Verity Conference 2022

It's amazing how much can change in four years. In 2018, I went to the Driven Women conference in Grand Rapids with some friends. It was a small conference but amazingly well done and I still remember things that I learned there. Verity Conference is what Driven Women has turned into.

So many things have changed because Phylicia's ministry has changed and grown so much in the past four years. I would say there were maybe 50 women at that first conference. It was just Phylicia speaking and all the other people were her family and friends. It was a lot cheaper too :)

Now it is in Petosky, there were over 250 women, plus more watching around the world online, there were two other speakers besides Phylicia, and there is a thriving store of resources available. Oh, and the conference has sponsors now!

I'm not saying one is better than the other. There are pros and cons to each. But it has definitely been interesting to watch this ministry grow over the years. By necessity, the bigger something gets, the less personal it can be, but with that trade-off comes the ability to reach many communities. It's just the way things are.

One of the coolest things about this conference is that Phylicia can bring together the whole spectrum of the Church to come to a weekend of teaching on the Bible and how it is lived out in our lives. I sat next to Mennonites and I'm sure there were charismatics in the room. Phylicia has found a way to teach about orthodox, historic Christianity that is accessible to anyone, regardless of denominational background. It's really amazing and inspiring.

I met some wonderful women at this conference, including two homeschooled sisters who don't live too far away (considering I met someone from Florida :) I learned a lot; honestly, I'm still processing things. And I got to have some great time with my friend.

Outside of the conference, highlights included car picnics, watching the rain come across the lake, being at the beach (even though it was rainy, and an amazing stormy sky contrasted with the sunset. It was wild and so beautiful. Then the moon came out, huge and lovely, but there were low clouds and the moon looked so far above the clouds. I also loved singing along to High School Musical with my friend in the car. It's childhood nostalgia, okay?

I went into this weekend with little to no expectations and it was just what I needed. I loved the break and reset that it provided. When was the last time you had a reset trip? Where did you go? What did you do?




Top photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash
Bottom photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

We ate lunch on the way up and dinner on the way down as a car picnic. SO FUN!

As it moved in, the rain obscured the land until I could barely see it.

It's hard to see but on the horizon you can see the rain coming.

Hilarious sign in the restaurant where we ate lunch.

The beauty was breathtaking. These next photos don't do it justice.