Mandie and I chat about meeting Jesus on the bathroom floor, the authentic women she has met through IF: Gathering, and how God’s words, “Don’t leave the next generation behind,” led to
Brave Girls Gather. Our conversation is filled with God moments and encouragement to lead the next generation with joy and confidence.
1: 45 Founder and visionary for
Brave Girls Gather – We exist to empower the next generation to bravely live out the wonder of their purpose. We do that by equipping women with the tools to connect and invest in the next generation.
2:10 Mandie begins sharing her faith journey.
“I found myself on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night and I cried out to God…. I asked God and He showed me, I had a revelation that night. What led me to the bathroom floor, I was engaged to get married, our wedding was in two weeks, and my husband called off the wedding. And I felt like Jesus showed up that night on that bathroom floor and proposed to me and I said, ‘YES’.”
5:46 Mandie talks about her marriage and how God drew her and her husband to
Celebrate Recovery.
2 Cor. 12: 9-10
“I was reading that verse and I said, ‘I don’t know what that means. I don’t feel like I’m sufficient. I feel like my weakness is weak. And I want to know how to access the power of God, because I believe you Jesus.’… That verse was under an ad for Celebrate Recovery… I said, if I can find out what that means there, then I am going there.”
“To me
Celebrate Recovery is discipleship. How do you break free? How do you live in the freedom of Christ? Well, it is actually discipleship. That is why Jesus said, be a disciple who goes and makes disciples, because it works. ”
9:30 Mandie begins sharing about her involvement with
If: Gathering and becoming the If coach for the state of Florida.
12:56 “If is discipleship. It is arm in arm walking with other women and doing the things that Jesus asked us to do.”
In 2016, we hosted the very first live IF: Tampa…and we’ve been doing it every year since.
15:28 Mandie begins sharing about
Brave Girls Gather and how God gave her the idea during a conference when she head the words,
“Refuse to leave the next generation behind.”
“God gave me the words, ‘Do what you can. That’s all I want you to do is do what you can.’ It became so perfect of God to say that, because that’s what
Brave Girls Gather is. It’s do what you can. Invite the girls in your life, because they’re all there. They’re within arms reach of you. Invite them in…and talk about hard things.”
18:40 “So we did it. We invited them over and they showed up….We had this brave conversation and we saw girls get brave and honest. At the end I new we had experienced something holy. That God was saying, ‘Yes and Amen.’”
“I felt God say, ‘Just keep doing this and keep sharing it, keep doing this and keep sharing it,’ so I did.”
19:40 We do 2 things with
Brave Girls Gather. We meet once per month with small groups of girls, preferably 7.
- 1 month you are having a brave conversation (conversation cards can be found at www.bravegirlsgather.com) and a take away (ie. craft)
- Every other month you do Brave Girls Share, which is a deep dive into the conversation topic from the month before.
“We encourage you to have a co-leader, because Jesus sent us out 2 by 2.”
25:13 We say that the next generation is important. We say that they’re the church now, but when we examine the way we respond to belief, do our actions really convey that we believe that. God began to show me that it is not just the student ministry’s responsibility.
Brave Girls Gather does not replace student ministry. Brave Girls Gather un-benches it. It takes women who are not currently investing and it gets them off the bench and into the lives of the next generation, so that the whole church is pouring in and the student ministry doesn’t feel alone.
Word of the year: STAY
“God is asking me to stay with Him, to not run ahead of Him, to not lag behind Him. And so that is my focus for
Brave Girls Gather. To walk in the rhythm of grace this year.”
100 Days to Brave
27:48 A rally cry to the church for the next generation: DO WHAT YOU CAN to invest in the next generation.
See them
Know them
Invest in them