2024 OCC Women's Event Program Book by Ozark Christian College

WOMEN’S EVENT

WALKING FROM CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM

WELCOME TO OCC

PEYTON MARPLE EVENT DIRECTOR

Welcome to Ozark Christian College!

We’re grateful to gather with you both in person and online for this year’s Women’s Event. This weekend, we’ll be reminded of the faithfulness of God through the Exodus Story. Even though the Israelites had been rescued from slavery by God, they whined their way through the wilderness, impatient for the Lord to provide them with the promised land ﬂowing with milk and honey. Despite their discontent hearts, God was faithful to provide them a way out of not only their captivity in Egypt, but also out of the captivity sin had on their hearts.

This is just one account of God’s faithfulness to his people, and as we worship and remember his faithfulness together this weekend, we pray you’ll be encouraged, equipped, and empowered in your walk with God.

May this weekend be another step in your walk that reveals the faithfulness of God as you walk in his way.

Peyton Marple OCC Event Director

Julie has been serving in ministry alongside her huband, Randy, for nearly 50 years. The last nine years have been spent mentoring and discipling students at Ozark Christian College. Julie is a proud mom of three and a prouder grandma of eleven.

Katie is Julie’s daughter. She is a student-athlete graduate of Missouri Southern State University and earned her master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Missouri State University. She and her husband, Josh, have been married for 18 years and have four children.

Katie continues to work as a physician assistant in orthopedic surgery. Her family resides in Joplin and is active at College Heights Christian Church.

Megan is Julie’s daughter. She has been married to Ryan for nearly ten years, and together they have four boys ages two to seven. The Fletchers live in Overland Park, Kansas, where Ryan serves as a campus pastor at Legacy Christian Church.

Alyssa serves as OCC’s graduate studies admissions specialist and as a dorm mom of Ozark’s Alumni Hall. Most importantly, Alyssa is wife to Chase and mom to one-yearold Callihan. Alyssa has led worship in various contexts for the past 15 years and is honored to worship alongside kingdom-minded women this weekend.

JULIE GARISS SPEAKER KATIE MARSH SPEAKER MEGAN FLETCHER SPEAKER ALYSSA MARCUS WORSHIP

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY APRIL 12

5:00 PM

7:00 PM

8:30 PM

DOORS OPEN

MAIN SESSION (MPB)

FRIDAY NIGHT FUN

Bingo (Downstairs Dining Hall)

The Yarty! (Dining Hall Yard)

Create Space (Upstairs Dining Hall)

SATURDAY APRIL 13

8:30 AM 9:30 AM 10:45 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM

DOORS OPEN MAIN SESSION (MPB)

WORKSHOPS OR PRAYER EXPERIENCE

PICNIC AND POP-UP SHOP

WORKSHOPS OR PRAYER EXPERIENCE

DOORS OPEN MAIN SESSION (MPB)

WALKING FROM CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM

WORKSHOPS

All workshops will be offered at both 10:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Recordings for all sessions and workshops will be provided to registered attendees via email following the Women’s Event.

FREEDOM IN COMMUNITY

LOGAN HAHN � UPSTAIRS BANQUET ROOM

Freedom in community doesn’t begin with opening the door of your home. Freedom in community begins and ends with Christ. As Jesus takes up more room in us, we’re able to have freedom with others. Come walk through Colossians, where we’ll first find Christ and second find practical steps forward in Christian community.

FREEDOM IN THE WORD

BETH DEFAZIO � MPB

Come engage in Bible study tips and tools to beneﬁt your personal walk with Jesus and prepare you for discipling others.

FREEDOM TO ANSWER GOD’S CALL: A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH WOMEN IN MINISTRY

THERESA BARNES, CARRYN OSBORN, JORDAN WOODRING � CHAPEL

This panel, ranging in years of life experience and ministry contexts, will share insight and answer questions about what it means to be called by God as a minister of the Gospel in whatever phase of life or context you’re in.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER EXPERIENCE GUIDE LOCATED IN PROGRAM BOOK � PARTICIPATE IN ANY LOCATION

You can choose to use the designated workshop time to ﬁnd a spot on campus and work through the prayer experience provided in your program book. You can also choose to take the program book home and follow the prayer experience at a later time to continue what God has started this weekend.

