Groundbreaking Conference Promises To Shift The Nation's Consciousness

March 7, 2007 - PRLog -- The Black Christian Women’s Conference (BCWC), organized by nationally renowned Brooklyn (NY) based theologian Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood of St. Paul Community Baptist Church. BCWC will be held at the beautiful Gaylord Texan Resort & Conference Center (www.gaylordtexan.com) in Grapevine, Texas from March 18 -22, 2007.

BCWC is a four-day conference that promises attendees will come away with renewed energy and a renewed spirit set to rebuild their communities and subsequently the nation. BCWC will feature an array of prominent female speakers including Dr. Gail Wyatt (author of 'Stolen Women' and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, UCLA), Dr. Joy DeGruy- Leary (author of 'Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome' and Assistant Professor of Social Work, Portland State University) Barbara Major (Trainer, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond) and Minister Ava Muhammad (First Female Minister with the Nation of Islam). Additionally, Grammy Award® Winning African American Female A-Cappella Ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock will be the special guest performers at the opening night gala reception of the Black Christian Women’s Conference on Sunday, March 18, 2007.  

In addition to a noted panel of speakers, over fifteen introspective workshops are planned to educate the mind, body and spirit of attendees over the four-day period. Facilitated by female leadership teams of St. Paul Community Baptist Church who have built ministries around their workshop topics, attendees can expect a welcoming, relaxed environment where one is among her peers. Black Christian Women's Conference workshop topics include: If I Knew Then…Surviving Divorce; The Reality of Being a Widow; Sisters of the Same Mother - Colorism, our ‘dirty little secret’; Forgiveness: The Best Revenge; Loving the Black Man - Honoring his Spirituality & Acknowledging his Divinity and many more.

BCWC will not be your traditional conference. Missing will be the workshop topics of old replaced with messages of unity among women. The conference will have a specific focus on conditions and situations that affect the lives of African American women as we celebrate diversity among women of all ethnicities and faiths.  BCWC will be the conference that discusses the role of women in daily life, the impact we have in our communities and will give women life tools to take away that can be put into action to start rebuilding our nation.

BCWC was conceived by the St. Paul Community Baptist Church Director of Women Ministry, Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, who serves as the church’s Senior Pastor. In helming the women’s ministry for the past six years, Dr. Youngblood has built a ministry that has garnered accolades from colleagues across the country. Called Jewels, the women of St. Paul's Women's Ministry fellowship together but also have additional breakouts with their respective jewel collectives - which are smaller groups of women who are peers in age. This set up has provided St Paul women with the opportunity to see that they are not alone in their daily professional, personal and spiritual walks as they share their stories with their jewel collective sisters. The rapid growth and positive feedback from the participants of this different kind of ministry via the jewel group concept gave Dr. Youngblood the vision to hold a conference sharing the St. Paul story and excitement with as many Christian women as possible and BCWC was born.

Registration for BCWC is ongoing at www.spcbc.com.

St. Paul Community Baptist Church serves a congregation of more than 8,000 with an annual operating budget exceeding $6 million dollars. Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood has served as the church’s Senior Pastor for the past 33 years. Some of his most noteworthy accomplishments include the incorporation of a full-time staff of approximately 60 who provide a cadre of social, educational and economic resources to this East New York community; establishment of a nationally recognized ministry to Black men, which recruits and trains Black men to assume leadership responsibilities within their church, family and community; the development of a fully staffed elementary and junior high school which maintains an average enrollment of 250 students. For information please visit www.spcbc.com.

Website: www.spcbc.com