This conference is about taking heart

By Cindy Landrum  

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 12:29 p.m. (0)

Carol Kent woke to a ringing phone at 12:35 a.m. on an October morning in 1999.

Her son – newly married, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, president of his high school’s National Honor Society – had been arrested for murdering his wife’s former husband.

When she tried to get out of bed, her legs wouldn’t support her weight.

Her happy, normal life had come to an abrupt end.

Kent, a Christian author and inspirational speaker, will be in Greenville on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 to keynote “Take Heart,” a conference for women facing challenges – money problems, a failed marriage, grief, illness, addiction, any of life’s trials.

The women’s ministries of several Greenville and Spartanburg county churches are sponsoring the conference.

What: “Take Heart” Conference Who: A women’s conference sponsored by the women’s ministries of various churches in Greenville and Spartanburgå When: Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 Where: Buncombe Street United Methodist Church, 200 Buncombe St., Greenvilleå Tickets: $25.  Registration can be done online at www.takeheartministries.net or at  Buncombe Street United Methodist Church, Taylors First Baptist Church, Triune Mercy Center, Mauldin United Methodist Church, Milestones Church and Spartanburg’s Morningside Baptist Church.

About two dozen churches of varying denominations are expected to participate.

“People really need help in the midst of a hard time that, for some, may not go away,” said Sandra MacMillan, chairwoman of the conference’s leadership team.

Besides Kent, the conference will feature 32 breakout sessions on subjects such as struggles with children, drug addiction, marriage problems and joblessness, all lead by people who have lived through the problem or experts in that field.

Some churches have great support groups and others have social service programs to help women in need, MacMillan said.

“We wanted to work together to help women in need with whatever resources they need no matter which church offers them,” she said. “We want to facilitate a relationship between the needs and the resources.”

The conference is designed to be the kickoff of an ongoing cooperative effort between the churches, she said.

There will also be six-week Bible study groups, MacMillan said.

Kent’s son, Jason, was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole.

He said he feared his wife’s former husband would sexually assault his stepchildren and gunned him down in broad daylight in the parking lot of an Orlando, Fla., restaurant.

The case was featured on Court TV and Dateline NBC.

In her book, “A New Kind of Normal,” Kent writes, “We chose not to waste our lives because life didn’t turn out the way we wanted.”

She said living in a “new kind of normal” has taught her “pain is pain.”

Embracing the new normal is key, she writes.