[1]ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–“Greater Things” will be the theme of the annual Pastors’ Wives Conference of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastors’ Conference, with keynote speaker Bobbye Rankin.
The conference will be held from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, June 14, in the Valencia Ballroom on the 4th floor of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. There is no cost for the event and registration is not required.
Rankin is a former career missionary to Indonesia and the wife of Jerry Rankin, president of the SBC’s International Mission Board.
The conference also will feature worship leaders Eric and Kristin Yeldell from First Baptist Church in Temple Terrace, Fla., with prayer guided by longtime women’s retreat leader Barbara O’Chester of Wake Forest, N.C. Sherry Blankenship, a hospital chaplain, pastor’s wife and author of “Draw Near,” will share her testimony on the story of the loss of one of their triplets and the journey back to intimacy with the Lord.
Questions from the audience will be fielded by a panel of ministry women led by Susie Hawkins, wife of GuideStone Financial Resources President O.S. Hawkins and author of “From One Ministry Wife to Another.” Rankin and Blankenship will join the panel, along with Jennifer Landrith from Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn.; Iva May of Immanuel Baptist Church in Olive Branch, Miss.; and Heather Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala.
The conference also will offer a two-day Women’s Expo from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Monday, June 13, and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, outside the Valencia Ballroom. The expo will provide women with opportunities to connect with all six SBC seminaries, SBC entities and various women’s ministries.
[2]“Our desire is to offer a place of encouragement, instruction and connection for pastors’ wives in our convention,” said conference organizer Donna Gaines of Cordova, Tenn., wife of Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church.
“This is the one time of the year that we are all in one place, and we want to take advantage of our time together,” Gaines said. “We also know how much more effective we are when we work together in cooperation to minister to the people in our spheres of ministry as well as seeking to take the Gospel to the world. Let’s get connected as SBC women and claim our world for Christ!”
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Compiled by Melissa Deming and Rachel Bales, correspondents for the Southern Baptist TEXAN.