"Whole and Holy" Women's Convention Emphasizes Spiritual, Mental, and Physical Health
More than 1,000 women from across the North American Division attended the four-day event in Orlando, Florida.
North American Division (NAD)
Source: North American Division News, October 4, 2019, written by Mylon Medley
https://www.nadadventist.org/news/whole-and-holy-womens-convention-emphasizes-spiritual-mental-and-physical-health
[Florida, USA] More than 1,000 women were given the opportunity to enrich their lives spiritually, mentally, and physically during the “Whole and Holy” 2019 North American Division Women’s Convention. The four-day event, which included general sessions, breakout seminars, and worship services, was held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, September 26-29. The convention also featured a full day of community service activities, organized by the “God in Shoes” ministry, that took place across the city of Orlando.
“We've known for several years that we wanted this convention to be about women's health,” said Carla Baker, director of NAD Women’s Ministries, which hosts the convention every five years. “It gelled about a year ago when I read this wonderful text in the Message Bible paraphrase, 1 Thessalonians 5:23: ‘May the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, [and] put you together – spirit, soul, and body.’”
Hyveth Williams, delivered the Sabbath morning message. “A key to being whole and holy is to let the impossible seeds God plants in our mind take root in the depths of our soul and permeate the pathway of our heart in order to ultimately flourish and bear fruit,” she said. “All we've got to do is believe, trust, obey, and be patient.”
A program specifically curated for high school girls was offered for the first time in the convention’s history. Erica Jones, assistant director of NAD Women’s Ministries, spear-headed the programming in response to the growth of Gorgeous2God, the ministry’s teenage outreach initiative.
Guest speakers, Kiti Freier Randall, Katia Garcia Reinert, David DeRose, and Adly Campos, focused their presentations on healthy inter-personal relationships. Angeline David spoke about the relationship between health and spiritual brokenness from God. David also organized the first 5K race for participants at the convention.
Jo Dubs, founder and director of God in Shoes ministry based in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, organized a community service outreach event for Friday, September, 27. A cross-section of Orlando organizations addressing homelessness, hunger, safe spaces for girls and women, and systemic problems related to hygienic health were prepared to work with 625 women in accomplishing needed tasks. Dubs and her planning team had also organized the accumulation of donated supplies that were distributed to the organizations according to their wish lists. God in Shoes was also the official community service outreach organizer for the division’s women’s conventions in 2009 and 2014.
Erica Jones and the women’s ministries leaders of North American Division’s union and of the Bermuda Conference and the Guam-Micronesia Mission surprised Carla Baker, who is preparing to retire next year, with a farewell ceremony. Baker has been director of NAD Women’s Ministries for 14 years.
Read full story by Mylon Medley with photos about the NAD Women’s Ministries convention
Read full story by Mylon Medley with photos about God in Shoes ministry at the convention
Published in Mosaic newsletter, 2019 Q4, Winter issue
