About this year's conference

We are delighted to welcome Debra Green as our conference speaker.

Debra is the Director of Redeeming Our Communities (ROC), a charity formed in 2003 to promote unity, prayer and action between cities. She is on the pastoral staff team of Ivy Manchester Church, in Didsbury. She is married to Frank and they have 4 children.

She is a pioneer of prayer and prophetic ministries, and has travelled widely in the UK and abroad, teaching about prayer and outreach for cities.

She provides consultancy on city-wide prayer and networking strategies which help to transform communities and make mission more effective. She is a regular speaker at Spring Harvest. Frank and Debra had their first book published in 2005 "City-changing prayer". Debra's second book “Redeeming Our Communities” was published in March 2008.

During the morning session, Debra will be speaking from Judges about the life of Deborah. Her topic in the afternoon will be 'The God of Miracles'.

Seminars

There will be one seminar slot, either in the morning or afternoon. There is a choice of seminars available. There will be a question and answer session with Debra in the other slot.

'Advocacy - Speaking out for Others' presented by Doreen Hogg

This seminar will explore:

Biblical reasons for advocating on behalf of others (What God says)

Looking at advocacy in relation to poverty

Different ways to get involved

Changing peoples lives through the smallest of actions

How will I respond?

Doreen has been a Christian for 35 years and a member of Kirkintilloch Baptist Church for 23 years. She has been married to Alex for 27 years and has two children, Mark and Kirsty. For the past ten years she has been employed as a project Manager for a Befriending Service that supports vulnerable adults referred from the social work department and more recently became part of the Micah Group, World Mission Hub at Kirkintilloch Baptist Church.

'Hannah - an Honourable Woman' presented by Margaret Brown

This session with contain a study of Hannah from the Bible, together with a time of discussion and open prayer.

Margaret was born into a Christian family and made a commitment of her own at the age of 11 or 12. After school, she trained as a nurse and midwife, and worked as a midwife and then in a nursing home until she retired 3 years ago. She is married to David and has four daughters and four grandchildren.

She is a member of Saltcoats Baptist Church, where she is currently serving as a deacon and housegroup leader. She occasionaly leads Sunday services, and sometimes speaks at them. During the year she usually has a number of speaking engagements at various women's groups. Margaret has been very involved with the Women's Auxiliary, latterly the Scottish Baptist Women's Fellowship for a number of years. In addition she currently serves on the European Baptist Women's Union committee and has joint responsibility for the News & Views magazine they produce.

'Maturing beautifully' presented by Myra Cathcart

As we add to our years, there are some things that we cannot do; there are some things which take us much longer to do; but there are also new possibilities which open up to us. This seminar will explore some of these possibilities from the basis of the Bible and from personal experience.

Myra is 70 and has been married to Ewan for 43 years. They have three married daughters and eight amazing grandchildren. Ewan and Myra lived in Glasgow for most of their married life, moving to Kinross in 2000 where they set up a B&B business. Now retired from that, they continue their involvement in the local Church of Scotland and in other areas of Christian service.

'Mirror, Mirror on the Wall' presented by Pippa Harry

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you like what you see? Do you wonder what other people see? This seminar will address the topic of 'Who am I really?' This session may be particularly appropriate for younger women, but all are welcome.

Originally from New Zealand, Pippa has lived in Scotland for much of her life, training as a teacher and working in Edinburgh for the last 15 years. She loves her job and finds working with young children incredibly rewarding - and very fun! It is a rare day that doesn't involve chuckles over some comment made by one of the children, or an unusual spelling or use of a word... In addition to this, for seven years, Pippa was the Chief Executive of a small Christian charity called Retrix, which provided mentoring and coaching.

She loves to read good books, watch good movies and hang out with good friends. Those who know her well have resigned themselves to the fact that she rarely finishes a cup of coffee, that she adores the sunshine, and that she really enjoys a bowl of cornflakes and apple sauce!