Would You desire to move? Would you rule and reign there in those convention centers during those three days. Would no person leave unchanged. Father, let us think such big thoughts. Let us not put You in a box. Let us just desire for You to work mightily in the lives of women that are there and the fruit of that is just unimaginable in my mind. Thank You again for what You are doing in women across this country. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

Revive Our Hearts is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

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