for a women’s dinner at my church. As you may know, I don’t cook. I don’t do that whole hospitality thing well either. And those cutesy little gifts? I got nothing. But I have a heart for women’s ministry. I have a heart for women who are hurting — and we all are at some point in our lives. Either going into hurt, smack-dab in the middle of it, or coming out the other side of it.
One of the men at my church asked Duck if his group would play music at this dinner. He wants the men to cook and serve the ladies dinner. He wants this to be an outreach — evangelical — for ladies to invite unsaved friends. Duck told him that I have a heart for women’s ministry and that I might have some ideas for a speaker or two.
Side note: Can I just say it was kinda weird hearing from this man that Duck said I have a heart for women’s ministry? Why? You may ask? Well, it’s not something that I’ve ever really talked about with Duck. I mean it’s stuff I’ve spouted here. Maybe he’s heard me talking with someone else. But it’s not something that he and I have ever discussed. It was kind of validating in a sense that yes, I do have a heart for women’s ministry and should use my talents and gifts in that.
Back to needing ideas: Basically I need ideas from you. I know ya’ll are a crafty, creative bunch. And even if you yourself don’t have any ideas, maybe you can share a website or two where you get ideas from? I’m looking for anything from a theme to decorations ideas to gift ideas. You know — any of those little things that women typically enjoy. Have you been to anything like this? What did you enjoy? What was not so great?
If you don’t mind, I’d appreciate a lot of prayer for this also. I feel led to speak … as in get up in front of a group of ladies and share a story … and that makes my stomach do flops. Seriously? There’s no delete button in speaking. There’s no rereading and editing in speaking. One shot. Can I be interesting? Will I say the right words? I’ve been praying for awhile that God would take this desire away from me, but He really doesn’t like it when I argue with Him. He keeps giving me visions of standing on stage and parts of the message to give. So, prayer. Lots of prayer please. Thanks! I appreciate it! Let me know if there’s something I can pray about for you as well!
I think I can help. When is this shindig supposed to go down? Execellent idea of having the men serve. My church has done that before. Do something easy for food. We’re doing rotini pasta with meat sauce, salad, garlic bread and dessert with tea, water and coffee for one of our women’s banquets.
Lisa B Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
This plan is Saturday, May 8th (the day before Mother’s Day). We don’t want it to be a specific Mother/Daughter thing — just all women
I don’t know what the guys are going to cook — I’m just praying they are better cooks than I am!
Once you pick a theme, the rest will come easily. I’d love to help you brainstorm if you have more specifics (budget, date, time of day, etc).
Lisa B Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Budget is very, very low — I think some of it may be coming out of pocket for the man who’s organizing this. Probably would’ve been good to mention that
Saturday, May 8th (before Mother’s Day) — but we don’t want it to be specific to Mothers/Daughters — just all women. It will be a nice dinner from about 6 pm – 8 pm. Picking a theme may be the hardest part for me so I welcome brainstorms!
Ashley Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Dinner time themes:
*Tropical Paradise (could do “fun” drinks… would be easy to decorate inexpensively)
*Little Italy (serve pasta = inexpensive)
*High Tea (“light” meal = small sandwiches, mini desserts, etc)
*Bloom into Spring (floral decorations)
*Coffee House (“light” meal = muffins, scones, coffee drinks, etc)
My brain’s tired right now… if I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. If you want me to expound on any of these, let me know!
Who says you have to speak without notes?? Write it down, re-read, edit, delete, whatever you have to do and then speak from those notes. You’ll feel more confident if it’s written down and you can refer to it. Even preachers do that. You can do it, baby girl! And a question: Will you be the only speaker? Will you have a “main” speaker? If so, you should find out what they will be talking about and maybe do the theme around that. Good luck!
Lisa B Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Thanks for the vote of confidence
I’m not going to be the only one (I hope!). He’s asked a few other ladies in the church to speak as well. I don’t know if they have accepted yet or not 
I’ll have to really work on this even if I do write it down. I don’t want to stand up there reading a piece of paper which I might very well do if I get scared!
A few things I forgot to mention in original post
- He would like something where ladies can dress up nice – so somewhat formal? Nice red table clothes or something like that?
- He’s asked a few other ladies in the church if they’d be willing to speak, so I’m not the only one. Since there’s a low-to-no budget this year, we can’t afford to pay a speaker fee.
- He suggested maybe something along the lines of Proverbs 31:10 “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” {hence the red table cloths idea}
- How could we get a head count to ensure enough food without making it a pain for people to register? We want to make it easy for ladies to bring their friends!
Does that spark anything for ya’ll?
I think red is considered a “power” color and I didn’t think Baptists considered women “powerful.” LOL Purple is royal (or noble), isn’t it? In any case, I personally think Black and White to be very pretty. We had a sales dinner one time that was black and white with candles and flowers. Very striking. White tableclothes with a black square cloth on top or even black placemats with white plates would look nice. For gifts, a small white box tied with black ribbon that is lined with black paper and has white chocolate candy (truffles) inside.
Oh, and if you still want to use the rubies theme with the above you could also put big candles on a white or clear glass plate and surround the candle with red beads or jewels that you could probably find at Michaels. Or just sprinkle the jewels around on the table.
I agree with all of the above. Since you are wanting to use the Proverbs verse..maybe the theme could be “The Proverbs 31 Woman is a Precious Jewel” Each table could be labeled for a different stone. i.e. Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond, Amethyst, Pearl, Opal, Emerald…..with the table having that coordinating color.
Mom Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
OOOhhhh. Great idea!!
I love the ideas that the ladies have come with. I’ve helped plan many events for our ladies and one thing that has always been a success is chocolate.
As far getting a head count for the purposes of ordering food, having people register is the best thing. This could be done through note cards passed in service, or as cost effective as a sign up sheet in the foyer before and after service.
I’ll be praying for your event. It sound like a good thing!
Thank you all for the ideas and especially for prayer for this event!
I have found a few women’s ministry books on my shelves that I haven’t read — seems they have a few chapters in them about planning these sorts of things
I am so psyched about this whole thing now!