Arise AZ sells out with 800 women attending

In September, about 800 women from around Arizona gathered in Sedona for the Arise AZ Conference.

And for the first time since the annual women’s conference began in 2020, it sold out.

“The hope is always life change,” said Shannon Jennings, the chair of the Arise planning team. “That what happens in Sedona on a mountaintop doesn’t stay on the mountaintop but goes in 800 different directions … and changes people’s lives around them as they become contagious for Christ.”

This year at Arise, 13 women trusted in Christ and another 24 made recommitments. The theme was “Stand Firm,” based on Ephesians 6.

Arise is supported both spiritually and financially by the Arizona Mission Network. Additionally, Jennings said the conference receives some funding from the North American Mission Board — but it’s also an event that gives back. This year, women gave about $5,400 to support She Is Safe, a faith-based nonprofit that frees women and girls from human trafficking.

“I love seeing what the Lord is doing,” said Catherine Renfro, a main session speaker and the national director of women’s evangelism for NAMB. “I love seeing ladies who have come to know Jesus who are now walking with Him and inviting other people in to know Jesus. I talked to one woman who, that is her exact story. She didn’t know the Lord before coming to Arise one year, and then the next year, she brought a friend with her who didn’t know the Lord.”

Renfro, who lives in Georgia, has been a main session speaker for the conference for five out of its six years. Of the four main session speakers and 22 breakout session teachers, she’s the only one who traveled from out of state. The rest of the speakers, as well as 36 vendors, live in Arizona. The band, too, represented three Arizona churches, including Jennings’ own Aletheia Church in Sedona.

A team of about 10 women planned the conference, and a mission team from First Baptist Church, Sheridan, Arkansas, came to serve during the weekend. Women from 173 churches attended Arise this year, Jennings said.

Tonya Short, the kids ministry director at Happy Valley Baptist Church in Glendale, attended for the first time this year. She and 15 others from her church rented a house for the weekend. With two kids at home, she valued the chance to connect with other women and be encouraged in her faith.

“Life is crazy …” Short said. “To hear godly women talk about their struggles, I find that refreshing, and it’s just helpful to be able to know, ‘OK, we’re all sinners and we fail every day, but we can thank God for His mercy and forgiveness.’ And every speaker I heard and the breakout speakers, they encompassed that, and it was just a great reminder.”

Events such as Arise support the work of the local church by calling, equipping and connecting women to live intentionally for Christ, Renfro said. She recalled another woman she met who walked away from the conference with the conviction that she needed to find community in a church.

“You can lose sight of the fact that you’re not in this alone …” Renfro added. “But then you come to an event like Arise … and you start to realize we’re part of something that is bigger than ourselves and bigger than our one local church. It’s the body of Christ coming together and making much of Jesus.”

Johanna Willett, a freelance writer living in Tucson, is a member of Mountain View Baptist Church, Tucson.