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October 30, 2015
We Will event aims to empower Army women
By Laura Poff
Southern Spirit staff
With the support of Commissioner
Debi Bell, territorial president of
women’s ministries, an innovative
territorial conference for women leaders
is being planned by the USA South’s
Women’s Ministries Department.
The conference is designed to bring
together 600-800 young adult women
leaders from around the territory for a
spiritually rich and culturally relevant
weekend.
The We Will Conference, to be held
in Orlando, Florida, in September 2016,
will be a gathering of active women
officers and young adult women
leaders ages 21-40 who are nominated
by their corps officers and accepted by
divisional leadership.
“Women’s Ministries is dedicated
to encouraging, equipping and
empowering women,” said Colonel
Heidi Bailey, territorial secretary for
women’s ministries, and We Will
organizer. “We want to affirm our
young women leaders, and encourage
them to be a part of the Army God is
raising up today. God needs them, and
The Salvation Army needs them.”
Captain Maureen Diffley, territorial
project specialist for women’s
ministries, will be key in We Will
programming, as she responds to the
needs of our young adult women in the
territory in her new appointment. She
is committed to be a voice for them in
existing programs and events and is
working to develop new initiatives as
well.
Special guest speakers Colonel Janet
Munn and her daughter, Lieutenant
Olivia Munn-Shirsath, Eastern Territory
officers, will headline the weekend,
speaking across generations and uniting
women leaders in a spirit of mentorship
and community. Each of the five
sessions will be co-led by one young
adult leader and one experienced
officer.
The mantra, “You can’t be what you
can’t see,” is often used to argue for
more diverse female characters on TV
and in film. We Will follows the same
idea, and will invite only Salvationist
women as speakers and musical guests.
In this way, they are showcasing
confident creative women soldier and
officer leaders in The Salvation Army,
while using the following words of
Christian social justice activist Idelette
McVicker to frame the f