Springfield | “I appreciate what God does each year that he brings us here,” said Vivian Johnson. “Here” is the annual Priority Conference, a women’s leadership event.
“Our women’s department has grown quite a bit because of their experience,” she continued. “One thing that I have a concern about is somebody saying they’re giving their life to the Lord, but it doesn’t stick and they’re right back out in the world.” She thinks the event helps prevent that from happening.
By coming to Priority, Johnson, a member of Galena Park Baptist Church in Peoria Heights, said they “really get to know God for themselves” and not only that but each other. “The personal relationships, that’s what’s happening,” she declared.
Held at the Bank of Springfield Center on April 26-27, this year’s Priority Conference had a registration total of nearly 500 and that’s not counting the exhibit hall vendors, speakers, worship leaders, musicians, volunteers, guests, and the attendees at the seven churches that signed up to host simulcast events.
“Priority is a place to intentionally sit with God,” said Carmen Halsey-Menghini, IBSA’s director of leadership development who coordinates the conference. “It’s a time of celebration and worship.”
She described Priority as, “A time to learn from our sisters who are on this journey with us so we can go home with more tools in our toolboxes and better share the love of Jesus with our worlds.”
First-time attender Tabitha Snyder, a member of Net Community Church in Staunton, said she wasn’t quite sure what to expect but her friends who’d been before assured her it would be good.
The first breakout class she attended was “A Spiritual Reset” led by Diane Nix of Contagious Joy 4 Him. It was one of the nearly 30 breakout sessions offered. “It was the most impactful,” said Snyder as she shared how spiritually refreshing the class was for her. “I feel like if I could have just gone to that one class this whole time, and it would have been enough to impact my heart about what God’s been trying to speak to me about burnout. It’s all just about him and having a relationship with him.”
Remembering God’s faithfulness in the hard times and holding on to hope was the focus of Lifeway Trainer Anne Harrison’s keynote session. “It helps us rely on his future faithfulness,” said Harrison. “As believers, we are a people of hope because we have a God of hope. And that hope, it gives us perspective. It gives us perseverance.”
National WMU President Connie Dixon was another of the event’s keynote speakers. She addressed the need for compassion in our world because of our hope in Christ. Dixon said it’s because of this hope that “we need to be compassionate to all. Compassion goes far beyond simply seeing and praying for those who are suffering. It’s compassion that helps you take action to alleviate that suffering.”
Evangelist Bruce Kugler addressed the topic of spiritual warfare and breaking the bondages of sin in our lives. He said there are two persons who know us better in our lives than any other – God and Satan. “Satan knows your weaknesses. He already knows the open doors in your life. Satan will exploit [our weakest areas] until we do something about it.”
Catherine Renfro reminded the attenders, “God has a way of taking the ordinary and doing extraordinary things.”
She told the story of the widow in 1 Kings 17, who had so little food to offer the prophet Elijah but fed him before feeding herself and her son. She gave of what little she had and the Lord honored her for it. “For the remainder of the drought she never ran out of oil and flour,” said Renfro, the National Director of Women’s Evangelism for the North American Mission Board.
“The little that we have to offer in the hands of God is a lot,” Renfro said.
Priority 2025 is calendared for April 25-26 with a location to be announced.
Watch the Priority 2024 recap reel.
Look for a complete recap of the Priority Conference in the June issue of the Illinois Baptist newspaper.