INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–She had prepared another message, but when she woke June 15, God gave her one word: Fight, Beth Moore told 1,000 women (and a few men) at the annual Ministers’ Wives Conference on the first day of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.
The conference also included an appeal in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment, introduction of 2006 conference officers, and the announcement of Barbara O’Chester of Austin, Texas, as the recipient of the 2004 Mrs. J.M. Dawson Award.
“We are staggering,” Moore said. “We have been hit. Pastors’ homes, staff homes, churches are in all manner of assaults. You and I have got to fight.”
But choose your fights wisely, Moore advised. “We’re fighting so many battles we’re not fighting any well.
“And some battles are ones we ought not to fight,” the popular women’s Bible teacher said. Don’t fight for lost causes or for yesterday, she said. Moore drew a word picture of a woman standing in the Red Sea — longing for what she’d left in Egypt — as the water began to flow back into place.
“Whatever God has for you, it’s not behind you,” Moore said. “We have to accept the world is going to get worse. The good news is that God has not accidentally assigned us to this time.”
Moore cautioned her listeners to learn to say “no.”
“We cannot do a thousand things to the glory of God,” she said. “Do a couple of things and do them with everything you’ve got…. If you’re going to say ‘yes’ to God, you’re going to say ‘no’ to a bunch of other people.”
“Fight for your man,” she said. “Fight for your family. Fight for your marriage with everything you have got.
“If we’re not fighting for our marriages, who is? Young’uns grow up and he’s what you’ve got,” Moore said. “If you’re still drawing breath, you’ve got to keep working on your marriage.”
The speaker expressed her understanding of women whose marriages are not all they could be.
“If he’s neglecting you, let me tell you, God has taken notice of it,” Moore said. “It’s a good sign if we can cry ourselves to sleep. To get hard and cold is not an option. We need to love with more knowledge and insight…. I’m not talking jealous; I’m talking zealous. That’s your man. You be vigilant over him. And you tell him. Warn him…. Fight for your home with everything you’ve got and don’t take no for an answer.”
Moore, who acknowledged being intense in everything she does, moved to the subject of personal faith.
“Fight the good fight of faith,” she said. “The point of life is that you and I will have plenty of opportunities to see if you believe God.
“Can I get in your business?” Moore asked. “Are you having your quiet time with God? … Nobody has the right to take our own individualized personal time with God…. And what was the last Scripture you memorized?
“We’re busy about the wrong things,” Moore said.
She talked about the need for both the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith, then moved to Army fatigues and Cinderella’s ball gowns.
“Fight. The ball gown’s coming,” Moore said. “The time will come in eternity when you can take off that Army green and put on the ball gown, but until then, the woman is the warrior.”
Officers for the 2005 conference are Ginny Whitten of Idlewild Baptist Church, Tampa, Fla., president; Fern Sutton, Two Rivers Baptist Church, Nashville, Tenn., vice president; Barbara Fox of Immanuel Baptist Church, Wichita, Kan., recording secretary/treasurer; and Darla Grimm of First Southern Baptist Church, Sioux Falls, S.D., corresponding secretary.
Officers for the 2006 conference, announced at the 2004 conference, are Dorothy Patterson of Fort Worth, Texas, president; Karen Gilbert of Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., vice president; Lauren Fletcher of Ridgeway Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn., recording secretary/treasurer; and Dianne Wittman of Applewood Baptist Church, Denver, Colo., corresponding secretary.
Guest speaker for the 2005 Ministers’ Wives Conference is Kay Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Her topic: A purpose-driven woman.
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