WALKING FROM CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM

WORKSHOP SPEAKERS

LOGAN HAHN

Logan is a lover of words, a baker of bread, a wife of a pastor, and a mother of four little women. She spends her days at home—her favorite place to be.

BETH DEFAZIO

Beth teaches preaching and teaching at Ozark Christian College. She has been speaking at women’s and youth events for over ﬁfteen years and enjoys engaging with others in worship, study, and community.

THERESA BARNES

Theresa is a graduate of Central Christian College of the Bible and a graduate student at OCC. She serves as the women's discipleship minister at Christ's Church of Oronogo in Oronogo, Missouri. Theresa enjoys photography, reading, painting, gardening, drinking coffee, and spoiling her ﬁve-year-old granddaughter.

CARRYN OSBORN

Carryn graduated from OCC in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Studies. She now works for Schuber Mitchell Homes in Joplin as the connection lead on their ministry team. Carryn loves to sing, cook, and spend time with her community. She is an auntie of two beautiful boys and enjoys traveling the world.

JORDAN WOODRING

Jordan has been in ministry in the local church for thirteen years, primarily serving as a youth pastor for 6th-12th grade students. She has had the opportunity to help with life group and college-age ministry in different seasons and ﬁnds joy in being able to serve his church in whatever way is needed. Jordan is single and does not have biological children, but God has blessed her with more kids than she can count. Jordan is passionate about students’ discipleship and the local church, and about her family, two nephews, classic movies and books, and queso.

NOTES

REFLECTIVE PRAYER EXPERIENCE

BY MONICA BUTLER

This weekend, we’ve come to better understand the exodus story that courses throughout Scripture and to better recognize the exodus story that, through Christ, courses throughout our lives. We’ve come together in worship and teaching, to declare corporately the ways we’ve seen God act in faithful salvation and deliverance over the history of Scripture, and to consider how we’ve seen God act in faithful salvation and deliverance in our own history.

Now, we have an opportunity to meet with God in his Word, to reﬂect on all we’ve learned, and to consider how all of this intersects with his work in our individual lives—to consider how all of this impacts our personal exodus story.

Let’s grab our Bibles, silence our phones and other distractions, and purpose to meet with the Lord.

WALKING FROM CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM

REVERENCE

As we begin this time with the Lord, we want to enter his presence with reverence. We want to come to him with a posture of readiness and holy regard. In keeping with this weekend’s lessons, let’s borrow an exercise in intentionality from Moses himself.

Read Exodus 3:1-6.

God appeared to Moses as a roaring ﬁre burning within an ordinary bush, but Moses quickly realized this was no ordinary ﬁre. He approached the bush to investigate, and God called out to him by name.

And, as Moses inched closer, the Lord stopped him in his tracks. He commanded Moses to remove his shoes. God declared the ground upon which Moses stood to be holy.

Moses was meeting with the Lord himself in that space. The otherwise ordinary ground underneath his feet had become anything but ordinary in that moment. Nothing about the ground overtly changed, but the obvious presence of the Lord now marked the moment. Moses was being called. He was met by the Lord and met with the proclamation of an exodus promise for God’s people, Israel.

This was the God of Israel. Moses knew he was in a holy place…a holy moment…a holy encounter.

Moses recognized he stood before a holy God, and, in response, he sought to hide his face in fear. This was a common response to standing before the holy God of Israel—recognizing his remarkable holiness and also recognizing one’s own unworthiness and sin. This holy meeting continued and Moses, and eventually Israel, would never be the same again.

How do you approach the Lord in his Word?

Do you recognize him calling your name to meet with him? Do you approach him ready to declare, “Here I am”? Do you approach him ready to learn from him?

How can you take time to pause and recognize the beautiful sacred opportunity and space set before you? Have you ever responded with a physical change of posture that either mirrors or helps to move your spiritual posture within?

