Wow- I cannot believe that this weekend is the one year anniversary of the Nashville Do Hard Things conference!!
Here is a very happy post from a few weeks before the conference.
In applying for Lipscomb, I had to write an essay. I decided to write it about the conference! As I wrote it, all of the memories were coming back. It was SO amazing to see God working on our behalf!! My friends, we serve a FAITHFUL God.
Here is a little recap of the days leading up to the conference and several days after!
A few weeks before the conference, only 300 people were registered.
July 27th- the count was 452.
August 9th- here is part of an email from Rich, the national conference coordinator.
"Awesome numbers came through the weekend!!
Over 300 registrations came in.
We are now at 1025 pre-registrations + Scholarships = over 1040.
Our estimate at this time could be 1400 to 1700."
I definitely remember screaming with joy when I read this on one of the Greystone Kitchen computers :) It was stressful being in North Carolina during the last two crunch weeks!
We had been praying and really pushing all of our publicity efforts. God heard our prayers!
August 13th- part of an email I sent to my publicity team:
Hey friends!
We are home! Whoo hoo! We had two very intense and amazing weeks at camp!
WOW!!! I cannot believe that tomorrow is the big day! Y'all- God is SO amazing! He has done so many mind-blowing things! The last registration count (this past Monday) was over 1040! WOW!
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING EMAILS!!
I am looking forward to seeing y'all tomorrow!!! (and p.s. I am exhausted... ~:-)
See you bright and early tomorrow!
If you have any questions/comments/problems/thoughts please let me know!
Blessings!!!!
Lily :o)
Three important emails about tomorrow:
From Christina- the prayer coordinator
Hey Everybody!
We are REALLY close! The finish line is in sight. God is on the move! To God be the glory!
Alright, now down to business. I have decided to volunteer all of you and all of your teams. :) We need volunteers to pray in the prayer room and I need to know when people are available. PLEASE let me know when you are going to have people to spare at various times in the day AND when you are available. We're hoping for even just 15 minutes of time - but we will take 5 if need be! Alot of the Captains are preparing schedules of their team's assignments. Feel free to pass those along. :)
Thank you,
Christina
We are REALLY close! The finish line is in sight. God is on the move! To God be the glory!
Alright, now down to business. I have decided to volunteer all of you and all of your teams. :) We need volunteers to pray in the prayer room and I need to know when people are available. PLEASE let me know when you are going to have people to spare at various times in the day AND when you are available. We're hoping for even just 15 minutes of time - but we will take 5 if need be! Alot of the Captains are preparing schedules of their team's assignments. Feel free to pass those along. :)
Thank you,
Christina
From Meagan
Below is the updated plan for Friday and Saturday. Don't forget to pray at 6:00 today!
Please print this out and show it to your parents and your ride!
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Side Note:
An interview went out on Channel 4 today at 1:15 and just to let y'all know how amazing God is: Less than an hour later Alex Harris got an email from a woman saying that she and her daughter saw me on Better Nashville and signed up for the conference!
Here's the link:
Thank you for all y'alls prayers!
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Revised in Red:
The Plan
FRIDAY:
Arrive at the church at 3:30; come into the main entrance -- building #2 (opposite side of the highway)
Work, work, work and pick out t-shirt. Caution: the pink shirts and the blue with the wheat are smaller than normal t-shirts. Get at least one size larger (I got two sizes larger).
Eat dinner: We'll be brown bagging this one. So bring your dinner and we'll have cookies and waters for y'all
Work till it's all set up!
Out by 9:00
SATURDAY: (wear DHT t-shirt)
Arrive at 7:30am (Yea! 1/2 hour more sleep!)
Doors open at 8:00
Conference starts at 9:00 (Y'all should be able to hear every talk, missing maybe the first and last 10 minutes.)
Lunch: You will have to eat as you can. The Bookstore, the Refreshments, the Touch Team, the Prayer, and the Hospitality Team will still be operating; most of the teams. Yea for shifts!
We have Bluecoast Burritos donating (hopefully 38; at least 25) meals and Chick-fil-a donating 38...be praying! Any meals we don't have donated will be provided for by Sholeen (my wonderful mother!)
