Women’s Convention Reflection
Honoring God’s Call: Nurturing Leaders for Today and Tomorrow was the theme of the WMCLB 2026 Convention. This was my third time hosting the women’s convention as the Director of Women’s Ministries, and every time I am surprised at the way God takes care of the details and blesses the women involved.
Carissa Stauss shared about God’s calling in our lives by looking at different Bible characters’ lives, like Moses, who stepped into his calling much later in life, after he had spent time as a shepherd in the desert. Sometimes we feel overlooked or forgotten, or that we have nothing to give, but God uses the deserts in our lives to draw us closer to him and prepare us for what is to come. The timing may not feel perfect to us, but God’s timing and plan are always best. God uses us as we walk in simple obedience to him, in the everyday tasks before us, as well as the ones that feel much too big for us. We rest in God’s work in every call.
Beka Nagdwick talked about discipling and being discipled in our walks of faith. There are many references to “walking” in the Bible. Jesus walked with and taught his disciples, and we also see examples like Philip meeting the Ethiopian on the road to better explain the Scriptures to him. Beka shared about family and how they have come alongside her. Family, whether by birth or the church family, have walked with her to disciple her into God’s gifts and calls in her life, and she is now walking with others and discipling them into their gifts.
God’s grace overflows into every aspect of our callings. We do not need to do them perfectly; we can step out imperfectly because Jesus lived perfectly on our behalf. The Cross covers us and sends us out to tell of the good news of Jesus Christ!
Emily Fueller led us in a beautiful time of worship with her guitar, while her mother held Emily’s new four-week-old baby in the pews. Hearing all the women’s voices lifted in song to the Lord was a sweet time that filled my heart.
Prayer was another priority at our convention. Some of our women serve in intense fields of ministry. We prayed over them. Ashley Fauquet prayed for our chaplains’ wives, Cheryl Olsen prayed for our church planters’ wives, and Mandy Bronson prayed for our missionary women. At the end of our time, all of the women broke up into small groups to take a few minutes to share, and then they prayed for each other. I find these times of prayer especially meaningful as we come from all over North America, some of us having a great year and others facing times of sorrow and struggle. As we come together in prayer, we can acknowledge our common mission and love for one another.
We thank all the artists who donated to Art4Good! It was quite a success this year! Heather Knutson ran the event, and she opened it up not only to the WMCLB Convention but also to the entire CLB Convention on Saturday.
We also planned time to visit and share a meal. AA Catering served our meal in the Fellowship Hall at Bethel; a big thanks to them! We sold out our lunch! I love that our tables were full and the fellowship was sweet.
Praise God for a wonderful day! We pray for our women to be refreshed and for God’s Word to stick in their hearts and assure them of God’s work on their behalf long after they go home.
Karen Stenberg is the Director of Women’s Ministries of the CLB.