160: Why Copying Other Women’s Ministries Doesn’t Work & How To Find What Does | with Dee Bryce

In today’s episode, guest Dee Bryce explains why copying other women’s ministries often falls short and how to create a ministry that truly resonates with your unique context.

Dee shares practical advice on discovering the rhythms that work for your church and community, focusing on authenticity over imitation.

Tune in to hear Dee’s story and get some great tips on building a ministry to women that’s personal, impactful, and reflects not only your vision but the needs of the women you’re serving.

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Transcript

Laurie Acker: 0:01

Hey, this is Laurie Acker, welcome to the small church ministry podcast. Hey, hey, welcome back to another episode of the small church ministry podcast. My name is Laurie, and I've got a great guest with us again. Today, I want to introduce you to Dee Bryce, who's off in the UK, across the pond from me. And Dee, I think I will just let you introduce yourself real quick. I know that a lot of people in our community just have really loved gaining from your wisdom, your authenticity, your sharing at conferences and in the network as well. But go ahead and give people who don't know you a little peek into the life of Dee Bryce.

Dee Bryce: 0:48

Okay. First of all, hey, Laurie, thank you for having me on the podcast. Starts to be here. Yeah. A little bit about me. Okay, what can I say? So I live in the north of England, in a little town called Huddersfield. A lot of people haven't heard of it, but then I start reeling off names of famous people that are associated with Huddersfield, and then they suddenly realize, oh, okay, so such a place did exist. So north of England. Have lived in the UK all my life. Lived in the north, pretty much all my life, apart from three years in South Wales, another beautiful part of the United Kingdom. I am married to Tony 31 years. We have two amazing sons, Joe and Jay. They are 25 and 17. I work full time. I'm bi vocational. I lead the church, along with my husband, Tony, who's the Senior Pastor of Olive Branch Community Church based in Bradford, which is the nearest city at to Huddersfield. So we have the commute as well on a Sunday morning. So you're probably getting a picture of my probably too busy life, or very busy life, should I say? So that's me in a nutshell. I love to travel. I love people. I love meeting new people. Culture, how different people do different things. I'm always fascinated to try new things as well. I'm very much the pragmatist, so I don't over analyze anything. Just like, let's just give it a go. What else do I love? I love shopping. But I do. I do love shopping. So, so, yeah, I'd just like to have fun. I do love to have fun if I get the opportunity. And I love to sing. I love to sing, and I sing in a choir. So I do that along with all of the things I've just mentioned.

Laurie Acker: 2:52

Yeah, awesome. Well, thanks for being with us today. Specifically, we're going to be talking about women's ministry with our women's ministry for small churches conference coming up in just the next few weeks. But Dee, before we jump heavy into women's ministry, you are in a small church. You and Tony planted this church. It's been around for a while now, but I know you have had your hands in a lot of other ministry areas. Like most people in small churches, you know many of us have experienced in tons of different areas, or we get called in when we're needed. What other kind of ministry experience do you have besides women's ministry? Before we dive deep, there? Sure.

Dee Bryce: 3:31

So been in ministry for a long time. I'm actually now trying to cast my mind back. How far I would probably say about 30 years of ministry in different capacities. Have done everything from worship leading to children's church to working with youth to ushering, stewarding, church administrator, you know, I've done it media, media production and sales, because we used to be on the leadership team of mega church. So we've not always been in a small church. We've done everything from small to medium to to large churches. So so there's been lots of opportunities to serve in different capacities, just seeing the different processes, how different churches do what they do. But I have to say, I do love small church. So we we planted 12 years ago, and we've always been a small church. We're a congregation of about 40 people, men, women and children, young people, quite a lot of young people. We get lots of visitors, but we love we love our communities. Is great.

