Press Release – December 2009

Media Contact: Judy Bowen, Daily Disciples – 619- 889-8696

         judybowen@san.rr.com

MEDIA ALERT * MEDIA ALERT

Women Celebrate the

“POWER OF FRIENDSHIP”

at the 6^th Annual Women’s Conference

with Bobbye Brooks & Tonilee Adamson

and special emcee Carol LeBeau

Saturday, January 30, 2010

9 am – 3:30 pm

Point Loma Nazarene University/Brown Chapel

WHAT:    An amazing one day conference to learn how to make positive relationships and friends for life. Loneliness, depression and the stress of life can be helped by the Power of Friendship!

The Daily Disciples Ministries, Inc., led by radio hosts, speakers and authors Bobbye Brooks and Tonilee Adamson, will host the 6^th annual one-day women’s conference “The Power of Friendship” on January 30, from 9 am – 3:30 pm at Point Loma Nazarene University/Brown Chapel. Carol LeBeau will be the special emcee. Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 at the door, and includes lunch. To register, go online to dailydisciples.org or call 888-727-7206.

Women and children sheltered at the San Diego Rescue Mission will be the recipients of donations collected at the event. The women at the Mission will also be “guests” at the event and some will relate heartwarming stories of their miraculous recoveries and new lives. Needed items for donations
this year: gift cards to Target, Wal-Mart, pill boxes, bus tokens, OTC medication – Tylenol, Advil, cough drops, first aid items, deodorant, Razors, craft supplies.

WHO:    Women of all ages are welcomed and encouraged to bring a friend or come and make some new ones!

WHEN:    Saturday, January 31, 2009

        9 am – 3:30 pm

Point Loma Nazarene University: Brown Chapel

        3900 Lomaland Drive

        San Diego, Ca. 92106

Interviews available with Bobbye Brooks and Tonilee Adamson-Founders of Daily Disciples Ministries, Inc. and Carol LeBeau. www.dailydisciples.org.

Well, I can honestly say that I can relate to Elin Woods in that I too had married a man who never stopped dating. Of course, in her situation, I cannot even imagine how she is handling all this publicity concerning a very intimate and devastating personal crisis.
For me, I never wanted to put two and two together. I would get the phone calls from random women asking me if they could speak to my husband by his name. I would answer, “He is not here right now. Can I take a message?” She would say, “Is this his sister?” I would say, “No, his wife” and the woman on the other line would answer, “His wife!!!!!” and slam down the phone. That was just the beginning. These things continued to progress until he was gone on weekends and then week days with a variety of excuses. I wanted to believe that he was as committed to me as I was to him. I wanted to believe that our marriage was based on love and mutual respect. I wanted to believe all the excuses and rationalize the lies for OUR marriage and my personal integrity.
Speaking from personal experience, how can you stay in a marriage with someone who wants you to look good in Christmas cards for his image but who does not have the ability to stop behaving in a way that brings rejection and separation? There are some people who cannot commit to one person. Affairs are exciting. If you can keep having affairs, you don’t ever have to deal with the day to day mundane aspects of Monday through Fridays of life. You can just keep running and jumping and playing and whispering and texting…
When you are married to someone like that, there is no trust. You have to seek much wisdom in knowing what to do once you know the truth. The hard look you must take at your life may be more revealing than you are prepared to see. If you have a spouse that has never stopped dating, the problem began way before you ever got near the altar. If he or she has no desire to commit to the marriage, then the next steps will involve picking up the pieces of your life and moving on. There is life after divorce. Each season in life does pass. And, God still loves you and has a plan for your life. I am a living testimony that despite the pain, God is faithful through every trial and hardship life brings. Tonilee

