Church Bulletin | 062523  Guest Editorial: Kelly Bartholomew “Lord, you understand; remember me and care for me.” (Jeremiah 15:15)

This past weekend, we had an incredible victory with our Women’s Day. God was with us, and as a result we had many triumphs and witnessed miracles. The 43 women of the Toronto Church had a grand total of one-hundred and seventeen in attendance, with 69 non-Christian friends and family members joining us! We also had five wonderful sisters visiting us from other churches in God’s movement: Yinette Mentasano from the Miami Church; Julie Clark, Zalma Valencia, Zoyra Pardini from the Detroit Church; and the incredible Elizabeth McDonnell of the Minneapolis Church, who also served as our Keynote speaker!

As many of you know, the theme for this year’s Women’s Day was: I. Am. Her. – Remembered. When we began planning our Women’s Day in March of this year, only half of the Toronto women’s ministry had seen a Women’s Day in person. That meant the women who had not seen a Women’s Day event had to rely on the faith and vision of those who had. It was
incredible to see the women quickly got behind the dream with enthusiasm and faith. We were all so excited!

The first order of business was to assign every sister to one committee only. Once that was decided, we all got to work while keeping our motto: “Keep it simple or toss it!”

Since last year’s biggest hiccup was our venue, we made sure to pray for God to help us find the perfect spot for our event. Incredibly, our dear sister Divine stood in the gap for us, and made sure to lock down the 4th floor meeting space at York University. The venue felt like walking into a dream! With floor to ceiling windows, pristine white walls and a terraced wooden ceiling, the ambiance of the room
takes your breath away. This natural inspiration of the space made work for the decoration crew clear and obvious. They chose a bright and vibrant color scheme, started planning, and then asked Isabella Raudales to finalize the invitations and send them out.

As we got into the swing of planning, working, meetings and early morning prayers, we had to “walk and chew gum” from the last part of May and the first half of June. With an incredible Special Missions fundraising and victory, Day of MERCY planning and execution, two household moves and daily life, each committee used every spare moment they had to prepare for Women’s Day. Our Social Media crew planned, executed, and pushed out six engaging Women’s Day promotional videos, one for each week. Our Fasting and Prayer committee kept track of each person’s fasting days and prepared an evangelistic scavenger hunt to keep the mission fun. The registration and entertainment crews worked their wonders, and the Donation crew, led by Ashley Da Cruz and her mountain-sized faith, worked night and day to find all the gifts God wanted to give to our Women’s Day event.

Then, the day finally arrived. On June 17th, we hosted our Women’s Day! We all woke up early and arrived ready to celebrate God with joy and zeal! As I arrived at our venue, I saw the brothers ready to work in their black slacks, white button down shirts and black ties. I also saw many of the sisters with their hair and make-up on point, and their dresses in hand. All the disciples had clearly come with happy hearts and willing hands, as we all began to set up. The decoration crew blew it out of the water with two stunning photo backdrops, a beautifully bright  yet simple stage backdrop, and elegant floral banisters. One of the guests loved the decorations so much that she told me that she wanted the set-up of Women’s Day and the room for her upcoming wedding! The food crew also worked hard to get the food tables just right. There was such an abundance of food donated that we had two extra tables (making a total of four tables) brought in, and it still only fit half of the food! God certainly poured down His blessings for Women’s Day.

From then on it was amazing! We were able to open the doors to this momentous event 30 minutes before start time, and let the fun begin! As the emcee, I called everyone in with a short welcome, and then twelve of our bilingual sisters opened us up with our ever popular and powerful international prayer. Next, we ate the delicious and beautiful food that was fully donated from local businesses. Then, with full bellies, our program kicked off in full swing.

Zonya Charles gave the performance of a lifetime, again, with her original spoken word. Her spoken word prepared hearts to hear God’s powerful word preached. I had the honour of introducing my long time and dear friend, Elizabeth McDonnell, as our dynamic keynote speaker. She was able to powerfully teach that through the story of Hagar, she was never forgotten by God, and it is the same for every woman. Being remembered by God is the same as being loved by God; and it is meant to set us free and give us great peace. After a quick fellowship break, our very own trio, comprised of Liz Famurewa, Lihle Ndlovu, and Eden Frenkel, serenaded our hearts with their angelic version of His Eye Is On The Sparrow. This incredible rendition prepared us to hear the vulnerable testimonies shared by Glennda Almendo, Nathalia Beltran, Roshell Charles. These three women did such an amazing job, serving as an example of women who are free and secure in Jesus. Lastly, we ended our Women’s Day with a raffle led by the very entertaining Liz Famurewa, Shaneek Mem and Miriam Damile. It
was so fun to see who God chose to win a basket or gift card! As our event came to a close, we were able to hang out, fellowship, make new friends and take lots of pictures with the gorgeous backdrops.

One of the best parts of Women’s Day every year for me is to hear the responses of our guests. Over and over again I heard “The testimonies were so helpful. I was able to connect to what they shared in such a special way.” Many shared that they cannot wait to come back next year. And best of all, so many women were so inspired and felt so safe that they were open to getting into the Bible to see what God’s incredible plan for them is. I am also so in awe of God’s generosity as the donation crew’s work was evaluated to be over $3000 of donations for our Women’s Day. Talk about mind blowing!!

I am so incredibly grateful for how God used all the “good” and “imperfect” things that happened along the way to make the perfect day, just as we prayed. I am also unbelievably proud of our women’s ministry for how much faith they exhibited in joyfully getting behind a vision with their great zeal and faith. I am beyond grateful for the brothers who came and served their hearts out willingly, allowing the women to boss them around from the beginning all the way to the end. The brothers were the first to arrive and the last to leave, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am so excited to plan the next Women’s Day in 2024! To God be all the glory!

Kelly Bartholomew