Laurie Acker: 4:51

Yeah. Thanks for sharing a little bit about your experience. One of the things that I love about talking with people in smaller churches is they just have a breadth of experience. Experience, and a lot of the things that we talk about and train on, in in our conferences, in our courses and things, everything is like transferable, right? So when you lead one ministry area, you're learning skills, hopefully, people skills, administrative skills, planning skills, that we take into a lot of different ministry areas, and yet, there's always some specific nuances within different ministry areas too. So let's just jump into women's ministry. How before you started doing women's ministry now, which I know you have, I can't wait to talk about how you do it, because it's really unique and it's really different. Can you talk about what kind of experience or feelings you came into women's ministry with

Dee Bryce: 5:45

I'm laughing because I never, before we we planted Olive Branch, I never actually got involved in women's ministry. I know that's a big, big confession, but it's the absolute truth, and I'll tell you why I, like I said, I've observed different churches, how we do what we do, and I'm one of these people that I'm very much about the essence of a thing, IE, is it speaking directly to my needs, or speaking directly into my into my soul, and just kind of like going to the deep stuff that really affect me, not just as a woman, but as a person. You know, the things around, what am I thinking? What am I feeling? How am I coping? And I didn't necessarily, I couldn't see that in the models that I had seen, yeah, and so I was never really drawn, because I'm not necessarily big on activity based programs, so going on a walk, or we're going to read a book, or we're going to watch a movie, or we're going to do a craft, and I don't have any issues With any of those things. And I know, you know, people love, you know, getting into those stuff, but it just didn't speak to me. Yeah, and so I've, I never really got involved with women's ministry before that. And I have to really say that when the women's ministry in Olive Branch was birthed, it's called flourish. When flourish was birthed, I very much saw that as the Lord really kind of speaking to me about the needs that I was seeing, and that's really what birthed the ministry. It was me seeing the needs of the women that were in front of me at that time.

Laurie Acker: 7:40

So good. So I want to just talk about this for a minute, since, since we're kind of already going there. If you're listening right now and you love women's ministry, you're not alone. There's a lot of people who do. But I also want to say every woman is so different, and I meet more and more women who love Jesus. They're amazing people. And honestly, what you're sharing is is not atypical either, that I just never really thought women's ministry was for me, the activities weren't speaking to me. And so we love to talk about like women's ministry doesn't have to look the same everywhere. And one of the things we'll be talking about the conference is also that every woman shouldn't be coming to every single event. Like, I think sometimes when we're leading we feel like, oh my gosh, they don't like me. Or, why isn't that person coming? And we've got to really look at the fact that every event, or every program or even every worship service isn't meant for every single person. Like, I think there's a judgment that we put on, like, if we're doing a good job, everyone will come to everything, you know. And that's really not the case. And that is not how Jesus did ministry, either. So, um, so talk about, like, your transition in, in flourish, and what you did differently, or things you learned along the way.

Dee Bryce: 9:27

Okay, so, yeah, there's been lots of learning along the way. It initially, when we when we birth, flourish, we started off, or we kick started with a prayer breakfast. I've never done a prayer breakfast before, so it was like, let's just see what, see what happens. Let's see who comes. And I

Laurie Acker: 9:46

would say that's a deep place to start. Like to start with a prayer breakfast. You know, I'd be the one saying, try a book club. You know, do something. But you went deep.

Dee Bryce: 9:57

I just went deep. I was like, Okay, well, I feel like I need to pray. So hopefully there's two or three other women that will come that want to pray as well. I was blown away by the first attendance. There were 45 women in the room. Wow,

