We do. It would be a crime for us not to report back on the most amazing ministry trip I have ever taken in my life. As you read in our last post, a team of 9 of us led 4 women's worship events in homes in Texas. Each event was different. Different focus, different needs and different experiences. There were no divas in our ranks, just regular girls doing the stuff. While one girl stomped our her intercession, a few more laid some hands. While one painted about rest and peace, the others sang it out. And in some mysterious way, we all received as much as we gave out. As we pressed in for the ladies we were loving, we received new freedoms ourselves. It felt like a crash course in freedom, like there was no time to waste. To this day, each team member is reporting a renewed passion for Jesus. We remember who we are! We came back full instead of drained. At the end of each event, ladies would come up to us and sincerely thank us for coming. "I never God would talk to me like that!" was what one sweet worshiper told us. Ask us how happy we were to hear that!! The proof that the mission was successful was when on multiple occasions, girls would say to us, "We are going to do this. We can do this. After you leave, we are going to do this". That was the point! Which brings me to some thoughts on ministering to women in this day and age….

Since this trip, I have been thinking so much about ministering to women. It seems to me that in my own church culture experience, there has been a common approach to loving on ladies. When I was growing up, it usually involved a luncheon, a soloist, some extensive table decorations and a speaker. Ingenious for it's day and age. I remember those events really being something that ladies would show up for. Even pre-believers could tolerate a dose of God-talk if you gave them some quiche, fruit and coffee. In my small town, I saw ladies show up to those luncheons, held at a local community hall, that would never darken the doors of a church. It worked. I can still remember being touched and challenged by the speakers. Plus, I was always vying for a chance to be the soloist.

But this is a different day and I am having a different experience than I did then. I love a good luncheon as much as the next lady, but I feel like I have less and less time to waste on pretense. I also have a different language. What is meaningful to me is music and art of all forms and really getting to the "neety greety". I would rather skip the doilies and sit on the floor in someone's living room. In the little time that we actually have to be together, I want to get busy and see women set free. I want to hear a real story from somebody that I can relate to and have it change me in some way. I want to be able to pray for other people and be prayed for myself. If what I need that day is to lay down on the floor and be still, then I want to be able to do that. I want to see a piece of art created in front of me that encapsulates what I am feeling about God in that moment. I want to hear someone sing a song straight from their heart. I want to feel like I could invite ANY of my friends and not have them be too weirded out by church culture and Christianese. When I leave, I want to feel like I have connected to some other women and heard from God. I want to feel refreshed and different. I want a luncheon on crack and I don't want to have to dress up. But I still want coffee.
I want, I want, I want. What do you want? I am continually dreaming about new ways to gather women together in God's presence. There is something about the female persona that makes these gatherings so different from corporate gatherings. I want to break new ground and set new precedents. I want to carry on the work that Aglow and Christian Women's Clubs started when I was a child, but for a NEW generation. When Ivy grows up, I want her to be doing what is right for HER day and age. So, I am begging you to blog with me. Please throw your thoughts and dreams about this subject out here on the wide world of web (to quote Jamie Presley). Let's create a dialog that will pave the way for a new move of God in women. TALK TO ME!

Michelle

P.S. check out www.myspace.com/womenworship to get a better look at what we have been up to!

The World Wrestling Federation is not the only organization with claims on that acronym. Women's Worship Fellowship is another proud bearer of those letters. Started in 2001 in Fort Worth by me and my cohort, Mary Luker, it began as an experiment in women worshiping in freedom in a home setting. We would sing for hours straight out of the Scripture while artists of various forms worked away at their expressions. We loved it being in homes and the freedom that atmosphere provided. In that initial launching time, some amazing songs and works of art were birthed. More than that, we went places in worship that aren't often seen in a quicker, more official type setting. There were times we felt like we were singing the songs of heaven.
When I moved to Colorado, I ached for those times and wondered if God would allow us a chance to experience that again. In fall 2005, Cathleen Hobson and I launched WWF Colorado with a group of ladies more ready and raring to go than we had ever experienced. For two years now, 30-40 ladies have attended each event (still in a home!) and each event is different. We have experimented with dance, art, communion, prayer, journalling, foot washing and spontaneous worship blow outs! We have seen women refreshed, encouraged, freed up, healed and connected to other women in the process.

We began dreaming about the possibility of taking some of our Colorado women to encourage women in other places, to give away to others what has been given to them. We put out the feelers with some friends in Texas and immediately got some takers. The goal of the trip would not be to go show other gals "how it's done", but rather to inspire them to pursue times of worship within their own communities. We want to communicate that ANYBODY can gather women together to worship, no stage or sound system required. We wanted to release them in their giftings and pray for them to be freed up from the fear of man.

This is the week! A group of 6 of us is being sent out on Wednesday. We will join forces with Marsha Ashabraner, Mary Luker and Kim Vidaurri to gather with women in several cities in Texas including Prosper, Fort Worth, Houston and Benbrook! If you are interested in any of these events, please visit our WWF website at www.myspace.com/womenworship for locations and details. Please pray for us as we call down the Kingdom on these women! We want to see women free to express themselves to God exactly how He designed them to.

painted by Nancy Posey at WWF events

Next on the list, for our dearest friend, Kimberly—Red Day. If you know our music at all, you know that the Juniper Loop recording is so different from the others. It's the album where we deposited all of our real life, everyman stuff. It's purpose was to be accessible to Joe Schmoe in the bar (which is mostly where we played that stuff) with some universal subject matter.

Red Day is on that recording and it is basically me throwing a fit. I was sick of being poor. Music for some, is lucrative. For us, not yet. I stress the yet. We made a choice early in our marriage that we would rather try and fail, then never try at all. We left our jobs and went after the whole independent artist thing. At the time I wrote this song, we had two little babies. There are ups and downs to every self-employment gig and for a long while, our downs seemed chronic. If you have ever been broke, maybe you can relate to the beat-down it is to feel that stress for years on end. It starts to color your perception and it chokes out hope after a while. So that's where I was. I felt like I was called to do something, but the struggle to do it was causing me to wonder if I really was. Honestly, I wanted to quit so bad. I wanted to run away from music and I was so dang mad at God. I felt like He called me out and then HUNG me out. The bittersweet truth of it is that even when I was so mad, so hurt and so discouraged, I could not drag myself away from God. I was so sold on Him and so utterly convinced of Him that I found myself mad at Him and feeling betrayed by Him and totally in love with Him all at the same time.

So there it is, a red day is a day where nothing holds you together but the blood of Jesus. It's your last hope and your last comfort. You know the cool thing I have discovered about being a Christ follower? You are allowed to throw fits. Today my friend Esther needs to throw a fit. Throw it, sister.

when it lays me down
on the lowest floor
and the bravest weapon
doesn't cut anymore
doubt pursues me like a lover
faith and hope have run for cover
but I say

shaken
grounded–trembling to the core
broken
bonded–crawling back for more

and the hardest part
of this whole ordeal is
I can never get enough
of the way You make me feel and
thoughts arise and climb and clatter
fear ascends me like a ladder
and I stay…..

and it's a red, red day under the flow