Rev Gals Friday Five

I haven't participated in the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five meme in a while. Many RevGals are on their way to the Festival of Homiletics in Atlanta next week, so this week's Friday Five Meme, courtesy of reverendmother, is about conferences.

1. Describe a memorable conference, retreat, workshop or convention you've attended.

My favorite one was the most recent one, "People of His Presence" at Riverside A/G in Hutchinson, Minnesota. The workshops were great (I rarely say that) and the music was good and the main speaker, J. Lee Grady, was so encouraging. More about that in the next question

A very close second was a few years ago. It was the first annual "Conference for Women in Ministry" held in Springfield, MO, headquarters of the Assemblies of God in the USA. All of it was excellent, but Dr. Deborah M. Gill was the featured speaker. I'd go a long way to hear her. She is a Greek and Hebrew scholar, a gifted musician, teacher, and preacher, former pastor, current director of Discipleship for the A/G. She taught about the biblical role of women in ministry. What she said was not new to me, because I had been studying the subject for some time, but I still throughly enjoyed her presentation and purchased a video. The good thing though was watching women around me as they reacted to "Dr. Debbie." Women leaned forward, listening with intensity that I had never seen before. The large auditorium was silent. Some women's mouths literally were open as they seemed to drink in the words. Amazing!

I attended a second one a couple of years ago, and I'll be attending this one later this year, but the first one will probably never be surpassed, at least in my mind.

2. Tell us about a memorable speaker or preacher you've heard.

At the recent "People of His Presence" conference I heard J. Lee Grady and blogged about it here.

3. Do you attend all of the scheduled events, or play hooky? If the latter, what do you do with your free time?

That depends on the topics. I usually do not play hooky unless the workshop choices do not apply. I figure if I paid for a conference and travelled to a conference, I should get as much out of it as possible.

4. Do you like having a roommate or would you rather have a room to yourself?

That completely depends on who the roomate is! I like being alone, but I also like congenial company.

5. What's the most exotic location you've conferenced or retreated?

Nothing particularly interesting. I'd love to attend a conference in Hawaii or something. Best I could do was Anaheim, California, and a trip to Disneyland after the conference.