Conference Season 2012/2013

As I said in my last post one of the reasons I am so behind in my blogging is because of conference season.  I have worked with SDEA for 16 years now (crazy!) and for the past 11 years I have been in charge of the conferences.  What does that mean?  Well, I wear a few hats but the main hat is working with the youth pastors getting their groups registered, hotels reserved and all their needs taken care of.  I really do love my job - I feel that it is a huge responsibility that the Lord has entrusted me with.  It can be very stressful at times but the end results and seeing it all come together is worth the stress.  Here are a few pictures of this year's Strength to Stand Conferences!

Our theme this year was Nothing to Lose - A Generation for Desperation

We start 2 days after Christmas with our December - Southeastern Student Conference.  We had around 1000 students from 8 states represented.

Rush of Fools were the worship leaders

Jamie Grace was in concert

During all the stress my sweet husband sent me these beautiful tulips!  He knows when I need a pick me up!

The whole office gets in on the conference work!

We then turn to our Smoky Mountain Student Conference.  This is the complicated one where we have what we like to call - controlled chaos.  Its held during the MLK holiday weekend when the students are out of school on Monday.  This is our larger conference - this year we had 10,140 from 15 states and multi-denominations.  We run 4 small theaters at the same time with 2 sessions - so we have 4 worship leaders who play to 2 different audiences.  Our speakers will speak to 8 different audiences - same message, different audience.  Then, we do 2 large concerts on separate nights.  We have a large conference but it has an intimate feel, yet we can still do big concerts.  Lots of info but it works.

Pigeon Forge loves when we come into town - its a down time for them in January so we help bring in tourism.

Rush of Fools led worship at the Smoky Mountain Palace which holds 1700 - so in total it can hold 3400 students for the weekend..

Grand Majestic Theater with worship leader Bethany Barr Phillips.
This theater holds 1000 - so with both sessions it can hold 2000.

Matt Papa led worship at the Smoky Mountain Opry which holds 1200 - so with both sessions - 2400.

Brett Younker led worship at Country Tonite which holds 1500 and a total of 3000 for both sessions.

Scott speaking on the "Big Night" (this is what we call our 2 large concert nights).  We do 2 Big Nights with a little over 5,000 students per night. 

Scott praying before he went up to speak

Counseling at the Big Night

This year we had David Crowder perform

Kari Jobe was also in concert - she is amazing!

KJ-52 got the Big Night crowd warmed up and was emcee for the night

Kristian Stanfill was also in concert and does an incredible job leading worship

The youth pastors got to hear from Kristian Stanfill and Crowder before their session.

Trip Lee did concerts for all of the theaters - so in 2 nights he did 8 concerts...busy!

Scott and some members of the team go around to all 8 sessions to meet with the youth pastors.  Its an opportunity for us to tell them how much we appreciate them and go over details for the weekend.

A few views from some of the theaters...

We cannot do these events without wonderful volunteers and team members.  I am only one person and we have a great team that supports each other.  Here is one of our office volunteers - who has been with us for seven years - she is a staff member in our eyes - Ms. Gail - and if you cannot tell- she loves to have a good time!

So, another year has come to a close and now our sites turn to the 2013/2014 conference season. We are already busy preparing.

We had over 600 decisions made for Christ at the conferences.  That is why we do what we do - not to do a conference but for evangelism.  I love being able to play a small part in making an eternal impact for the Kingdom!

Lets Catch Up Shall We?

Its been awhile since my last post - so Happy New Year!

My busiest time at SDEA is the first of the year.  I work late most nights and am swamped until our student conference - therefore no blog posts from me till now.  So, lets catch up...

Warning long post with lots of pictures!!

Christmas!
With three families - we have a lot of traveling to do at Christmas!  So, Michael and I decided to do our first married Christmas together a few days before.  We had a night at home in sweats, made dinner, watched Polar Express and swapped gifts.

We started our night with the most important thing -  reading the Christmas story - the birth of Jesus!

My stocking had DVD's and a Steel City Pops gift card!

I got a purse that I LOVED and a new straightener!

Michael had some cd's, stuff for his car and his hair

Polar Express by the tree

 

I got Michael a new pair of shoes and jeans

Our travels began with my mom's side of the family in Jasper.  We had fun with the kids making pictures...

He is so much fun

And so cute!

A sweet sweet boy

Michael and Ella decided to get into it...

We then headed to Michael's parents in McCalla for his mom's side of the family.  We had a great time playing Dirty Santa and hanging out with everyone.

Michael's aunt & uncle - Bill and Alisa 

Michael's mawmaw - she is so sweet

Michael's dad, Terry- little dirty Santa trading going on

Michael's aunt Janice, mom and aunt Alisa

We gave mawmaw a picture of the family from the wedding - she loved it!

I love her expression looking at the photo

The next morning (Christmas Eve) we opened gifts with Michael's family.  I have loved being a part of the Mayfield family.  They have welcomed me in with open arms!

We got Michael's mom - Debbie - a vest - she loved it!

Elizabeth and her friend, Dan.

Elizabeth, Michael's sister, is such a precious woman - I have really developed a sweet friendship with her.

Michael's dad, Terry, he was fun to watch open his gifts - his reaction to all his gifts was tons of excitement!

We had the opportunity to visit Michael's grandparents, Mimi and Grandaddy on Christmas Eve.  There are such precious people. 

We gave them a picture of the entire Mayfield clan (minus one cousin) from  our wedding.

Then we made the track back to Jasper for my dad's side of the family.  We were back and forth all weekend but it was fun seeing all of our families!

We always open a few gifts on Christmas Eve...

Ella loved her Cabbage Patch Kid named Ella

Brandon was reading up on his flag football set

One of the gifts Michael and I got them was the Children's Storybook Bible

 

Uncles are always harassing this guy...

Ella can read her name now, so she was finding all of the gifts with her name on it...

 

Tracy got a new vaccum

All the guys got step ladders

Its fun with kids on Christmas Eve.  Ella and Brandon put cookies and milk out for Santa and reindeer food out in the yard for Rudolph and Co.

 

We are all ready for Santa!

 

  

 

  

Testing out the new bikes!

Michael and I got $ for our summer cruise!

Ronald got a hunting mask

Brandon had asked for an iPod touch.  Well, Santa decided to hide the gift under after everything had been opened...the excitement on this little guy's face when he found it under the tree was priceless!

Christmas lunch - yum!

After lunch we headed to my mom's for Christmas dinner...
My mom surprised us and decided to dress up like Mrs. Claus - needless to say the kids loved it!

Everyone from our family got wedding pictures or wedding books.  Might as well get our $ worth out of our pictures! :)

 

Brandon got a guitar - Michael showed him some chords

Needless to say it was a busy, but fun filled time with our families.  We are so thankful for them and most importantly for the birth of our Savior!!

First Married Christmas!