Laurie Acker: 10:12

that's bigger than your church right now, bigger than

Dee Bryce: 10:15

my church right now, bigger than the church at that time. Wow. Because, bearing in mind, we'd actually launched that year, there were only 12 of us when we when we launched, and so to have 45 women in the room that had come because they heard there was going to. Prayer, but there was going to be breakfast, and there was going to be time for women to come together with other women and just be in the room together. And that has really been the essence of flourish, is bringing women together in the room. So I don't always worry too much about filling the program with what I need to say. I just need to get women in the room, and so, so once the women were in the room, they they were able to identify with other women in the room. And yes, there was a theme that day, and the theme was speaking to the heart of the women. We were just talking about those moments where we can just feel like and I actually took a plant pot with me that was all dried up. I'll never forget it. So plant pot all dried up, the leaves were dead, the roots were dry. And the analogy was, ladies, do we not sometimes feel this way. You know, everything can potentially look okay on the outside, but actually the roots are dry, the soil is dry, and we're just feeling parched, and we're just wanting father to water those dry places, and just seeing tears and people getting out tissues and just really connecting with the theme, because it's speaking into the heart of the women. We're not necessarily praying about a specific topic or exploring a specific woman in the Bible. It wasn't themed like that. It was about, let's speak to our souls, what's going on with us? Yeah. And so that's how I started, and that's how I continue. So it kind of evolved from there. We were doing annual conferences. We didn't have brunches at the time. We did have we did have local meetups. There was a lot of prayer in the early days, but it was also quite social as well, and very organic. I think it's probably more structured now than it ever was, but it's never been a full program. Of this week we're going to do this, and next week we're going to do that, and the full week we're going to do this, it was like, No, we're going to do this at a rhythm that is manageable for the people that are involved in organizing it and for the women that are attending.

Laurie Acker: 12:48

Okay, I want to stop there for one second. There's a few things I want to loop back to, but you just said, instead of, basically, instead of over programming a rhythm that is manageable for the people attending, as well as the people who are who are managing it. And I think that is something that is so worth highlighting, because, you know, the title of this podcast, which we haven't even mentioned yet, is why copying other women's ministries doesn't work? Because so oftentimes we see, oh, that works there. Let's import that. And if you're listening right now, the last thing Dee and I are saying is you should start with a prayer breakfast, because quite honestly, in many places that would flop like that wouldn't work at all, and that might not be what your women need. So we're not talking about copying other women's ministries, but I think it's so important to hear what, what different people in women's ministry have learned along the way, how God has worked. But then how do we make it organic? Because that's one word you've already said, is, is organic. So it's so fun to hear your story on how you, how you kind of evolved along the way. But can we even just back up like you kind of mentioned you did a prayer breakfast because you needed to pray more. Like I heard you say that. You said, Well, I needed to pray, so maybe two or three other women would too. Do you think that's a great place to start? Like, if somebody's just starting a women's ministry, or feeling like we need to figure out what we should do here. How do we know what might work or where to start?

Dee Bryce: 14:17

Sure? So I think one of the things that's also important, as well as me thinking actually I need that, is just listening to women and the conversations they're having and the conversations they're having with you. And one of the things that I really wanted to share on this podcast is to almost like flip the mindset of women's ministry to ministering to women, yes, because when we think of women's ministry, it's very structured, it's very programmed, and we're always thinking of what activities we need to do, and we're having to do lots of thinking about what we think the women would like. But actually, when you're ministering to women, the question changes, the focus changes. It's now, what kind of things are women struggling with? Generally, what do they need? What do they need? What do they need? Do they need quality time? Do they need time for themselves? Do they need to pamper do they need to talk about parenting issues? Do they need to talk about the things they can't talk about with their their spouses? Do they. Just time out to to be with other adults. You know, if they've got young children that spending all day with their little ones, and they just crave some adult conversation, just for a couple of hours, just some time for them, are they struggling with menopause? Are they struggling with divorce? Are they? Are they struggling with domestic abuse, violence? There's all sorts going on with women. Yeah, the context of conversation and relationship, you can tease those things out. So I'm very much. So that's the starting point, yeah, really hearing the women, just really listening to the conversations they're having about the themes that they're struggling with. I was actually sat with the lady a couple of weeks ago, and we were having a random conversation, and she started to talk about her struggle being on her own at the age of 62 having gone through divorce, but now feeling lonely and wants companionship and how difficult. And just listening to her talk about how difficult it is to be single in the 21st century. You know, I've been married for 31 years, and it's like this, there's, there's, there's things for me to learn from those women who are experiencing that, yeah, and so let's, let's have a conversation, so that immediately gets my cogs going. And I'm thinking, I can organize something around this, because now the team is speaking to a certain group of women. Will everybody come? No, if it doesn't speak to them, that's okay. There will be other things that we will do, other events we will have that will speak to those needs. But clearly, there's specific needs about specific areas of women's lives, and so let's, let's dig into that. Let's flip, flip the thought process to think about. I don't need to just put a program together, but I need to think about how I construct it around what women actually need, and you see a change in interest. You should see a change in excitement. You see a change in attendance. I guarantee you, you know, if you just start to think about some of those things, and you may not necessarily get all of the numbers that you want, that you will have women in the room who are really interested and invested in what you're doing. Yeah,

