The Declare Conference!

My greatest take away in attending the Declare Conference for Christian Blogging Women:  To be confident in God’s leading in using my voice in the blogging world and any other way He chooses to use me.

Here is a highlight of the weekend at the conference:

The first week of August, I attended a bloggers conference called, Declare! It was held in Dallas at the Mariott Las Colinas.

I had only been to one other blogging conference and that was a couple of years ago, which I learned so much but I was really enticed by Declare because it was geared toward Christian women and, that would be me.

I arrived Thursday just in time for a photography lab that I had signed up for before the conference began. I was in a class with 3 other women, so it was nice to have a lot of one on one with the instructor, Michelle Debenport. I took my Canon Powershot SX30 IS. I know nothing about cameras or photography, but would LOVE to be good at it. The first thing I learned was, that I really didn’t know anything about my camera. Fortunately, Michelle was very patient with me. Here is one of my pictures that I took as practice: (I know, you are saying, “keep working on it, Beverly!)

 

That evening The Mike Romero Band led us in worship, which was excellent. Keynote speaker, Jessi Connolly had a great message on Wild Inspiration!

During door prize time, they called my name as the winner of the Cracker Barrel Rocking Chair! When they were calling my name, I was thinking “wow, someone here has my same name!” Then I realized, it really was me. Yay!  Thank you, Cracker Barrel and Declare Team!

Breakfast, worship and an amazing message by Francie Winslow!

Then workshops began! This is hard for me, as I want to take every class. I settled on Essential Writing Strategies for Bloggers by Denise Hughes! Loved her and the class!

Lunch and next workshop, Leading with Grace by Jan Greenwood! I was inspired and excited. I bought Jan’s book, Women at War.   Jan, obviously practices what she preaches; as I was searching for a spot for breakfast one morning, Jan came over and asked me to join her for breakfast.  A new friend!

I then went to Shaun Groves class, Public Speaking When You’d Rather Type Than Talk! That class was an easy choice for me. Pretty much summed up my thoughts. Great class on speaking in public.

Dinner and keynote speaker, Lisa-Jo Baker! Once again inspired and I couldn’t wait until the next morning!

Did I mention they had workout time at 6 a.m? Did I mention…I didn’t do that? Maybe next year!

Kat Lee was keynote! Loved her message, Wild Obedience In The Small Things.

First workshop of the day and I chose a great class, Use Less Words To Communicate Big Ideas by Lara Williams! I learned a lot in that class just by knowing that I have too many words in this post.

Next on the agenda was, Blog Appeal and Attracting Publishing Professionals by Jessie Kirkland. This was a jam-packed class that was very interesting. So much great information.

A publishing panel was my next choice for the day.  Many questions were answered in the area of being published.

Dinner with Shaun Groves leading worship and Kristen Welch as our final keynote speaker was the end to a fabulous conference! Can it really be over already?

 

*Each time we came to our table for meals and keynote speakers, we would have gifts; jewelry, books, magazines, posters….I love prizes!

*During breaks it was fun to browse the Sponsor Booths. Many ministries were represented that touched my heart, such as:

Gospel for Asia, Veil of Tears

End Bible Poverty

Mercy House, Kenya

Plus many more!

I hope that helps a little bit in encouraging you to go next year. If you want to make a difference in our world through blogging, this is the conference to inspire you!

If you do go, I will see you there! Registration has already begun!     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/declare-2015-know-god-make-him-known-beautifuldeep-tickets-12373548617

You just may meet a new inspiring friend, too!

Lea Culp and Cindy Teel were two sweet ladies that I met.  (I didn’t get a a picture of Cindy.)

 

This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him. Psalm 91:2