My kids are studying for finals right now. Our present top priority is to get through this week. So the downstairs is a mess as school papers, books, back packs and lots of cups and plates are accumulating everywhere. We also have many other high schoolers coming in to the house as they are setting up study groups. Well, last night I was in the kitchen overhearing the kids in the dining room. Let me tell you, it is easy to misunderstand the language of teenagers when an adult is only listening with half an ear. I then started realizing how often this happens in all kinds of communication. Even when listening to the news, if we only hear certain sentences (because we are distracted with dinner or normal interruptions), then we can easily make assumptions or jump to conclusions on receiving half the facts. Next thing you know, we jump to wrong conclusions and make decisions based on falsehoods because we filled in the blanks with our thoughts. It reminded me of the verse that says, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6) We are destroyed (or fearful and anxious, making unwise decisions) because of our lack of education or knowledge.
I am also reminded that we do the same thing with God. If I am questioning something in my life, I need to ask Him for the knowledge to understand. If I am confused about my present circumstance, I need to go to the Bible and ask for Him to tell me what He thinks about it. The Lord tells us frequently to obtain wisdom and to seek understanding. He tells us in James 1 to ask for wisdom and God will give it to all without finding fault (or without behavioral conditions). God promises to give wisdom if we just ask. Why?
If we have God’s knowledge, we will be proactive and ready to endure. It is by sitting still and listening to His voice, that we can gain His perspective to maintain peace and not perish. I am unsure why we would rather jump to conclusions that have no basis of truth than to just ask the Lord who is all about truth.
During this Christmas season, let’s remember that God sent us His peace in the form of a baby. We can maintain that peace by including Him in our thoughts and to continue to have conversations with Him as we open His word. God is called the living Word because He likes to talk. He will give us the knowledge we need if we take the time to ask Him and truly want to know the truth of His will. As Christians, we are called to live by faith but that doesn’t make us “blind, deaf and dumb.” God desires that we are well informed. Today, we understand the mystery of God becoming flesh. We can also know the truth for our lives individually if we just ask.

Bobbye and I spoke at Professional Women’s Fellowship last week. The topic was “Depression and the Holidays.” No one wants to think that the holidays could be associated with depression. We want to think that it is a time of joy and peace. However, the holidays can also be very  stressful. We already have no margin in our lives on an everyday basis and then we have to add more things in our less time schedules.

The holidays are also “remembrance markers.” In other words, if we received a great gift during a Christmas, we remember it. We might not remember which Christmas year but we definitely remember it was Christmas time. If we get into a family conflict or a death occurs during the holidays, every holiday season brings it back to mind.  Days can go by into weeks without having a remembrance marker but at the holidays, we remember the good and the bad things that have happened  during other holidays. As a result, the holidays can be painful.

So for some of us, we find ourselves needing to act happy when deep down, we are really sad. How do we deal with ourselves while having such conflicting emotional pulls?

I really believe that in order to heal from past wounds that have happened during the holidays, we have to give some constructive thought and give some carved out time to those things that have hurt us. We need the ability to take a break, sit down and reason with the Lord over them, especially during the holidays.

Bobbye was telling me the other day that she woke up at 2am to wrestle with the Lord about certain thoughts that continue to pull at her heart. She said, “I have to keep this concern close to the Lord. I have to depend on Him to work with my thoughts so I do not take this matter into my own hands.” She is a wise woman (and a good friend).

She has learned that it is not good to push down and suppress the conflicts because they will resurface. It is also not good to regurgitate your thoughts over and over or have practice sessions in your mind of what we should have, could have or would have said.  The more time we give to our own negative thoughts and incidences, the less ability we will have to reasonably make wise decisions.

Instead, we bring these things to the Lord. He is the only One who has the ability to change the situation or to change our perspective. We need to reason with the Lord until we know that our concerns are fully before Him. We need to be brutally honest with Him as He already knows what we are thinking and feeling. Then, when we get up from putting those things down, we can continue to live for Him instead of giving the time and attention to the conflict.

As the thoughts return, it is important to take it captive and say, “I have given that situation to the Lord. It is His concern now. I am choosing to trust Him.”

When I look back on my life, it has not been hassle free. I have had to deal with many conflicts and struggles as we all do. However, I can honestly tell you that the Lord has a way of working through them all if you allow Him to move in your heart and mind and you give Him time. God is on an eternal clock. He is not in a rush, not even during the Holidays.