Consider removing your shoes for the remainder of this experience, to intentionally set your body, mind, and heart to be prepared to meet the Lord in sacred ways, even if you remain in an otherwise ordinary space.

Moses was called to respond to God’s identity in this meeting. He was being called to trust the God of his fathers with his future and the future of the nation Israel.

How have you responded to God’s declarations about who he is—his name, his character, his love, and his grace?

How will you respond to God in trust as you approach him in his Word again today?

Talk to God about your relationship with him right now. Thank him for inviting you to meet with him, inviting you to draw near through his Word. Confess to him any distractions or fears you hold that may interfere with your time with him right now. (List some of those distractions or fears in the margin of this book if that helps free your mind.) Ask for the Holy Spirit's help to meet with him, to hear from him, and to respond to him in obedience and trust. Thank him for his ability to mark even the seemingly ordinary with his extraordinary presence and invite him to do that again today.

REMEMBRANCE

Throughout Scripture, the Israelites were commanded to “remember” the acts of their God. Theirs was an oral tradition and they were to recount, again and again, the sovereign nature of Yahweh, the God of Israel. They were to recall his mighty acts of deliverance and to ensure the generations after them did not forget the Lord their God. The Old Testament Scriptures hold these remembrances within their pages, reminding Israel, and those to follow, to never forget the ways of their Lord.

While we are not likely surprised to know the ﬁrst ﬁve books of the Old Testament, known as the Pentateuch or Torah, hold hints and remembrances of the exodus (there are hints of the exodus mentioned in Genesis 12 and 15), many of the other Old Testament books tell the exodus story as well. In fact, many of the psalms break into a remembrance praise of God for his acts of deliverance in Israel’s life, usually highlighting the exodus from Egypt in some fashion, as a response of faith to an otherwise overwhelmed heart.

Remembering God’s faithfulness in the past is one of the best ways to trust him in faith with our needs for the present and the future; the psalmists know this and remind us of this truth often.

One such psalm may help us remember the deliverance and redemption we’ve seen in our lives.

Read Psalm 77:1-20.

This a psalm of individual prayer and lament. It is also a psalm of remembrance.

The psalmist was desperate for help. He cried out to the Lord from that desperation. He sought to remember the songs in the night. He was greatly troubled, but, as he began to recall the acts of the Lord, he was eventually also greatly comforted.

As you read this psalm, did you recognize any parallels to the Old Testament exodus story we’ve considered this weekend?

Does this pattern remind you of any seasons in your own life? How so?

Have you walked in a wilderness of your own? Have you cried out to God and found him faithful to hear, act, save, and deliver you?

What are some deeds, miracles, and works of the Lord you can “remember” today? For Israel? For his followers over generations? In your own life? How does your heart respond to this remembrance?

Consider writing a psalm of remembrance for your own life here. Use Psalm 77 as a guide. Use this space or another piece of paper if needed. Personalize the psalmist’s words and approach; pour out your heart to the Lord in written prayer of lament and remembrance.

Now that you’ve ﬁnished this remembrance exercise, consider your current seasons of waiting.

Are you currently walking in a wilderness season? Are there circumstances in which you are still waiting for evidence of God’s presence, activity, and deliverance? Record those here.

When was the last time you speciﬁcally cried out to God about these? Have you found yourself weary of asking for his help in any of the things you listed? Have you realized a great amount of time has elapsed since the last time you cried out to God to help you in this?

Will you believe God hears your cries and is already acting out his redemption and reﬁning you in greater trust and holiness as you wait on him?

This weekend, we were reminded that God’s seeming silence, even over long periods of time, is not indicative of his absence or disinterest. He hears our cries and is able to carry us in grace as we wait on his will and his way for our lives to glorify him.

Hand your wilderness cries to the Lord. Cry these out loud to him again today. Let God hear the cries of your heart as they pass through your lips. Trust he can and will hear and act in these circumstances just as he has for his people in the past.

