WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–Not even a power failure could disrupt the Women’s Leadership Consultation at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The power went out during the conference’s mission-focused International Fashion Show, hosted by Bobbye Rankin, wife of International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin, but after a few candles were lit, the show and the conference went on before the lights did.
The conference, sponsored by the Seminary Women’s Fellowship, featured teachers and speakers from the within the Southern Baptist Convention and throughout the United States, with the theme of “Holiness: Making the Faith in Your Heart the Heart of Your Life.”
Dorothy Patterson, professor of women’s studies at Southeastern and wife of the seminary’s president, Paige Patterson, said the Feb. 1-2 gathering was not a retreat; rather, it was a focused training seminar with an enrollment limited to 300.
“Our goal is to take the leadership from among women and equip them,” she said. “We’re trying to minister to women in our churches as well as on our campus.”
The venue for the consultation rotates among the Southern Baptist Convention’s six seminary campuses, and this is the second leadership consultation Southeastern has hosted on its Wake Forest, N.C., campus.
Southeastern has been a pioneer in the area of academic women’s studies through its master of divinity degree with a focus on women’s studies. The seminary also has a Women’s Certificate program so that women who can’t commit to a full master of divinity program can gain knowledge of the Word of God and also practical training in women’s issues.
This year’s consultation had a dual focus: the Word of God and missions. In addition to general sessions featuring an exposition of a biblical passage, workshops also focused on biblical exposition. Then on Friday, two events highlighted global evangelization: the fashion show and an International Buffet dinner.
The show spotlighted clothing from the “Life of a Missionary Woman.”
The buffet dinner was put together by Eva Greenham, wife of Southeastern professor Ant Greenham, and featured courses from all over the world.
Each session also featured a testimony from a woman who had been through difficult experiences, a segment titled “In the Line of Fire.”
The keynote speaker for the event was Nancy Leigh DeMoss, a popular speaker on women’s issues and host of the daily radio program “Revive Our Hearts,” which is heard on more than 250 stations nationwide.
The conference also is held in conjunction with a networking event hosted by the wives of the SBC seminary presidents in which wives of leaders from across the convention gather to report on women’s issues.
“We share with each other what we’re doing,” Patterson said. “It’s a woman-to-woman ministry.”
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at https://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: MISSIONS IN FASHION.