Laurie Acker: 17:57

you know, I love that you even just mentioned that, that you may not have all the numbers that you want, but the people who are there, it's almost like, when we do things that I feel like, like when, when it's right, you know, like, like, when I got it, like somebody is just grasping, like somebody is is really thirsty and hungry and absorbing and and we're all kind of connecting in a different way. So I love that you brought that up. So I know you were talking kind of like about your evolution from where you started with flourish in your church plants. You've been doing this ministry for more than a decade. It looks different now than most women's ministries, like I will that's one of the reasons I wanted you to talk specifically about this, because you have an incredible, I would say, an incredible, women's ministry, but it looks very different than what I would say is very typical right now. Can you let everybody know how it how you know what I'm noticing that looks different.

Dee Bryce: 18:55

Okay, so it's not weekly, it's not monthly. We gather Quarterly. We gather annually for retreat, and in between time, we are just doing life together, yeah, and that's that's the power of it. We're just doing life together as a community. We're not organizing activities to do life together. We're seeing each other every week. We are hanging back after the service to find out what's going on with each other's lives. We're talking before the service. We sometimes we have to, like, just say to the ladies, okay, now, ladies, it's time for the service. It's time to begin. Yeah, you know, the guys are already, you know, in the room and ready for the meeting to start. But the women are doing they're doing life together in the church community. This is the olive branch women. And then we have a community of women outside of olive branch that very much see themselves as the flourish community. We have a group of ladies in South Yorkshire who have actually got together. They got together as a result of coming to one of the branches, and now have their own they have their own gathering. They're building community in their part of in their part of the UK. And they recently invited me and some of our ladies to come to their mini retreat that they organized for us based on the model that we. Had practiced. It was beautiful. It was really beautiful. And so, so, so the difference is we're not using structured activities, week on week, month on month, to build community. We are a community of women coming together quarterly to spend more time with each other. Yeah, so it's, it's, it's a beautiful thing, because these women are now excited about the protracted time that we spend together quarterly. They're bringing their friends, they're bringing their sisters, they're bringing their nieces, people who don't go to church, and we have lots of unsaved women coming now as well. We have young ladies, we have older ladies, you know, mature ladies. So there's it's cross generational. Wow.

Laurie Acker: 21:21

So your quarterly brunches, so do you find that since you do less programming, you know you're not doing monthly, you're not doing weekly, since you do less programming, do you find that those brunches maybe are a bigger highlight, or you pour some extra energy into those 100%

Dee Bryce: 21:37

100% so because in our in our church community, I would say I'm thinking now probably 95% of our congregation work full time or part time, but sufficient hours where they're not able to have lots of hours during the day to do other things, and so we have to really map out what we do that kind of goes with the majority. So because everybody's working, and because we're working as well, we're working with a program that is manageable, yeah, and sustainable. That's a very important piece for small church. Because how often do we start programs that don't finish? Because, you know, volunteers get tired and they can't sustain the regularity of every week or every month or whatever. And so we we really kind of built it around, how can we sustain what we do, and how can we build it in a way that is sustainable for those that are volunteering, those who are part of the women's ministry? And so we landed on quarterly. And what it does is generate excitement with the women, to the point now where, when I'm feeling tired and I don't want to plan the next one, women are asking, when is the next one? Yeah, you know, yeah. Have you gotten dates? Yeah, the dates out yet. And so, so I'm already, now in November, mapping out 2025 and planning throughout 2025 in terms of when those will land, where they'll be held, because we've run out of space in our space to have those events, we're having to take the meeting out of the olive branch worship space and, you know, and have it somewhere else. Yeah, but it's, it's a good problem to have because it just, it's just telling me that, you know, there is a need, and whether there's a need, the women will gather for sure. Yeah, and

