Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of St. Augustine share the story of their fall 2013 Bible study workshop

September 3, 2013

Carissa,

We wanted to let you know how our Bible study workshop went. We never could stop the flow of people registering! Seven unregistered women showed up at the door of an in-the-woods camp where we had our event. The final total was 102! We had ordered lunch for 95 knowing we would balance the number out but never thinking women would come that we did not know about, even on the day of the event itself! We were glad they came.

As a coordinating team, we were quite pleased with how this impromptu event went, especially since it was our first attempt at just a workshop. We were under the impression that interest in Bible study is declining overall. We are grateful that we were wrong.

Most ladies enjoyed the day. Some felt it was a little long but there is a tradition in our Presbytery meetings of leaving after people eat. It has carried over to our PWP group! The ones who stayed seemed interested in the online resources that we demonstrated in real time. And the Horizons bus-stop skit was charming. I wove in elements of the Workshop for Leaders all through the day and that worked well.

We sold all of the Legacy Christmas CDs. Women are interested in selling them at their own churches. We are going to send out a PWP news alert very soon and will include how to find it on the web so they can order. Thanks for letting us be a test site. I think we could have sold even more if we had them. We love the music. A lot of women commented on how nice the resource table was. Thanks to you for sending the great resources.

We took up a collection for Oikocredit and got $750. This is the new mission item that we added to our TIS program this year. We are continuing with Little Dresses for Africa and adding the britches. Last year the ladies made 803 of them in the fall. I hope for that many again this year.

You will see a man leading the overview of the Bible study. Tom Weaver is an Honorary Life Member of PW and goes to Columbia to hear the author each year, as he did again this August. He is a retired college professor with a witty sense of humor. We are very fortunate to have him.