IF: Gathering

Hello! I wanted to ask for a favor from each of you and wanted to tell you a little about something that has become close to my heart. Last year I heard about a non-profit organization that was started by Jennie Allen. It is called IF and there are many different well known speakers, authors and teachers that are a part of their leadership team. I follow many of them on Facebook and Twitter, and wish they were all my friends. :) Anyway, when I heard that they were hosting a gathering (pretty similar to a women's conference) in Austin and were going to live stream all over the country, I thought it was so awesome! I wanted to try to host an IF: Local (where you stream to the event in Austin) at Impact but I knew it was too late to try to pull it together. I think that's when God first stirred my heart about it. 

Well, fast forward to this past September and I started seeing things about it again. I prayed about it and felt like God was calling me to try to host one here in Hartwell. I shared my idea with Nick, our pastor, and he was 100% behind it! So with his blessing, I reached out to women in our church and shared the vision of IF with them - to gather, equip and unleash the next generation of women to live out their purpose. They believe in creating a safe and authentic environment for women to gather together from all over the community, and be able to worship together and go deeper in their relationship with God and with others. They believe in uniting women together and trying to bridge some of the gaps that have been created in the Christian community, such as different denominations, cultures, race, etc. 

So God has been in this from the very beginning and put this vision on the hearts of many of the women I reached out to and a planning team was formed! I was so thankful! They have all stepped up in different areas to use their gifts and we are working together as a team to get ready for this! God also brought me to a girl at Emmanuel College who was planning to host one and we decided to join together! It has been amazing to see how God has worked everything out so far and has been so faithful to provide. :) 

So now that I have shared how this all came to be, I just wanted to ask that you consider PRAYING for this event and everyone involved in planning it. I would appreciate it so much! Please pray for the IF leadership team as they prepare for this event and get ready to teach and lead thousands of women. Pray for our planning team as we prepare to host our IF: Local at Emmanuel College and that God would work out all the details for us. Pray for the thousands and thousands of women that will be coming together that weekend to grow in their relationship with Jesus or maybe even hear about Him for the very first time. Pray that lives would be changed, that hearts would be healed, that hopes would be restored, and that women would more fully understand their specific calling! On a more personal note, you can also pray that I would be able to balance everything I have going on right now as we get ready for IF. Pray that I would be confident in what God has called me to do and not let insecurity creep in and take away the joy from this experience! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to pray in these last couple weeks leading up to this event. It means so much to me! I know that He hears each one of our prayers and that He is going to do something BIG on February 6-7 in this community and in the days to come!! 

Love,