15,000 Women of Faith Turn to Each Other and to God

Jennifer Hoffer, 26, had never been under the same roof with 15,000 women. And it was scary. But it also was wonderful, she said.

Hoffer, a Loma Linda resident, was among thousands who gathered Friday for the second annual Women of Faith Joyful Journey Conference at the Pond of Anaheim.

“In everyday life, we can get so caught up in the daily grind that we sometimes lose sight of God,” she said. “This is a great way to bring us all together.”

The all-female “celebration of life” brought together women from throughout the state who had registered months in advance for the sold-out event, said Connie McCoy, spokeswoman for the conference.

Modeled after Promise Keepers, an evangelical movement encouraging men to be responsible toward their families, the Texas-based Women of Faith focuses on helping women deal with everyday problems.

Part stand-up comedy and part Bible study, the program Friday night had an audience ranging from teenagers in platform shoes and pierced body parts to women in pearls.

“We focus on what women have to overcome and how they were able to do it,” McCoy said. “It’s kind of like a laughter-to-tears thing. . . . Everyone here can identify with at least one of the speakers.”

Sheila Walsh, who formerly co-hosted Pat Robertson’s national television show, told the crowd about the day she drove herself to a psychiatric hospital and checked in.

A difficult childhood, her own perfectionism and professional pressures caught up with her, she said, and “I began to fall apart.”

“I discovered inside of me was a very angry person.”

Christianity, she said, helped her deal with fears.

Anaheim’s Joyful Journey Conference, which ends today, is the 12th of 15 such gatherings around the country. The next three stops are Phoenix, San Antonio and Lincoln, Neb. So far, about 120,000 women have attended the Christian conferences.

Some wanted to find inspiration, others friends. But mostly, they come to “bond with other women,” to know that someone else is going through the same experiences, McCoy said. By sharing those experiences, organizers hope that participants will “look at their circumstances and experiences from a new perspective,” she said.

Gina Wade, 26, of San Bernardino County said, “It helps you realize that as a woman, you’re not the only one who feels the way you do.”