LITTLE ROCK – Wives of Arkansas Baptist ministers from across the state gathered at Geyer Springs First Baptist Church in Little Rock on Monday for the 2024 Ministers’ Wives Conference.
(Photo by Mary Alford)
The women were led in worship by Melanie Jenkins of First Baptist Church in Benton and in conversation by Ministers’ Wives Conference Team Leader Sara Mills of Friendship Baptist Church, who spoke on advancing in life and ministry through God’s word.
The word “advance” is defined as moving forward purposefully. When used as a verb, it means to take action.
The theme for this year’s conference was derived from Joshua 14:12, “Now there, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day.”
“I know it is so easy for us to get caught up in where we are at and all of our mountains look totally different,” Mills said.
Mills shared how she overcame her own mountain by relating to God’s Word.
“I could quote scripture. I could pray. I could sing in the car. But I could not open God’s Word. And I wrestled with that,” she said. While out with a friend at a restaurant, her friend looked at her across the table and asked, “How is your walk with the Lord going?”
“I think so many times when we open the Word, the treasure that this book is to us, it means that we become vulnerable before the Lord. It means that He shows us our next steps,” Mills said. “… I left that dinner with that friend that night. I walked out of the restaurant, locked my car door, and sat in the parking lot an hour reading God’s Word. I was reminded of the character of who God is and that He is going to walk with me through every step of my situation.”
(Photo by Mary Alford)
God led her to Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures”.
“Through encouragement of scripture, we might have hope. That’s what the Lord does for us as He gives us such sweet encouragement through His word as He reveals Himself over and over to us who He is and that He is a big and mighty God who loves us no matter what. And He is going to sit with us. He sat with me in my car that night and He has sat with me ever since,” Mills said.
“When we spend time with the Lord, we study the word, we live the word, we love the word, and then we treasure it. When we treasure it, we begin to share it with other people, with other women who are just like us in this room.”
Following Mills’ words of encouragement, she invited various guest speakers on stage including Cassie Hubbard, Jennifer Hamilton, and Becky Horne. They spoke on advancing relationships with their husbands, other ladies at church, and other ministers’ wives. The women then had prayer time at the tables, followed by table discussions.
The Ministers’ Wives Conference was held prior to the 171st Annual Meeting of the ABSC, Oct. 22-23. A livestream of the Annual Meeting can be found here.