I just off the phone with a gal who is doing our Spiritual Warfare Bible study. She was commenting on how the enemy frequently places thoughts in her mind about “being alone…no one really caring about her…no one wanting to be bothered with her struggles…” The devil is totally into darkness and isolation. (Just like hell) He will lie to us about anything. Jesus is into communication (with God in prayer and each other) as well as life and light. She recognized the negative pattern of these thoughts.  Instead of believing these thoughts, she walked into her Bible study group and asked someone to pray with her. Immediately, she sensed a break-through just by speaking out to ask for prayer.

The enemy wants us to feel like we are all alone. He wants us to believe that no one really cares and no one really understands. I believe that Jesus prayed out loud about unity in John chapter 17 so we can speak out loud to others who need to be unified with us. The “two or more in agreement prayers” have power for many reasons. One of those reasons has to do with speaking out the prayer request to another person and then of course, speaking it out to the Lord together in prayer. There is also an instant accountability partner who can now pray for you as it comes to mind and ask you about it in the days that follow. Malachi 3:16 says “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name.” God ease-dropped on two believers who were talking about Him and He blessed them by putting their names in His book.  The Lord loves for His children to be united. We need to recognize the devil’s schemes and fight back just by opening our mouths to speak. We have all the tools we need to be victorious. Lets live in the life, liberty and love of the Lord (not alone but together for eternity).

A time for change and innovation…Media 4 Women

Over the past several years, Tonilee and I have been exposed to various types of media and marketing opportunities and services. As a women’s ministry, we felt very strongly about making sure that we did not “market” ourselves or the ministry in a way that distracted or deluded the message of the gospel. We knew that marketing and media would play a vital role in growing the ministry and continuing to reach larger audiences, but we would need to learn how to discern the pros and cons through the process. Through the experiences, however, we have benefited from our mistakes and learned valuable lessons along the way.  It is our desire to help others to learn, to strategize and to be able to make wise choices in their marketing and media plans and/or goals. Whether the entity is ministry related or business driven, keep in mind that marketing and media is big business…it is not an easy game to manage and it can waste your time and money very quickly if you are unfamiliar with its ways.

Within the past year, Daily Disciples Ministries has begun to create its own marketing and media strategies utilizing the tools and resources that are available. With a ton of research, lots of outside resources, and in-house talent, we began to share our knowledge and resources with others. Having our own offices in Carlsbad, CA, including space for onsite video, audio and webcast production, we soon had an onslaught of guests who wanted a “free” consultation to know more. Before long, we expanded the services into website design and development, social networking and media, graphic art design and promotion, self-publishing and much more, based upon the needs of the clients. To be honest, I could not believe the interest and growth. We are still working on the Media 4 Women website and have yet to begun to really market this business, so the need for this type of help is very great. Somewhere along the lines of an ever-changing social media climate, many of us have gotten either lost or really far behind. We need help catching up and making all of this work to our advantage.

Our team is here to help you get going. You can arrange for a FREE consultation at any time by calling Lori at 800-992-0369. You can also email us at info@media4women.com.

On December 5, 2009, the Media 4 Women team is hosting a half day seminar that will provide you with invaluable information, tools and resources that you can begin using

immediately.  You can join the seminar in person or online via Live Webcast. To register, go to http://www.media4women.eventbrite.com.

“Be still and know that He is God.”

We cordially invite you to our first Daily Disciples Women’s Retreat at Forest Home

Friday, March 19 to Sunday, March 21

To hold your reservation $25 Deposit Due by December 10th, 2009

After December 10th, $50 deposit and the full amount is due March 10th

Cost: starting at $165 (we have three packages for you to choose!)