Read your personal psalm to the Lord in prayer right now. Thank him for hearing your cries in the past and thank him in trust that he will hear your cries of today and tomorrow as well. Confess to him the ways you may have grown weary or silent in presenting your pains and your fears to him in heartfelt cries for deliverance. Ask him to help you trust in his will and his plan for your care. Thank him for the presence and help of the Holy Spirit and his all-sufﬁcient grace all along the way.

REFINING

As God’s chosen people, newly delivered from generations of settling into the Egyptian culture, Israel needed to undergo a reﬁning process. Though they had lived as slaves in Egypt, they had undoubtedly grown accustomed to the known and familiar rhythms and patterns of their lives. They had surely grown accustomed to roofs over their heads and food after their labor. And Scripture suggests their time in Egypt, though lacking autonomy and freedom, and wrought with opposition and persecution, ironically may not have required the same trust and radical obedience their time in the wilderness did. Indeed, when Israel was met with challenges in the wilderness, they were quickly tempted to long for the “comforts and familiarities” of their past in Egypt.

Though the God of Israel had delivered his people from the woes of Egypt, it would take years of testing and diligence for Israel to be delivered from the ways of Egypt (including inﬂuences and practices of their false religions). It would take years to change the patterns of their former lives. They would need to undergo a reﬁning process, to be made holy as the Lord was holy (Leviticus 11:44-45). They would need to undergo testing and discipline to be more wholly dedicated to their God and so better present themselves set apart as his.

As believers in Christ, we must undergo a similar process in our new lives in him. We must make conscious efforts and willful choices to submit our ways to the Holy Spirit rather than our ﬂesh. We must make knowing the Word of God and the God of the Word a priority and allow it, through his Holy Spirit, to change our lives. We must undergo a sanctiﬁcation process that helps us to look more and more like Jesus over time.

Read Galatians 5:1-26.

Here, and in the chapter just prior to this, the apostle Paul warned the new believers in the churches of Asia Minor against returning to their former way of life. In this text, he warned them not to take on the yoke of slavery they’d worn before they were delivered. (In this context, Paul speciﬁcally challenged the idea that Greek/Gentile believers would need to become Jewish, especially adhering to the Jewish requirement of circumcision, to be accepted in the faith. He combatted the false idea that new believers would need to comply with the former ceremonial laws for salvation.)

Paul warned the new believers they may ﬁnd it tempting to try to comply with the old ways of life in Judaism as an assurance of their salvation. He also warned them they may be tempted to use their freedom to serve themselves rather than others. Neither would honor God or reﬂect his grace.

In Galatians 4:8-9, Paul challenged the believers with the piercing questions, “Now that you know God, how is it you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved to them over again?” There was no place for this in the freedom of Christ.

Paul contrasted a life succumbed to the way of the flesh with a life surrendered to the power of the Spirit. As he did in many of his letters, Paul encouraged the believers to put away the things of the flesh—the things of their former lives–and to instead walk in the power of the Spirit. Real freedom is found in a life surrendered to the Holy Spirit, bearing fruit that reflects the image of Christ to others. This would be a demonstration of their new life as followers of Christ.

How might new believers of Christ be tempted to follow the requirements of the Jewish laws?

Are there ways you are tempted to follow rules or regulations to somehow prove or earn your faith? How do you struggle with the temptation to walk in your own strength?

What are some things Paul lists as characteristics of the ways of the ﬂesh? Do any of these mark your former life? Do you still struggle with any of these?

What characteristics does Paul list as evidence of the fruit of the Spirit? Do any of these mark your new life in Christ?

How can you better walk in the Spirit in your life right now?

The apostle Peter spoke about this important reﬁning in one of his letters as well.

Read 1 Peter 2:9-12.

Just as in Exodus, God had called his people Israel his “chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6), the church is similarly called to be this in the present age. Like Israel, Christ’s followers have been called out of darkness and made a people for his possession—his precious treasure—called to proclaim his mercy and grace to others. We as Christ’s followers are called to live a set-apart life that reveals his saving grace in our lives.

Is this set-apart change apparent in your life? How so? How does your life in Christ look different from your life before Christ? How does it look different from the culture around you?

How can you better walk as a new person/new creation in Christ in a culture that still hasn’t recognized or accepted his deliverance?

