It’s easy to be sad when Christmas is over, but I’ve always loved the week after Christmas. You get to open up all the new presents! Play with your new toys! The Christmas tree glows for just a little bit longer. And yet, unlike the hustle and bustle of the week prior, there is a quiet calm.

There is time to reflect on the year as it comes to a close and anticipate the newness of the year ahead.

As I take time to intentionally reflect on 2021, I’d like to thank each one of you for the part you played in our community. In a culture that is increasingly hostile toward sexual purity, our message is not always well received. We couldn’t do this without your donations, prayers, and support! We thank God for you.

This last year was a huge year for us personally and professionally. Our team member Alyssa got married! Emmarie moved to Minnesota for a full time job in Camp Ministry, Laura graduated with her Masters degree in Business Administration, and Kaela served as a Resident Assistant at Cornerstone University!

Here are just a few of the things we did as a ministry:

We held our first Women’s Conference which live-streamed to multiple states and reached over 200 women!
We hosted the Pursuit Youth Conference, partnering with five local churches and offering unique content and break out sessions for guys and girls
We launched the first season of our podcast – Yada Yada – with over 500 downloads and 50 regular listeners to date.
We published 27 new blogs
Launched a Free E-book Download
Published our first printed collection of blogs available on Amazon.com
Participated in the Colorfully Candid Online Prayer Challenge
Hosted a Mother Daughter Tea Party
Spoke at a local university
Published the third edition of The Bible Study Planner
And garnered over 14,500 unique views on our website

Not to mention our social media ministry and our weekly Instagram #takeovertuesdays where we invite our community into our daily lives!

2021 HIGHLIGHTS

RECLAIMING SEXUALITY WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
In 2021, we hosted our first women’s conference, highlighting the intersection of faith and sexual ethics.This two day event equipped the local church to know what they believe about sexuality and why they believe it. Break out sessions included LGBTQIA+, pornography, sex trafficking and other pressing cultural topics.

Key takeaways:

How science supports a biblical sexual ethic
History of the Sexual Revolution
Current cultural events related to sexuality
24% of women saw real life change, repenting or confessing something In their life.
Women left feeling inspired by God’s design for sexuality and hopeful for the next generation!

PURSUIT YOUTH CONFERENCE

74 students and leaders.
5 area youth groups.
20 parents at the workshop.
2 full days on Biblical Sexual Ethics.
4 main stage messages.
12 unique break out sessions.
1 passion: pursuing God’s heart!

Schools may be the ones teaching sex education, but churches need to be the ones teaching sexual ethics. Our two day youth conference for guys and girls covered Biblical sexual ethics with practical life lessons, including break out sessions uniquely tailored for middle and high school students. Teens left the conference with clear, biblical direction for life and love!

OUR PODCAST: YADA YADA

We produced the first 10 episode season of our podcast Yada Yada, which dives into purity culture, the history of the sexual revolution, the theology of the body, and so much more!

Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

MOTHER DAUGHTER TEA PARTY

It was an absolute delight to see moms and daughters connecting over important conversation at our Mother Daughter Tea Party. We covered a brief theology of the body, teaching girls that how we talk about our bodies matters and encouraging moms and daughters to embody the attributes of God… kindness, joy, creativity. We had a brief lesson on tea, and the moms and daughters created a tea blend that represented their unique “flavors” to give to one another. We then used the private upstairs rooms for moms and daughters to work through a list of questions and pray over one another.

The Journal of Pediatrics claims that positive mother-daughter relationships like these decrease early sexual intercourse among teenage girls. And we’ve seen this to be true in our ministry, which is why we believe in hosting these kinds of events! One mother told me she was in tears, praying over her daughter. Another mom said it was such a wonderful opportunity to connect on a deeper level. A big thank you to Venue3Two for making this possible!

DONATE FOR 2022

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

DONATE FOR 2022 We are so excited about our plans for 2022: another youth conference, a mother-daughter event and a father-daughter event, another season of the Yada Yada podcast, and so much more! As a non-profit organization, your donations make it possible!

INVITE US TO SPEAK We will tailor messages for teens, college students, youth leaders, or parents about biblical sexual ethics for your church, small group, or event.

READ OUR BLOG Join over 8,000 visitors reading our blogs each year! In 2021 we published 26 new articles, and throughout the years we’ve written 200+ blogs on love, sex, and purity targeting women of all ages. We’ve curated and published our best blogs in The Across My Heart Collection, available at amazon.com.acrossmyheartministries.com

PRAY FOR OUR TEAM LEADERS In a culture that is increasingly hostile toward sexual purity, our message is not always well received. Pray that our team would continue to have the boldness and compassion to share God’s truth in love. We believe God ways are the best ways to live and talking about His Truths is the most loving thing we can do. Spiritual warfare is real, and we need all the prayer we can get to help us confidently speak, write, and host events on these topics.