Laurie Acker: 23:39

you've said this before at conferences and with me personally, you, you've said this phrase before. I'm not sure if Coco Chanel was the first one to say it, but she used to say it too. But less is more, right? Less is less is more. And I think in this instance, not that every church or every women's ministry should be just doing quarterly brunches, but for you all, with the rhythms of your life, you have found that this is better, that women are more excited. They're bringing people outside the church. There's a group outside the church now who are patterning a community off of what they've seen with you. Like I think it's just a beautiful it's a beautiful model of finding what works for you. As a woman with a pretty high pressure job, you work full time. You know Tony works full time, like, what is manageable for you as well as what's manageable for your community. Do you want to tell everybody about your annual retreat? Because every time I see those photos popping up on Facebook, I am so jealous, like I want to be there, because the brunches pretty much feed into this. Like people are, they're, they're, can't wait to get to this. So can you tell everybody about that?

Dee Bryce: 24:44

Yeah. So the animal retreat, again, that began organically, that really did. So 2016 I was diagnosed with severe hypertension. Was very stressed. I remember being very, very stressed, and I decided to go on a retreat. I thought, I'm just going to take 24 hours out. I'm going to go on retreat and just have some time to myself just to relax. I'm not quite sure I'm going to do when I get there, but I'm I just need the time. So I just happened to mention it to a dear sister friend of mine, said I'm going on retreat. I just need 24 hours away just to recalibrate. And I didn't realize at the. Time, but she was also going through a really challenging time because she's not shared that. And she said, Can I come with you? And I said, Absolutely. And then the word kind of spread like wildfire. 12 of us went on retreat that year.

Laurie Acker: 25:49

Now, did you have a big plan, or did you feel pressure to plan something, because you were trying to take a week a day away, I

Dee Bryce: 25:56

was just trying to take a day away. So I won't say I felt pressured to plan. I felt excited to plan. And so I thought, I think there's something in this, so I'm just going to do this one and just see what happens. So we only went for 24 hours, and at the end of 24 hours, everybody was complaining that it was too short and that they wanted to do it again. And so that's really how the retreats began. So that was 2016 I'm now planning the eighth annual retreat, which is next June. We have it the same weekend every year, it's grown from 12 to next year will be 40 ladies in attendance. I'm not planning for it to get any bigger. I've said that before, and it just keeps growing. Um, we've had women that have been there from the very beginning, that still come year on year. And the reason they're coming is because, again, the weekend is not packed with activities and programs. Yeah, the weekend is emptied of all of that so that they can gather, to rest, recuperate, retreat, to pray, just to have their own rhythm. I don't have early morning prayer meetings or Bible studies or anything like that. These are women of God, who love God, who know the word. They just need time for themselves, away from the hustle, the bustle, the brushing, the working, the children, the rush. They don't need to come to another service. They just need to rest, and that's what draws the women. That's really what draws the women. So we go from Friday to Sunday. Friday, we gather, we dine together, and the women are getting to know each other, because for some of them, they've never met before, some amazing friendships have been formed as a result of the retreat. Saturday, from the top to till dinner time. They have their own time. They don't see me. I don't see them, apart from the girls I hear screaming in the in the spa, where they're swimming or in the sauna. They go for treatment. Some of them go for walks. They bring a book. Some of them go shopping. It's whatever you want to do with this day, this this day that's been carved out just for you, your day of rest. And for some of the women, it's the only day in that year where they get uninterrupted time. And so it becomes a highlight. So from the Saturday evening to Sunday lunch time, then we're pouring in. We're inspiring, we're motivating, we're exhorting. And so they look forward to that as well, because it's a call to action. And they're going away empowered. Bodies, refreshed, their minds, refreshed the spirits, refreshed, refreshed. And so off they go, and then they just start booking for the next one. So that's really how it works, and so it's become the highlight of the flourish calendar. And we also have the flourish brunch community, some of who, the majority of who do actually go to the retreat. But there's also quite a lot that don't come on retreat, because we appreciate that. Not everybody can necessarily afford to get away from for the weekend, right? But we do have an amazing group of women who sponsor ladies to go as well, which is really beautiful, because wherever we see the need was we we see the need that, okay, this lady looks like she really wants to be there, and she's struggling financially to get there. So we make it happen. Make it happen. Wow. So, so, yeah, so that's, that's how it works. And so this year, we are again piloting something new that may be built in every year from now. We're just going to see how it goes. And we're, we're not feeling bound to do it. We're doing it this year, but it doesn't mean we have to do it again next year. But we're gathering together the flourish community, with the olive branch community, and also with our tactics community, which is a program for men that Tony runs. So there's a group of men who are part of that community. Some of them don't, are not church. They don't come to church, but they'll come to tactics. We're bringing them all together in the room beginning of December for an end of year celebration and dinner and just time of fellowship and food and fun and laughter, and it's going to be great. So so we're going to see how that goes, and based on the feedback, we may decide to build that in. Into the program annually. But if we don't, we don't because, and I think the thing is, what I just want to say on that and as an encouragement to people, it's determining what's essential over what's desirable. So you kind of work with who you have and work with what you have. So I'm not necessarily saying you need to do it, how we do it, what you need to do it to the extent that we do it, because it's ultimately about who you have with you, who you have working with you, and what resource you have. That's really important, because we can feel under pressure to do it like another church or, you know, do activities like they do, or do it as often as they do, or do it as large scale as they do, but they may have more resource, they may have more people, they may have more money. And so it's about working with what you have. And so we've, we've we've worked with what we have, and we've worked it in a way that is not just beneficial to us, but it's been a blessing to literally all of the women that that gather. So

