[1]HOUSTON (BP)–Speakers Anne Graham Lotz and Elizabeth Dole and contemporary Christian singer Alicia Williamson will headline the Global Celebration for Women, planned for Sept. 19-21, 2001, at the Reliant Park Astrodome in Houston.
The goal of the celebration, which is the largest such event ever sponsored by evangelical women, is to unite 25,000 women from around the world in their commitment and efforts to change the world for Christ.
The event is sponsored by more than a dozen international women’s organizations, including Campus Crusade for Christ’s Women Today; The Salvation Army Women’s Organization; World Evangelical Fellowship’s Commission on Women’s Concerns; Aglow International; and Woman’s Missionary Union, auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention.
Organizers want every woman who participates in the event to celebrate God and his faithfulness to women, become educated about and involved in meeting the needs of women around the world, expand their concept of and commitment to evangelism and help them have a global vision of how God is working among women.
Winnie Bartel, chair of the event’s planning team, said the celebration is God-inspired, noting that “the church has lost the art of celebrating. We must renew that within the church in the 21st century.
“Most every one of the leaders in the partnering members had felt the call of God to somehow unite women in the body of Christ in some manner to honor God and to rally the church to give encouragement to the suffering women around the world,” said Bartel, director of the Commission for Women’s Concerns for the World Evangelical Fellowship in Shafter, Calif.
[2]“We are convinced that this opportunity for international relationship building, networking and strategizing is necessary to start a new global women’s movement — a movement where women feel the empowerment of God to transform cultures for Christ.
“We also want to provide a new message about women’s liberation,” she said. “The secular voice has been the most vocal — often misguided — voice for the needs of women. As members of the Christian community, it is time we join together to bring the love of Christ and authentic Christian freedom to women in the world.”
The registration fee for the celebration is graduated. The fee is $60 for international women. For women in United States and Canada, the fee is $100 prior to April 1; $125 prior to June 15; $145 prior to Sept 1; or $160 on sight. Family rates are also available.
For more information, visit www.globalcelebration.org; e-mail, [email protected] or write Global Celebration for Women, PO Box 362, Shafter, CA 93263.
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(BP) photos posted in the BP Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: ELIZABETH DOLE, ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ, ALICIA WILLIAMSON.
*Name changed for security concerns.