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Authentic Women of Canada’s (AWOC) third annual
women’s conference was held this year at Wellington
Square Church in This year’s speakers included Darla Walker,
Executive Director of Stonecroft
Ministries in The morning started off with Praise &
Worship led by Diane Tarantino. Then Darla Walker delivered a
powerful message on how the Lord brought scripture passages to her mind in a
dangerous and frightening situation in an airport on a business trip. 2 Cor.10:5(NIV)
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and we take captive
every thought to make it obedient to Christ” was one of those verses that
gave her the power and confidence to refute all negative thoughts of what
might happen, thoughts of her safety, thoughts of never seeing her family
& friends again; and replace them with thoughts of God and His many
Promises to her that were still true even though her circumstances were
tenuous. Darla shared that through the Grace of God and only through His abiding Love, was she able to come to a place of forgiveness for those people who traumatized her in that airport. She encouraged all Ladies at the conference to come into obedience to their Heavenly Father and forgive anyone who hurt them so the Love of God could fill their place of pain and sorrow. Several ministries and outreaches had booths and
demonstrations set up in the foyer of the church. These included Belma Vardy of Celebration of Dance, The Blind Mission in Canada, Curves, Tragedy to
Victory (ministry of Peter & Rebecca Kramer) and World Vision Canada. Other artisans
had displays of their works. The sound systems were provided by and operated
by rpdynamics
of A wonderful lunch was served with plenty of time for
sharing and fellowship. Old friendships were renewed and many new ones made
by the attendees. There was also lots of time to browse the bookstands and
learn of the many wonderful Women’s ministries so close to home. The afternoon included wonderful praise and worship
leading into the moving presentation by Kim. Her story is one of supreme
forgiveness that spans generations and continents. Her story vividly shows how
God moves in a person’s life day by day, sometimes minute by minute and
ultimately year by year. After Kim spoke, a surprise musician by the name of Danny Brooks delighted the conference
with his ‘home-grown’ style of gospel music. It was Ian’s privilege to be asked to go and pick up and
drive Kim from her home to the conference and return her afterwards. Over an
hour spent each way in the car meant he heard many details of her journey
from war-torn Here are a few pictures from the day. |
Praise & Worship led by Diane Tarantino Everyone was thrilled with the whole day
Lunch was served in the church gymnasium Marg helping on the AWOC bookstand
Belma Vardy of ‘Celebration of Dance’ The folks from Christian Blind Mission Int’l
Michelle Sim & others enjoying the Worship Darla Walker, Kim Phuc and Ian Ridpath
Ms Kim Phuc – ‘the girl in the picture’ Surprise guest artist Danny Brooks