April 26th - 28th , 2007
This was the first stop on my four-day, three-city trip that was a whirlwind of activity. It was pretty tiring, but also pretty exhilarating because I got to speak to so many people in such a short period of time. April 26th, 2007 First Baptist Church of Paducah, Paducah, Kentucky
First, I flew to Nashville and someone was kind enough to pick me up and drive me to Paducah, Kentucky two hours away. Because I am on a deadline, trying to finish something for the preparatory discussion guide, I ended up working the whole way. I was hardly able to talk with the woman who was kind enough to drive me. The event that night was at Paducah, at the First Baptist Church of Paducah, and it was just a wonderful suite. It was a women’s night out, Spring Fling kind of event and it was just a lot of fun. 600 women came, paid $20 each to come and hear this discussion and I was just amazed that so many women would cram into a room and pay $20 each to be willing to hear what’s going on inside the men in their lives. I was really encouraged by that.
April 27th- 28th, 2007 - Dallas, Texas
Then the next day I was driven back and I flew to Dallas, Texas. Saturday morning I did a luncheon in Dallas, and that was also a really wonderful womens luncheon. I also had a lot of women come up to me at the book table and say, “You are stepping on my toes, sister,” but I really needed to hear this. That luncheon was another fun one. After that I flew to Mississippi.
April 29th, 2007 - Hattiesburg, Mississippi
I did a long day today, Sunday. I had an interview in the morning with the pastor at First Baptist Hattiesburg, and then a marriage conference in the afternoon. The pastor took me into his confidence and said, “The women of the church so needed to understand this stuff, and it was probably the first time they’d ever heard about men needing respect even more than love, and it was really clear that so many of the men in the church had such good will towards their wives, and yet were just really desperate for their wives to hear this.”
I realized, we think in the South that it’s more traditional and women kind of know this, but it is so critical for us to realize that if no one has ever told them, it’s not as simple as necessarily something they understand.
It was a very busy and long weekend but very worth it.