I was honored to attend and speak for the inaugural gathering of She Leads America in the U.K. on June 1-4, 2024. It was a historic allied event for the two countries. The outstanding female leaders in attendance were aligned and determined to take on the many challenges in our culture today. I was able to share how to use media effectively, and I encouraged the delegates attending not to be afraid or back down in using digital tools in our saturated, media-driven culture. It’s where the eyes of the world are focused today.
Thank you to our many donors and partners who supported me both in prayer and financial assistance to take part in this U.K. Summit. We haven’t reached our full goal to cover the expenses yet, so if you are able to contribute, I would be so very grateful.
You can donate at influencewomen.org or influencelab.com.
Again, your generous support helps us bring light, hope and knowledge to the many “boots on the ground” so that we can change the media and change the culture. Our next Influence Lab trip will take us to Accra, Ghana, in August. We need your support to take a media training team who will work with men and women coming from throughout Africa. You make the way for the gospel to be heard with your sacrificial gifts and prayers. God’s on the move, and we want to be obedient to His call to educate and encourage those involved in media so that “His Kingdom come” might be made known. Thank you so much for your support.
You can read my full report on the Windsor Event with She Leads America below:
“Historic.” It was a word being used again and again on the lips of the professional women convening from America and the United Kingdom for the inaugural She Leads America/United Kingdom invitation-only leadership forum at Windsor Castle on June 1-3, 2024. Held inside castle grounds and coordinated by the historic St. George’s College and Chapel, women from top Christian and nonprofit organizations came together to discuss how to engage and mobilize communities of women to stand up with clarity, intelligence, and grace for Biblical values. Delegates focused on finding solutions to key cultural issues and laws that are being communicated and enacted in our world today.
The event was held inside the Vicar’s Hall, built in 1415, where William Shakespeare first performed the play “The Merry Wives of Windsor” for Queen Elizabeth I. It was lined with the artwork of international artist and delegate Julie Ann Scott. The paintings were painted with splashes of orange in significant places, representing the hope of God by the artist. Remaining displayed for the entire event, they were a reminder to those attending of the significance of the week as it aligned with the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the combined Allied participation of America and the United Kingdom on the beaches of Normandy during WWII to defeat the evils of the Nazi regime. The determined leaders at the forum had come together to align themselves in “one accord” and to take up Biblical armor (knowledge and wisdom) needed to fight the cultural enemies attacking Biblical values in their countries. Nancy DeBoer, former Mayor of Holland, MI, current MI State Representative, and Assistant Director of She Leads Michigan, opened the conference with these words, “Wisdom through human dialogue only goes so far. God must give wisdom if we are to engage in the dilemmas of our culture.” We can solve problems with a Google search, but it takes God’s wisdom to solve dilemmas.
The delegates then heard from Dr. Kristen Cummins, a Licensed Marriage/Family Therapist and Board-Certified Counselor holding 5 academic degrees and having worked in global organizations for over 30 years, and Dr. Janet Mangum, an intra-generational and intra-cultural team-building leader and consultant with two doctorate degrees and author of six books on overcoming the darkness invading our culture. Their presentation was followed by novelist (75 books), screenwriter, and film producer Bodie Thoene, who spoke on the elements of storytelling and how to communicate effectively to reach the hearts and minds of our culture.
In the 2nd session of the first day, Liz Doyle, Founder of She Leads, introduced a panel of experts as the focus turned to bringing the world back to “life.” The panelists included nationally known speaker and Founder/CEO of Stanton Healthcare and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, Brandi Swindell, professor of bioethics at Georgetown University, an educator in Russia, and a pro-life advocate in the U.S Senate offices, Elaine Petty. They were joined by U.K. delegates, Chaplin, missionary to Uganda, and National Health Service Commissioner Ola Sijuwade, and Rev. Lynda Rose, writer, Anglican priest, CEO of Voice for Justice UK, and who serves as Convenor of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group providing research to Parliament.
Lynda shared research and statistics on the decline of all races due to abortion. “Since 1967, 14% of the population of the U.K. has been aborted, and that number is more than the entire population of the U.K. currently. Two in every four women choose abortion, and one in three women will abort a child by the age of 40 years old.” “It’s lonely for those in the battle,” stated Brandi Swindell. She challenged the delegates to do three things. Stop being a “wimp” about your faith. Speak out, and stop being afraid to confront “Joe Public.” A fetus feels pain at 12 weeks in the womb, about the same time as the average abortion. And finally, we need to take a Biblical stand on faithfulness, nobility, purity, and righteousness as believers of God.
Elaine Petty went on to share many bio-ethics issues now being debated as IVF (creating life in a petri dish) has become a business. “We only buy organic chicken to avoid the hormones, yet we pump women full of them to conceive and produce more eggs to sell,” she stated. “Women are born with a finite number of eggs; after they stop being donors at egg banks and want to have a child themselves, they can’t.” These were only a few of the issues presented. Others included the responsibility of men, what happens to frozen eggs when they are no longer wanted, and the emotional trauma of women after an abortion and the multiple children being born from male donors, many of whom have no idea they have brothers and sisters somewhere in the world or that they were conceived from an unknown donor.