DailyDisciples.org • 888.727.7206

or email info@dailydisciples.org

Sign up!

http://ddmretreat.eventbrite.com/

It has been a very long time since I have been on a vacation. Between the kids’ school schedules and sporting events to my husband’s work and my own obligations, it is too difficult to plan to get away. But I have been thinking that I just need to go somewhere restful so I can spend concentrated alone time to think, goal set and relax. When at home, the laundry is never ending, the dishes are always piling and the rug is continually calling out for vacuuming. On a daily bases, I wake up when it is dark so I don’t see any of those things to pray, read and even write. But rarely can I finish without being interrupted with some sort of thought, activity or person seeking my attention. From there, I rush to get ready to rush to work to rush to get home to rush to make dinner…I am sure that many of your lives are set up  the same way. And I have to admit that I personally enjoy the RUSH. I am an adrenaline junkie and work best in a rush. But the more time that has lapsed, the verse “Be still and know that I am God” seemed to be calling to me. Bobbye and I are even planning our first Daily Disciples Women’s retreat in March 2010 with that theme held in Forest Home.  Anyway, long story short…I just got home from Maui. Yes, I spent all my days relaxing, resting, sleeping, swimming while praying, reading, thinking and soul searching. Do you know what I found out? God speaks the same regardless of where you are. No big discoveries, no secret recipes, no new revelations. Just the same God speaking through the same Bible with the same messages that I had at home. Was the trip great? Yes. But I didn’t need to get away to enhance my relationship with the Lord. The messy kitchen and over flowing laundry baskets may distract me but those things do not prevent the Lord from speaking if I am willing to listen. He diligently rewards those who seek Him, anytime and anywhere. He is the same yesterday, today and forever in San Diego as well as Maui. Mahalo…TL

Join us for “Be Still and Know that He is God” at the Daily Disciples Women’s Retreat at Forest Home Conference Center, March 19-21, 2010. To Register go to http://ddmretreat.eventbrite.com .

http://www.dailydisciples.org for more information

I tend to be the main point person when dealing with the specific retreats that we attend. So it’s up to me to do mostly everything from communicating with the church to finding out the specifics of the retreat. Well, last weekend’s retreat was no different. I knew that we were going to Twin Peaks and had all the information stapled together. The packing list included: sleeping bag, flashlight, pillow, towels, toiletries. When Bobbye asked me what she should bring, I pulled out the list and started reading it to her. She listened intently and asked, “Is this a camp ground? Are we going camping this weekend?” I said, “No, it’s a retreat center,” without giving it another thought.

Our Friday morning of the retreat started at 6:15am as we attended the Professional Women’s Fellowship breakfast and then headed up to Twin Peaks. Our dear friends, Karen and Dawn, met us right at the front and asked to help us carry our things in to the room. As I popped open my trunk, the pillows, towels, extra blankets and sleeping bags were right on top. Karen looked at me and said, “You do not need any of that.” I was so surprised to find the Calvary Conference Retreat Center had real beds and linens. Confused, I rechecked the packing list just to find out that I had stapled my 7^th grade daughter’s retreat list to the Chorus Church’s information. I had been following the wrong list.

How can you be so prepared and organized while being so radically off base? It took a lot of extra time, thought and effort to pack things that I didn’t need. I had never questioned the list, trusting in my own skill set. It reminded me a Bible verse written in Ecclesiastes 7:16 “Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise: why should you destroy yourself?”

This was a small mistake in the big picture of things but it made me examine other things in my life. How many times am I going out of my way to make things harder on myself, absolutely convinced that I am right? I might be heading the right way and even able to get to the right place but am I prepared with the right things when I arrive? Am I making the trip of life more difficult in the process? Am I willing to listen to others who are personally involved? Am I spending more time doing or am I really thinking things through? These were great questions for me to ponder while away in the mountains. Sometimes it is not about making big changes but making small adjustments that can lead to huge breakthroughs.

Everything considered, the retreat was amazing! Karen and Dawn clearly laid a great foundation for us to share and teach. Women got saved and clearly women changed. The testimonies absolutely reflected that God is still in the business of setting captives free. We also loved everything from line dancing and homemade ginger cookies to crying and confessing as a group! Thank you Chorus Church of Temecula…our lives were also changed. Despite packing the wrong kind of things, we really had the right kind of time.