Last lecture ends at 4:45
Sanctuary doors at 5:00
All doors close at 5:30
We break down
When everything is back to normal we can head out and go to bed! Should be out of the building by 6:30-7. It depends on how fast y'all move!
SUNDAY AND MONDAY:
SLEEP!!!!!! AND PRAISE GOD THAT EVERYTHING RAN SMOOTHLY!
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We did it! Set-up is tomorrow and we are going to have a conference!! Thank you all for all you help! There would be no conference (definitely no calm conference) with out each one of y'all.
~Meagan
August 14th- the big day! We had just gotten home from two weeks of hard work at camp the night before and I was SO EXHAUSTED. The day was kind of a blur! We got over to Two Rivers and I could not believe that after a year of planning and work, the conference was about to happen!! We had a team prayer and then it was time to start registration! It was AMAZING to see people start flooding in- we were praising the Lord! There were SO many people! We even had to open up the balcony!
Pictures!
Conference!
Sweet friends!
One of Jared's cool book displays
Tshirts! (I remember at one point I went under the tshirts table to find more tshirts in boxes. It was quiet under there, very unlike the madness in the church's foyer :)
Johnna, Brett, and Lily after dinner with the coordinators and Rebelution team
August 16th- email from Meagan:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Y'all were amazing this weekend! The set up on Friday went smoothly and Saturday was astounding.
God is so good! Everything that had issues was resolved in a matter of minutes! We give Him all the glory!
We had so many complicates from Joseph, the speakers, the Two Rivers Facility, and the attendees. They all told us how wonderful the volunteers were!
It was such a blessing to be able to bless others and have God work through us! God was everywhere and people could tell!
May God bless you for your work,
~Meagan Wuest
Coordinator for "Do Hard Things" Nashville Conference~Meagan Wuest
When we got the final count I could NOT believe it. Actually, I could! :) --> God is so good!
August 19th- here is part of an email from Meagan, the head Nashville coordinator:
"Rich said that the numbers at the conference were close to 1500! Can you believe that just 2 weeks before the conference there were only 360!
God is amazing!"
Some thoughts and thanks... :)
I was (and still am!) SO incredibly thankful for my AMAZING publicity team! They helped spread the word, came to meetings, helped find a facility, gave up their time, handed out brochures and posters, talked to churches, called restaurants, made PR statements, got us interviews, kept going when pastors and secretaries hung up on them, did not get discouraged, came from another state, worked on their birthday, prayed, and more. They were willing to do whatever! They helped with registration, the bookstore, refreshments on the day of the conference- guys, you were amazing. I could not have asked for a better publicity team! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
Ashley Rogers, with the Rebelution in Oregon! Ashley was WONDERFUL. She encouraged me and gave me great ideas for publicity! After every call I had with her I felt 100x better and ready to get back to publicizing :) She prayed for us and was always willing to help. Thank you so much, Ashley, for everything you did for us (and me)!!!
The whole Rebelution team from Oregon- thank you all so much for coming to Nashville!! It was such an awesome conference! I am so thankful that you guys came to Nashville!! Thank you!!
The other Nashville coordinators!! Guys- I am so blessed that I got to work with you all! You guys are FANTASTIC. Registration, bookstore, refreshments, prayer, facility, hospitality, and touch teams- you rocked!! I so enjoyed getting to know you guys and planning this conference together!! Thank you so much!!
To my dear family and friends- who always were cheerful and encouraging! Thanks to everyone who was supportive and positive when I was overwhelmed and stressed (sorry to the people I freaked out on... :). Thank you for praying for me, encouraging me when I was upset about negative responses from churches, getting excited with me, giving me ice cream... :) Thank you so much for helping me! I love you all!!
And, most importantly, a thousand thanks to God- our faithful, loving, and merciful King!!! Thank you for using us to bring this conference to Nashville!! To You be ALL the glory!!!
There is SO much more I could blog about!! I could go on and on! It was one of the best experiences of my life! This was something I will never forget! I am so blessed that I got to be part of the Nashville Do Hard Things Conference!!
I just want to remind you that God is FAITHFUL! He will provide! He is in full control of everything! He hears the cries and prayers of His people!
Be blessed today!
In awe of our King,
Lily
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