Laurie Acker: 31:39

yeah, so good. You know, one of the things I love about our community that we've built over the last few years, our community, meaning small church, ministry, our Facebook community, our conferences and all of that, is we really don't boil everything down to, hey, here's five steps. Here's exactly what you need to do and how you need to do it. Because copying other churches and other systems, it doesn't work because you're different, like your people are different, your community is different, your culture is different, but you are different as the person listening to this podcast right now, I just talked to one of our speakers for the upcoming women's ministry conference. She messaged me this morning and she said, You know, I'm just feeling really insecure. Who am I to be speaking at this conference? Like I am just like, I don't think I'm good enough, I don't think I've had, you know, and she just was kind of going off of it. I'm like, Well, you're the perfect person to speak here, because you get to share what God has done in you and in your church. Because there isn't one perfect women's ministry leader, there isn't one perfect church. There isn't one perfect way. And we see this throughout biblical history, throughout the way that God created us as individuals. You know, I think of that, that verse, you know, for such a time as this, like you were created for such a time as this. And as you were talking, Dee, about your church, about the rhythms that you all have created together, I'm just picturing you like you were created for, yeah, that you're running for, the women that you are reaching with this retreat, this annual retreat that many people would not relate to, but you were created for the time and place where you were. And how do we embrace that, you know, because it's so easy to get stuck in the comparison trap, and, you know, so and so in a village here, or a small town or an inner city in Kansas, or, you know, Australia, or up in Canada, how do we embrace our uniqueness and be okay? You know, sure, God's given us,

