[1]LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–Holding up a group photo of about 25 women, Beth Moore told those attending her “Living Proof Live” simulcast that she brought the photo as a crutch.
“There are 70,000 people meeting in 715 places at this exact moment in history,” she said. “That, girlfriend, is a miracle.”
And with the miracle comes an overwhelming feeling, Moore added. “I can’t even get my bleached-blonde brain around this.”
So, as she spoke live before approximately 9,000 attendees at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., she held onto the photo, which represented one of the groups in the simulcast audience.
“I can manage in groups of 25,” she said. “I’m speaking to groups of this many that just happen to make up 70,000. I like this approach.”
Sponsored by the women’s ministry training and events area of LifeWay Christian Resources, the Living Proof Live simulcast Aug. 1-2 was broadcast to women gathered in every state except New Hampshire and included groups in Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico City, a military base in Japan and a group of missionaries gathered in Guatemala.
[2]“There are 23 different denominations represented,” Moore said. “I believe with all of my heart this is such a delight to God.”
Along with a few specific words to churches she knows personally or just because she liked their names, Moore also noted that Oregon had the highest representation of people with more than 750 women from 56 churches and 22 denominations.
“I pray you will feel the delight of the Lord. He did not bring us not to meet us here,” Moore told the audience directly in front of her and the ones she couldn’t see as she spoke directly to the camera, something she did carefully and methodically throughout the conference.
“I’m not going to forget any of you in the locations,” she said. “I’m talking to all of you.”
Moore even prayed for the technology and that the satellite connections would not be lost during the conference.
Women in the remote locations, such as the 75 women at Union Hill Baptist Church in Bessemer, Ala., didn’t let the simulcast feel of the conference hinder them at all. They participated in praise and worship, clapped along with those in Louisville and laughed as if Moore were standing right in front of them.
“An event of this magnitude is a God-sized event,” said Paige Greene, director of LifeWay women’s ministry training and events. “We’ve had a lot of people working hard to make this event happen, but ultimately everything was in God’s hands.
“The significance of this event is that women gathered in local churches rather than travel to an arena location,” Greene added. “It truly reinforced what LifeWay is all about — equipping and strengthening the local church for outreach, evangelism and service.”
Greene noted that in addition to the simulcast, 2008 is a milestone year for Moore and the LifeWay women’s ministry training and events area. In the fall, they will commemorate 10 years of Living Proof Live events with the 100th event in the 50th state.
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Jennifer Davis Rash is managing editor of The Alabama Baptist. For more information, visit www.lifeway.com/women.