Thank God for the freedom he gives us in Jesus Christ. Thank him for the way he has made us a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. Confess to him any way you struggle to walk in that reality. Confess to him any way you struggle to walk in the Spirit and in surrender to him. Ask him for his forgiveness. Ask him for his help, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to purify and sanctify your heart and mind as you yield to his work in your life. Thank him that he will continue to complete this work in you over your lifetime.

RESPONSE

God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt and brought them through the wilderness, carrying them and presenting them reﬁned and ready to place their feet ﬁrmly onto the Promised Land. They were able to walk in hope with eyes set on the promised land yet to come. They were able to wait expectantly for the hope and future promised them by their faithful God.

As followers of Christ, we, too, have been delivered from slavery to our former way of life, from bondage to our sin. We’ve been given the opportunity to know that we have a hope and a future with eternal life in Christ Jesus. We can look forward to our new life in the great promised land of eternity, worshiping our Savior who is seated at the right hand of God in all authority, mercy, and grace.

And, in this looking forward, we’ve been given the opportunity to share this gift with others who don’t yet know or accept this great deliverance. We’ve been given the opportunity to share the gospel—the greatest exodus story there is—with others that they, too, might one day have their own exodus story to share.

1 Peter 3:15 charges us to “... always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have…” One way we can do this is to be prepared to share our exodus story with others.

Have you shared your testimony—your exodus story—with someone else?

Read Psalm 71:17-24.

How have you seen God’s obvious presence over your lifetime? How has he rescued and carried you in faithfulness and love? How does this give an answer to others for the hope you have? How does your own exodus story help you continue to look forward to your promised rest in Jesus?

How has the Old Testament Exodus narrative helped you better understand your own exodus story? And how can you be ready to walk in your exodus story with greater intentionality and intensity as you leave this weekend?

Thank God for his authorship of exodus stories throughout history. Thank him for writing your exodus story. Confess any ways you struggle to remember the gift of deliverance in your life. Ask him to help you have your exodus story ready to share. Ask him to help you point others to the saving work of Jesus Christ. Thank him that he has given you his perfect presence through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank him for the promise that you will rest with him one day in the greater promise of heaven.

Return your shoes to your feet, ready to walk out your exodus story in God’s grace…ready to live out the hope you have in Jesus Christ.

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery!”

(Exodus 20:2 NIV)

15,000+ ALUMNI HAVE SERVED IN ALL 50 STATES AND 100 COUNTRIES

A COLLEGE WITH A CLEAR MISSION

In 1942, a little band of believers saw a need for more workers to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). They started Ozark Christian College with one mission: to train men and women for Christian service. Today, 80+ years later, Ozark still emphasizes vocational preparation for preaching ministers, missionaries, worship ministers, youth ministers, and children’s ministers. Biblical and practical training are also provided for those who will serve in the church in non-vocational roles. Our 15,000+ alumni have made a global impact in all 50 states and 100 countries.

What distinctives guide us as we prepare kingdom leaders? At least four:

Our Bible college accrediting agency mandates 30 hours of Bible classes. We require 50 hours, so our graduates will be “thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)

Ozark is one of the seven largest Christian church colleges. At the other six, fewer than approximately 50% graduate with a Bible or ministry major. At OCC, 100% of graduates have a Bible or ministry degree, and the majority go into some kind of ministry.

OCC is nationally accredited by the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) and regionally accredited with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).

OCC is less than half the average cost of other four-year private colleges and even less expensive than some publicly-funded colleges.

1. Send students. At OCC, we help students discover that God has a kingdom assignment with their name on it, and we help prepare them for whatever that is. When you send a student to Ozark, you help train leaders and invest in eternity.

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2. Join us in prayer. Will you join us in praying for Ozark Christian College? Pray that we’ll remain faithful to our mission of training men and women for Christian service as we prepare students for the harvest ﬁelds worldwide.

3. Give a gift. When you give to OCC, you multiply your kingdom efforts through the hundreds of kingdom workers we train each year. Make a one-time gift or schedule a recurring gift today.

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