Elisa Morgan’s Wonderfully Made: Seeing yourself as God sees you

Hosted by Olympic Peninsula Women’s Fellowship

6-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25

Dungeness Community Church, 45 Eberle Lane, Sequim

Includes teaching time with Morgan, worship music, food, prayer and more.

Cost $35 by Feb. 10, $25 for girls 18 and under, and $45 after Feb. 11.

For more information, visit http://olympicpeninsulawomensfellowship.com.

A small group of dedicated women hope and pray their first big faith event leads to bigger and better things for Christian women on the Olympic Peninsula.

The Olympic Peninsula Women’s Fellowship, a non-denominational, nonprofit 501(c)3, brings Denver author and speaker Elisa Morgan to Dungeness Community Church in Sequim on Feb. 24-25, for what organizers call “an inspirational weekend.”

Advanced ticket sales already have hit 300 and near capacity, but organizers hope to offer more tickets online and by mail.

Co-organizer Nancy Vance, 66, said their ticket-goers come from at least 40 churches including Seattle-area churches. The weekend centers on the concept “Wonderfully made: Seeing yourself as God sees you,” which Vance said is relevant for teen girls to mature women.

Morgan leads three sessions “Accepting the Past,” “Embracing the Present” and “Anointing the Future” based on some of her books such as “The Beauty of Broken” and “Hello Beauty Full.”

Music is performed by Lauren Best of Calvary Chapel Sequim and the worship band from King’s Way Foursquare led by Kathryn Pacelli.

Along with teaching sessions and music, the weekend features discussion and prayer times and lunch on Saturday.

Fellowship forms

This event grew from a “visioning retreat” of local women from different Christian churches last September to discuss the needs of women on the peninsula, which led to the goal of an annual event.

“We had a collective vision to unify and engage women in Christ across the peninsula,” Vance said.

“We want it to be a positive influence.”

Vance said the leadership team “consists of women from many different Bible-believing churches on the Olympic Peninsula to ensure that no one church owns or directs the organization.”

After attending a Christian event in Seattle last summer with more than 3,000 women, Vance felt compelled to do something similar locally.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t we have something like that here and bring in women from across the peninsula?’” she said.

Group members have a similar goal to the Olympic Peninsula Men’s Fellowship to bring in a national speaker for an annual event.

Organizers set a goal of bringing in 300 women so they pinpointed about 70 churches from the West End of Clallam County to Jefferson County and contacted them in person to establish a personal relationship, Vance said.

When they hit their goal, she said they had a realization that this was something needed across the peninsula.

“It’s a validation of the vision of the project,” Vance said.

For the event, they also lowered ticket prices for girls under 18 to encourage daughters and granddaughters to go with their mothers and grandmothers.

They’ve also asked each participating church to consider scholarships to help women attend.

Looking to 2018, Vance said they plan to look into a bigger facility to bring in even more people.

“I hate to max it,” she said.

“We’re trying to be accommodating but it shows me there’s a need.”

For more information on the Olympic Peninsula Women’s Fellowship and the weekend event, visit http://olympicpeninsulawomensfellowship.com.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.