The evening included time for the delegates to reflect on what was said as they were taken on a private tour of St. George’s Chapel by one of the Queen’s select Knights of the Garter and given time to reflect in the chapel on the bravery of men and women who have defended the faith and given their all for God and Kingdom.
At each meal and tea break throughout the three-day conference, ongoing discussions and loud, rapid-fire conversations erupted. And they only grew as the 2nd day began with the topic focused on the dignity of women. Panelists included She Leads UK Director, CEO/Founder of Streetlight UK (in 2022, it was one of only 34 charities awarded by Queen Elizabeth for frontline work), and MBE, Helena Croft, and Olympic gold and silver Medalist (holding the 800-meter record for 53 years) and National Hall of Fame athlete, speaker writer and musical artist, Madeline, Manning-Mims OLY. Also on the panel were Elaine Alam, a multi-degree social scientist, and international developer and advocate for human rights focused on Pakistan and Southeast Asia, U.S. Salvation Army Commissioner Jolene Hodder, who also served at International SA Headquarters in the U.K. and in Kenya, licensed marriage and family therapist and counselor, Kristen Cummins, and MBE, Founder/CEO of Career Nuggets, and Director of corporate services at Gravesend Churches Housing Association, Morenike Ajayi. However, the session began with a video from multi-medalist swimmer Riley Gaines, who was robbed of a winning tying medal by a male who identified as a female. She told her heartbreaking story of a lifetime of work as a swimmer that was now being stripped away due to the inclusion of males identifying as females in athletic competitions.
The afternoon session on the 2nd day focused on ethnic harmony. Hosted by Liz Doyle with panelists Alevda King, daughter of slain civil rights activist Rev. A.D. King and the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., co-founder of She Leads Georgia, and Speak For Life along with abdominal laparoscopic specialist and surgeon, Dr. Sheena Tranter whose mission work also includes the nonprofits, Christian Fellowship, Prayer for the Nation, the British/Irish Prayer Breakfast, Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast, European Prayer Breakfast and more. Also contributing to the presentation was fashion business owner, author, and Georgia Republican National Committeewoman Ginger Howard and finally, writer/researcher/public relations consultant, and advocate for religious minorities focused on Islamic groups Annisea Hussain. Dr. Alveda King summarized the panel by saying, “Equity is not good. It’s selfish. Equality is good. Brown and white eggs when broken are eggs. We are one blood – one human race.”
The final session focused on the control of media and entertainment on the culture and why it’s essential to use it effectively in positive and provocative ways to change the mindset of the world back to a Biblical foundation. Hosted by Cooke Media Group and The Influence Lab/Women EVP/Co-Founder Kathleen Cooke, panelists included Christian Vision finance manager (which currently, through their global work, touches a million people yearly through media), Ellena Edmiston, and author, international speaker, TV and radio talk show host and life coach, Shaneen Clarke. Kathleen stated, “If we are going to change the culture, we’ll do it through the effective use of media and entertainment. It’s time to stop complaining and protesting about what we see on our screens and start supporting the professionals and creatives who are making the artistic content we see on them.” Presentations were shown of effective commercials and short videos with the panel challenging the audience to not back down from using media tools to engage their audiences and to share their work with effective stories and provocative questions. Kathleen ended the evening talk by reminding the delegates that Nehemiah rebuilt the Jerusalem wall in 52 days to protect the temple of God (we’re individually and the Church, the living temple of God), which was vulnerable to an anti-Biblical culture as we are today. We must rebuild the wall of ‘the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, patience, and faithfulness. We must rebuild the wall – the place where God has us doing His work set before us and in the communities we live within. And the tools we must use are media and artistic Biblical tools.
The historic gathering ended with an Afternoon Tea and the honoring of additional women of distinction who have done and are continuing to do monumental work for God’s Kingdom purposes. Women of Distinction recipients from the U.S. Madeline Manning Mims, Jolene Hodder, Kathleen Cooke, Nancy DeBoer, Kathy Branzell, Liz Doyle, Alveda King, Honeytree Miller, Sandra Pate, Elaine Petty, Sylvia Williams, and Bodie Thoene presented awards to 14 iconic women of faith in leadership in the U.K.: Lady Susie Sainsbury CBE, Lady Carol Baker, Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing, Helena Croft MBE, Morenike Ajayi MBE, Andrea Williams, Olave Snelling, Kristen Getty, Dr. Sheena Tranter, Shaneen Clarke, and Julie Anderson, Commissioner Shelley Hill of the Salvation Army. It was an event “for such a time as this,” with a vocal battle cry of taking up the full armor of God and charging forward to battle the prevailing evils of our world and our culture today.
Thank you again for your support so that we can bring God’s light, hope, and wisdom to men and women, many of whom are risking their lives to take part in our media training sessions globally. You are a gift to them as you pray and support them.
You can donate at influencewomen.org or influencelab.com.