YOU GUYS!!!
Y'all know how much I love the IF:Gathering, yes?
I mean, I have been on board since Day One!
I love everything about this event and the heart of it and the message that comes from it and through it and how it spreads and multiplies and how God is using this Gathering worldwide, for the King and His Kingdom!
(Prepare yourself for a feast of iphone snapshots!)
This is the second year that our little church plant has hosted an IF:Local event. We like to do it 'live' because --well, the worship and also - the interwebs! We want to watch it as it is happening... or at least as close as we can make it work while in a different time zone!
This year: 42 women signed up.
Forty. Two.
(That's almost half of our church, y'all!)
Of course, way before that first weekend in February, we sowed in to this ministry and all that God had planned for us. We began dreaming and interceding months in advance.
Listen, the IF:Team is amazing out of Austin and they make it SO easy to host. They truly give you everything you need, and then you can add to that whatever 'extra' you may want to pour in to it! They stay true to the subtitle: Pure & Simple.
More than any decorations or fun crafty ideas, we wanted to bathe the women in prayer... from praying over their journals to praying over which host home they would be assigned to, these ladies were covered in prayer! This, in turn, raised up our expectation level and the excitement was tangible through the whole church!
Let the crafting begin!
Okay... so the church is set up for Saturday, but one of my favorite things that we did this year is we took Acts 2 literally, and we met up in small groups in homes across the Valley.
So I ran home and got ready for a house filled with love...
And then came Saturday...
All the small groups gathered together at Dad's House church and spent the day pressing in... learning, listening, and loving on each other through out the day!
So if you are not familiar yet with IF let me just say this:
These girls don't mess around!
They go deep and they are real and raw and honest... and they inspire us all to do the same!
They create an atmosphere where we honor each other and make room for God... where we hear Truth and Love and Grace... where we experience both foundational roots going deep down, and releasing wings setting captives free! They speak into our true identity and encourage and equip us to live life out loud, for the King and His Kingdom!
They remind us that it is Simple & Pure... that it is easier than we make it and that it requires this: Discipline to be with God first... and then Willingness to go live life out loud... face to face, heart to heart, in community with purpose and intention!
At the end of the conference, they asked who poured in to you... who made you love Jesus by living intentionally and loving well? (And then we prayed and asked the Lord to show us who He has for us to intentionally disciple and pour into this year!)
Y'all know how much I love the IF:Gathering, yes?
I mean, I have been on board since Day One!
I love everything about this event and the heart of it and the message that comes from it and through it and how it spreads and multiplies and how God is using this Gathering worldwide, for the King and His Kingdom!
(Prepare yourself for a feast of iphone snapshots!)
This is the second year that our little church plant has hosted an IF:Local event. We like to do it 'live' because --well, the worship and also - the interwebs! We want to watch it as it is happening... or at least as close as we can make it work while in a different time zone!
This year: 42 women signed up.
Forty. Two.
(That's almost half of our church, y'all!)
Of course, way before that first weekend in February, we sowed in to this ministry and all that God had planned for us. We began dreaming and interceding months in advance.
Listen, the IF:Team is amazing out of Austin and they make it SO easy to host. They truly give you everything you need, and then you can add to that whatever 'extra' you may want to pour in to it! They stay true to the subtitle: Pure & Simple.
More than any decorations or fun crafty ideas, we wanted to bathe the women in prayer... from praying over their journals to praying over which host home they would be assigned to, these ladies were covered in prayer! This, in turn, raised up our expectation level and the excitement was tangible through the whole church!
Let the crafting begin!
Custom Handmade Personalized Journals for each woman.
'Twas the night before IF: and the boxes were stacked...
One of the things I love most about IF is that they don't release publicly the list of speakers. They want you to sign up to attend, wanting to encounter Jesus and hear from God --no matter who is speaking at any given time! I also love the diversity of speakers --from young to not so young... from one stream of faith to another... from all different cultures and countries.
After several planning meetings and prayer meetings... it was time to decorate our spaces and prepare our hearts to not only lead, but to receive!
Okay... so the church is set up for Saturday, but one of my favorite things that we did this year is we took Acts 2 literally, and we met up in small groups in homes across the Valley.
So I ran home and got ready for a house filled with love...
We potlucked it on Friday night!
And we end with Communion... because, of course!