Dee Bryce: 33:41

yeah, and that's a really good question Laurie, because I think that where it begins is embracing how how the father works, how he works. And so if we look all through Scripture, we see how he does his selection process. It's normally the ones that no one considers. And I'm thinking specifically of David and his appointment. When David was anointed. He wasn't even in the lineup, yeah, for the anointing, right? He was in the field. He was not considered. And I think one of the things that the Lord always wants us to see is that it's not as man sees. So we're looking at the tallest and the biggest and the shiniest and the most popular and the greatest. And Father saying, I'm not actually looking for that. I'm not looking at what you're looking at. In fact, when you give me something that looks small, looks insignificant, I can work with that, yeah, because it's an acknowledgement of His greatness. And me saying, Lord, I haven't got anything with myself? Yes, I have some skills, but they don't work much without you. So would you just breathe on it? Yeah? And absolutely, does? He absolutely takes the small things, the unseen things, and, you know, confounds the wise with those things. Yeah, you know, yeah. And so it's embracing what Father says about us, that's the first thing, and knowing that we are there's not another one like us. I'm the only deed that there is, and you rightly said it, Laurie, he's called me to do this in this way with the people that I'm doing it with for such a time as. So it can't look like somebody else's or else, it's just a copycat. I always recall Tony talking about Samson, when he killed, when he slew 10, 10,000 men with a with a jawbone of a donkey, and saying, Can you imagine if he decided to use that method every time he went to battle, it just wouldn't work. That was our God chose to use him in that moment. You know, so for us to try and copy what somebody else is doing, it's it's not going to work. It's not going to work. And because we're not doing it the way they do. It doesn't mean we're not doing what we do well, yeah. So it's making a commitment to whatever you're doing, however small it is, however small the community is that you're reaching, but doing it well, and doing it with all your might, and investing all of yourself into the people that God puts in front of you, and that was a massive turning point for us, and small church ministry really helped us deal with that, where we're constantly thinking about how we're not doing it as well as or not doing it like them. Haven't got enough people, and we haven't got enough finance, and it released us completely to think actually, well, what do you have you do you know? And how can, how can you do it well? And so we started doing things well, not doing things in a way that people think is the right way. Because the only right way is doing it the way that father wants you to do it. And that's the key. That's it. Yeah,

Laurie Acker: 37:14

I think so often we look at people and we're like, Well, I'm not as well spoken as Dee, or I don't have the energy level that Laurie does, or I don't have the skill level in planning that Nancy does. And I think when we see that, we need to say, Yay, because God made me different. You know, different if each of us could embrace for such a time as this, like, I think a lot of times we use that phrase for other people, oh, look at that. God put them there for that reason. Well, we embraced that every single person listening right now to this podcast for such a time as this did. Is it possible that God put me right where I am for such a time is this, what would that look like?

Dee Bryce: 37:54

Absolutely, absolutely. And so the fact that you're even considering, how do I minister to women? How do I reach out to women, is enough for me to know that you clearly have purpose. You know, it's really about identifying how you want to go about that, but in a way that also is life giving for you, because let's not forget, yeah, that when ministering to women, we're also a woman, yeah, you know. So that's when, when I said, you know, I started off with a prayer breakfast, because I thought I need to pray. And so if I can get a few women to pray with me. That would be amazing. Yeah, you know, I was, I didn't have a number in my head. I just like, I just want to gather a few women to pray with me. And so it's not in terms of the size of it or where you have it. It doesn't have to be fancy. You could have some women around your home. You can gather if you're, if you're a lady who's a little bit introvert or screaming introvert, I'm a little bit introvert. I know people don't believe that, but I actually am. If you just want to gather people in your home and together you you're conversing, and you're you're talking about the things of God, or there's a theme or a subject matter that you want to discuss that is ministering to women. Yeah, you're ministering to women. So, so it doesn't have a particular bad or title on it. It's however you feel that you can serve. Yeah, and your service looks different from my service looks different from Laura's service. We're not the same, you know? And so it's, it's having a comfort in that, that you don't have to be a perfect orator, perfect speaker. That's why we don't invite keynote speakers to the retreats. We have women who are attending the retreat speak to other women who are attending the retreat. Because I want to mystify, demystify the the stage. I want to demystify it so that women know there's nothing special. Uber is special about the women that stand up here. They're just like you. We're all shaking. All our hearts are pounding, yeah, all our stomachs are going around like washing machines. We're all nervous. It's okay and so and so it's releasing yourself from the pressure to be perfect, and just to bring your offering, whatever father has you to bring you, just bring it.

Laurie Acker: 40:17

Yeah. Oh, so good. Dee, thanks for being with us today. Dee, we are so blessed to have you in our community. Anytime you are able to share and be with us, it's always just such a blessing. So thanks for being here with us. Today for everybody listening, we've got more coming, so make sure to tune in next week and please share this podcast as much as you find encouragement or hope or ideas. Can you imagine if everyone who listened shared it with one other person in a small church? Because I'm telling you, our small churches, we need encouragement, because God is working. And as much as we struggle at times with numbers or with believing that, Hey, God has his hand in this, other people do too. So please share this podcast, leave us a review, so that more people find US and until next week, be a light. You. Oh,