[1]RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) – A penny, a dime, 25 cents, a dollar, $1.10, $5, $10, $100. The values were revealed in notes Elizabeth Luter issued to 12 women among the many gathered at the July 22 Woman2Woman session at Black Church Leadership and Family Conference (BCLFC).
“It’s so intimidating when we walk in church on a Sunday morning. When you walk in church, somebody’s sizing you up,” said Luter, a New Orleans Bible speaker and wife of Fred Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. “‘Why did she wear that with that? Why did she just sit up front? She’s not all that.’ And those are the things that we do to each other. So how much are you worth?” she asked, revealing one by one the values assigned to the 12 women participating in the living lesson.
Luter was one of two leaders who spoke during the dual July 21 and 22 afternoon sessions featuring women addressing women at the 2026 BCLFC. Kimberly Sky Thomas, women’s leader at Epic Church New Orleans and wife of pastor James Thomas, spoke July 21 on surrendering to God. Concurrently, Man2Man sessions were held for men.
Lifeway Women Director Andrea Lennon, a Bible teacher, wife and grandmother from Little Rock, Ark., addressed women at the July 21 gathering, gifting them with Lifeway Women resources including Bible studies and journals.
“We’re here for the relationship. We love the Lord, and we want to link arms with you to the furtherance of the kingdom, for Gospel impact, and because we are better together,” Lennon said. “We can learn from one another. We can grow together. We can do this together. And that brings me great joy.”
Gifts included “See for Yourself,” a 10-week Bible study book with video access, promoted as a resource designed to help women study the Bible with confidence and joy; a journal and other resources.
Lennon described Lifeway Women’s products as a family of trustworthy resources including Bible studies, devotionals, magazines, podcasts, newsletters, blogs and events designed for women.
Elizabeth Luter
Drawing foundationally from Psalm 139:13-16, Luter emphasized one’s worth in the Lord, relying also on Esther and citing numerous individuals spanning the Old Testament and the New Testament’s early church.
“Oh my goodness, when it was revealed to me what it takes to knit things together. That’s what God did for you and me,” Luter said. “So no matter what people say to you, we were all born 100. What happened to you and me in our lives that made us feel reduced to less than this? Because the Spirit says, this is what you are. This is what you were born. And who had the right to decrease your value?”
Many people named in the Bible were seen as worthless in the eyes of the public and were treated as such, Luter said, but they became somebodies.
“Abraham was a nobody, turned into somebody. (King) Saul was a nobody, turned into somebody. David was a nobody, turned into somebody. Esther was a nobody, turned into somebody. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a nobody, turned into somebody,” Luter said, going on to include John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul and Timothy as those unvalued by society.
“What about the church?” she asked. “Here’s a sidebar. The nursery is less than the children’s church. The children’s church is worth less than the young adults. The young adults are worth less than the seniors. The seniors are worth less than the choir,” she said, placing in relegated hierarchical order the ushers, greeters, teachers, deaconesses, deacons, ministers and pastors.
“Jesus … was treated like a penny,” she said. “His value, however, was 100.”
Luter gave a personal testimony of having felt worthless and worth less than others, of having been considered the ugliest among her sisters and friends.
“And I only had two boyfriends in my entire life. I was considered worthless. But how many knew where Jesus comes in,” she said. “We (she and Fred Luter) are now 45 years married. When he came out to my house, I thought my Daddy paid him to take me out. But won’t He (Jesus) do it? Won’t He turn things around?”
She encouraged women to walk in their callings, knowing and embracing their worth in the Lord.
Kimberly Sky Thomas
Thomas encouraged women to surrender to God and His Word, referencing several teachings from 1 Peter.
“Peter begins his letter to the churches of Asia Minor by teaching that believers have a new identity in Christ. And he then shows that identity and what it looks like in different relationship contexts,” she said. “Hopeful women, these women didn’t just put their hope in their husbands. They just didn’t put their hope in their clothes and in the finer things of life. And they didn’t put their hope in just trying to find a husband, but they’re described as women who put their trust and their faith in the promises of God.”
Jesus uses relationships to reveal our hearts, she said, and asked women to consider revelations from their personal relationships.
Sarah, whom the Bible introduces in Genesis, submitted to her husband Abraham’s correction when she laughed at God’s promise that she would birth a son in her old age.
“I’m so glad Peter gave us Sarah,” Thomas said. “What kind of heart did she have when she heard that correction? Fertile.”
Because so many women have been wounded by authority figures, Thomas said, submission can invoke fear and reticence. But she encouraged women to obey God now, presenting delayed obedience as disobedience.
“What if Jesus had waited and had conditional obedience when He came to us?” she asked. “What if God has said, ‘Jesus, I need you to die.’ And what if (Jesus’) conditional obedience had said, ‘Well, I don’t understand.’
“While we were yet sinners, which means we weren’t thinking about Him at all. We weren’t thinking of how it might affect Him. But while we were yet sinners, Christ submitted. Christ submitted Himself to the Father’s will.”
Christ’s work on cross frees women to trust God, she said, instead of being ruled by fear.
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