So good!And then came Saturday...
All the small groups gathered together at Dad's House church and spent the day pressing in... learning, listening, and loving on each other through out the day!
(But first, coffee! Amen?)
IF:Women... we start 'em young!
IF:Leadership Team - Dad's House church
I love her so and I'm honored to help pastor Dad's House with her!
We had an AMAZING catered lunch on Saturday!
We have an amazing business who donated these cookies!
The perfect Take Away as the ladies leave the event.
These girls don't mess around!
They go deep and they are real and raw and honest... and they inspire us all to do the same!
They create an atmosphere where we honor each other and make room for God... where we hear Truth and Love and Grace... where we experience both foundational roots going deep down, and releasing wings setting captives free! They speak into our true identity and encourage and equip us to live life out loud, for the King and His Kingdom!
They remind us that it is Simple & Pure... that it is easier than we make it and that it requires this: Discipline to be with God first... and then Willingness to go live life out loud... face to face, heart to heart, in community with purpose and intention!
At the end of the conference, they asked who poured in to you... who made you love Jesus by living intentionally and loving well? (And then we prayed and asked the Lord to show us who He has for us to intentionally disciple and pour into this year!)
It was an amazing weekend and the women were all blessed! Already we are seeing fruit from it... friendships growing and community strengthened, and already we have had interest from some of the ladies to host an IF:Table and several others are wanting to host a Racial Unity group... and our church is looking at sowing in to The Seed Company as a form of outreach as well!
I encourage you to check out IF:Gathering and see if there is still an IF:Local near you that you can attend this year!
If there is not anything nearby, you can order the Downloads on Feb 20th and watch on your own or with a few friends! (I will be doing this just so I can watch it again and again!)
If you follow me on Twitter then you already saw all my favorite notes. Yeah... I was annoying in Twitterland with tweeting all the things, so if you want to know some of the powerful truths poured out, just find me on Twitter and look for the hashtag #IfGathering2017!
Holly Barrett for #TestimonyTuesday
Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp
Did you watch? If so, who were some of your favorite speakers, or what stood out to you most? Also this: Who is on your tile?
Did you watch? If so, who were some of your favorite speakers, or what stood out to you most? Also this: Who is on your tile?
I need to understand....all you gathered corporately on SATURDAY, at the round tables set up with the big screen? WHEN did you do the home groups? Just a tad confused but since I'm a logistics/detail person I NEED TO KNOW! xo
ReplyDeleteLOL! Yes - IF is a two day event... so on the first night (for Session One) we gathered in small groups (6-8 ladies) in homes and then on Saturday (for Sessions Two and Three --and lunch!) we gathered corporately in one large room! It was so great because the intimacy of Friday night carried over seamlessly!
DeleteGreat plan...like that a lot.
DeleteWhat a blessed time you must have had! Blessings to you! xo
ReplyDeleteIt was really amazing! The fruit coming out of it already was worth any amount of work we poured into it!
DeleteI love that you polucked on Friday. This was my first time watching in any capacity and I loved it. Maybe I will have to host a local one here someday. One of my faves was the singkes panel. So good for my soul! There was so much goodness. Hard to pick just one fave.
ReplyDeleteOh I hope you do host next year... whether it's a church deal or just a group of friends in your living room! It's so worth it! I can't wait to get the downloads so I can rewatch some of those panel discusssions! They went so quickly and I feel like I should have taken more notes during them!
DeleteKarrilee, Thanks so much for sharing all your photos from the If:Gathering! It looks like you all had an amazing time! I am your neighbor at Purposeful Faith RARA link up this week. Blessings, Misty
ReplyDeleteMisty, thanks so much for stopping by! Our IF:Gathering was super fun and fruitful already! It's such a powerful and inspiring conference!
DeleteSounds like you had a fun time!
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun! Did you catch any of it when it was livestreaming? Have you ever gone to or hosted an IF event? I highly recommend it!
DeleteIt all looked wonderful and I am so glad you all got your socks blessed off. I will have to make sure to look of an IF: Local event next year so I don't miss out.
ReplyDeleteOh please do! You can even look and see if there is an event in the next few weeks! Many larger churches purchase the event and opt out of Livestreaming so they do it on the last weekend of Feb or sometime later in the Spring! It's not too late for this year, possibly!
Delete