For 21 years, the Marriage and Family Therapy program has organized the Women in God’s Service (WINGS) conference on campus. This year, the conference will take place on Feb. 20 – 21 with the theme “Crown of Valor.”

The mission of WINGS is to “offer scripture-based programs designed to encourage spiritual growth.”

The theme is meant to highlight being women of courage as they seek to be women of God. Marriage and Family Therapy Professor and founder of WINGS Sherry Pollard said the conference was started because they wanted to unite multiple churches together.

“There are a lot of smaller churches that don’t have the man power or finances to actually have women’s programs, so we wanted to have broader opportunities for people to come together to have something and not just one church,” Pollard said.

Senior Kaitlin Plachy is attending the conference for class credit.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to attend the WINGS conference in the past, so I’m really excited to get to be a part of it this year,” Plachy said. “There is something so special about sharing a community of faith with women whose lives are testaments to stories of God’s faithfulness.

The conference will focus on how women can be more courageous in the church through keynote speakers and breakout sessions that will include two different panels.

“We started out by looking at especially women of courage in the Bible and looking at the different aspects of how you can be courageous,” Pollard said. “Sometimes it means speaking up, sometimes it means to look for contentment in negative situations, sometimes it means having a conflict resolved, so we’ve chosen our breakout sessions about those themes.”

One woman will also be given a Legacy award, which is presented to women who show wisdom and courage in their faith. This will be to acknowledge the effort and time these women put forth in order to serve God and the Harding community.

“Especially in a place like Harding, it can be challenging to hear these unique and enduring stories of faith,” Plachy said. “Opportunities like the WINGS conference allow students to learn from the wisdom and life experiences of the female spiritual giants in our community.”

The conference will feature women from all over the region to give them and others a chance to be encouraged.

Registration is $30 for students or $40 for non-students. For more information, visit www.harding.edu/wings.