Conference History
In 1983, a group of eager students of the Word – Ann Richardson, Shirley Gardner, and Martha Carter – began their quest to start a women’s teaching ministry. They attended Southern Bible Institute (SBI) in Dallas, TX under Mount Olive Baptist Church's support of the ministry of that school. During Martha’s 4th and final year, the female students were required to take a class on teaching, where the final assignment was to plan a teaching ministry. The title of her submission was "Doing it God's Way!" Taking the idea beyond the classroom, Ann was chosen to approach late Senior Pastor N. L. Robinson with their ministry idea. He authorized a presentation before the Mount Olive Bible Institute (MOBI) leadership, which included Art Hunter and Kenneth Parson. The ladies introduced the ministry title, but in one of the early planning meetings, Rita Parson suggested a name change to "Christian Women Doing it God's Way".
In 2018, Cecilia Smith was invited to help coordinate the conference, with Gale Davis as chair. After Gale’s health decline and subsequent death in 2022, Cecilia began serving as conference coordinator, with Marilyn as chair. 2023 marked the milestone 40th Annual Conference which was held in grand style at The Hilton Arlington, May 19-20, with the theme, “Drawing Nearer: God’s Way is Still the Way,” from Galatians 2:20 and John 14:6. The 2024 conference theme, “Moving Forward: We Have Work to Do” from Hebrews 12:1-2, focused on the author’s description of believers as that of being in a race. No one stands still in a race, rather the goal is to progress at a steady pace. Similarly, we learned to move forward in our Christian race as a continuum of spiritual growth and faith. Under the leadership of Pastor Thompson, the annual women’s conference continues to support the mission of Mount Olive by teaching and mentoring women within our church and community.
It stuck!!
Over the years, the Women's Seminar moved from under MOBI to Sunday School (Ann Richardson), and then to the Deaconess Board (Ruby Odom). Sister Odom later assigned Janice Magee to chair the seminar, with Martha Carter as co-chair. The Seminar eventually evolved into the Annual Women's Conference in 2016 under Marilyn Garner, current president of the Deaconess Board for the past 24 years.
We will...
EXALT the Loving Savior EXPOUND the Living Scriptures EVANGELIZE the Lost Sinner EDIFY the Learning Saint
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