By Madilyn Moore
Contributing Writer
On February 29, the Canadian County Cowboy Church hosted the Courageous Daughters of Christ Conference, an opportunity for mothers and teens ages 12 to 19 to reconnect with each other, themselves and their relationship with Christ.
The event was headed by church member Sabrina Austin.
“The conference is for mothers and teens,” said Austin. “At the conference they talked about purity, bullying and relationships between mothers and daughters. They also talked about how as moms and teens we are so plugged into our phones and how they can communicate and plug into their relationship with each other and with God. We especially talk about their relationship with God.”
Tickets to the 2020 conference cost $15 and included lunch and a variety of speakers and activities. Proceeds from the tickets will go back to the church for different expenses and even to fund other conferences at the Cowboy Church.
“We had breakfast and the mothers and daughters were able to shop while waiting for the conference to start,” Austin said. “They are able to eat breakfast, drink some coffee and get some energy in them before the conference. At the conference we were able to sit and listen and be connected together and have that time together away from the outside world.”
“We did break out sessions and had several activities throughout. We had some different things that we gave to the mothers and daughters as a thank you and a gift to them. There were breaks for them to where they could shop and we also provided them a meal that is good for them,” Austin said.
Many vendors came to sell at the conference.
“Close to 20 vendors signed up,” Austin said. “There are different ones like ones for direct sales, craft vendors and other types like LuLaRoe for clothing and Scentsy, those types of local vendors.”
Austin put in a lot of thought when it came to choosing the perfect speakers and singers for the conference.
“I know some of the people say ‘why do you have to meet with your speakers?’ and it’s because I want to know what they are going to be talking about and if they’ve got the right heart,” said Austin. “Do they have the heart for God? Are they going to have the heart for the women? Can they keep the attention of the women? I have even gone to other conferences to hear other speakers and see if I want to invite them to our conferences.”
While planning the daughters conference, Austin felt drawn toward her speakers, seemingly ordered from the divine.
“I felt God telling me to call Cami and ask her to do this conference, so I called her and asked her to speak,” said Austin. “After that, I called Meg Lynch and asked her to speak as well and everything seemed to fall right into place. God just knew what needed to happen.”
Planning for the event was a long process for Austin and her team.
“The first year we had Shana Perry who took the wings of everything and what needed to be done and she wasn’t able to do it this year, so I had to take the wing of that since I had already been running the women’s conferences,” Austin said.
“I have a team of about five or six ladies who come in and we meet and we plan everything together and send out the flyers and share it on Facebook.
“We got the fliers all ready and out in December and we started talking about it in September of last year and got the speakers all planned.”
Austin believes in the power of the conference and has seen change in those who attended the get together.
“As far as their relationships, I’ve heard the mom’s and teen’s relationships after the conference bettered,” said Austin. “You see it here as you are looking at moms and teens and you see the hurt and by the end of the conference they are hugging and crying. You can just feel it in the atmosphere and coming to this conference is a blessing to anybody.
I’ve been praying for these women and these moms to come and that they would have a renewing, restoring fire lit for God and have their lives saved.”
