Inspired Sisters

Upcoming Event & Activity Updates – 4/15/22

Posted on April 15, 2022April 15, 2022 by Marie Perry

Morning Hike to Pulpit Rock – Saturday, April 16, 2022 – 8:30am, Hamburg Reservoir

Women, men, kids, puppies are welcome – cats on leashes are too, but good luck with that!

Plan to just head up for a shorter hike this time, just to Pulpit Rock and back.

Be sure to visit the Hike to Pulpit Rock Event on our Facebook page and let us know you’ll be coming. Please arrive at Hamburg Reservoir by 8:30am to gather up. It’s also a good idea to text Marie Perry at 610-587-2136… let her know so you won’t get left behind.

Hope you’ll plan to join.

♥

Life’s Choices Spring Chicken 5K Walk/Run

If you haven’t already signed up for this event, please consider joining us to help Life’s Choices in their annual fundraiser. All proceeds will go to the life-giving work of Life’s Choices Kutztown and Hamburg, providing free pregnancy, parenting, and relationship support in the Berks County area.

You don’t only have to be able to run to join – you can walk or skip to the finish line – whatever works for you.

Anyone is welcome – ladies, men, kids, friends, grandparents….bring the fam!

The route starts on the Schuylkill River Trail at Hamburg Park then loops back for 3.1 miles. You can find all the information here as well as register too. Registration cost is $30.00 per person, $15.00 for children 14 and under, but if you sign up with our team, Inspired Sisters of Zions Church, the registration cost if only $20.00.

We hope you’ll join us.

♥

Lisa Harper at GT Church in Wyomissing, Saturday, May 7th

If you’ve seen Lisa Harper speak at some of our past Women’s Conferences, you’re going to want to join us! Lisa will be at GT Church in West Lawn on May 7th, and as long as tickets are available they are $20 each. Bonus!!!!

You can check out GT’s Facebook Event for all the info, or just go get yourself a ticket. Tickets are first come, first served, so don’t wait too long to purchase. There’s a good number of ladies going from our church so be sure to visit the Lisa Harper at GT Event on the Inspired Sisters Facebook page and let us know that you’re going. We will be meeting next to GT Church at the P.J. Whelihan’s Restaurant at 2:30pm for dinner and a show!

Hope to see you there.

♥

Sorry You Missed Out On Our Becoming Mrs. Betterhalf Marriage/Wife Study?

No worries -we would love to offer the study again! Reply back to this email that you’re interested, and we’ll catch up with you about the new dates. There was good feedback about the study, so we hope to bring to more ladies.

♥

04/16/22: Saturday Morning Hike to Pulpit Rock, 8:30am

Posted on March 21, 2022March 21, 2022 by Marie Perry

Women, men, kids, puppies are welcome! Cats on leashes are too, but good luck with that!

Plan to just head up for a shorter hike this time, just to Pulpit Rock, but there’s always the option to continue on further to the Pinnacle for an 8-mile roundtrip.

Be sure to visit our Facebook Event page to let us know you’ll be coming. Please arrive at Hamburg Reservoir by 8:30am to gather up.

Hope you’ll plan to join!

Upcoming Event and Activity Updates: 3/4/22

Posted on March 4, 2022March 4, 2022 by Marie Perry

Get your pen and calendar ready…. here’s some dates we hope you’re interested in joining us for!

Life’s Choices Spring Chicken 5K Run/Walk and Family Festival 2021, Saturday, April 30 at the Schuylkill River Trail in Hamburg

Registration is now open for this event with the following registration prices:

• $30 per adult participant

• $15 for children 14 and under

• $20 with team registration (Join our team, Inspired Sisters of Zions Church, for the discount rate – we don’t care if you walk or run, let’s just do it together!)

There will be lots of the same stuff from as last year plus a few improvements (can you say Candy’s Ice Cream Truck?).

And whether you choose to run or walk, it’s a nice flat out-and-back course that starts at Hamburg Park and winds through along the Schuylkill River Trail back to the Kernsville Dam/Bartram Trail parking lot.

So get your running or walking shoes ready and go sign up!

Women’s Night with Lisa Harper, Saturday, May 7 at GT Church in Wyomissing

If you’ve already purchased a ticket and plan to join us, just a heads up that we will be meeting at PJ Whelihan’s for dinner before the show at 2:00pm instead of 3:30pm. With the show starting at 6:00pm and first available seating, it’s better to start earlier.

If you want to join us but haven’t purchased a ticket yet, you can do so here (if the link is active, then seats are probably still available).

Morning Hike to Pulpit Rock, Saturday, March 19 at 8:30am, Hamburg Reservoir

It’s too soon to know what the weather will look like, but if it’s all good this will be a family-friendly and pet-friendly hike up to Pulpit Rock. If there’s enough interest, the hike can continue on to the Pinnacle and then back down. That would give a round trip hike of about 8 miles and will take around 3 hours. Text Marie at 610-587-2136 or email mperry@kassay.com if you’re planning to attend.

Share on Social Media

04/30/22: Life’s Choices Spring Chicken 5K

Posted on February 11, 2022February 17, 2022 by Marie Perry

Join us to help Life’s Choices in their annual fundraiser! You can run, walk, or skip to the finish line – whatever works for you!

Anyone is welcome – ladies, men, kids, friends, grandparents….bring the fam!

More details for this year to follow, but here’s some pics from last year to get you psyched up!

Life's Choices Spring Chicken 5K annual run walk fundraiser event

03/07/22: Surrendering the Secret: 8 Week Post-Abortion Healing Bible Study Begins

Posted on February 9, 2022February 9, 2022 by Marie Perry

According to a study by LifeWay published in November of 2015, “Over 40% of women who have had an abortion say they were frequent churchgoers at the time they ended their pregnancies and about a half of them say they kept their abortions hidden from church members.” Research also indicates that more than 40% of child-bearing age women have experienced the pain of abortion – that’s 2 out of 5 women.

Without question, abortion can be one of the most traumatic experiences in a person’s life.

After 20+ years of trying almost anything to numb the pain of my abortions and find some kind of worthiness in anything, I finally opened my heart to Christ to receive forgiveness. Yet even then, I was unaware of how to resolve the pain and anguish of that messy past. I truly believed that Jesus loved me in spite of my abortions, and that God took my sins and put them as far away from himself as the East is from the West, but deep down inside I just couldn’t see how He could love me in spite of what I’d done.

Sweet sister, does your soul long for healing too?

I was able to find the love of the Father needed to help release me from that burden and be moved into healing through the encouragement of a sister-in-Christ who was willing to walk alongside with me in that struggle. Would you seek the opportunity to let another sister help you through it too? If your heart is steeped in the pain of abortion, or you know of a sister the same, please consider participation in a post-abortive healing through “Surrendering The Secret” bible study. It’s an 8-week bible study created by Pat Layton to heal hurting women and the heartbreak of abortion through honest and interactive bible study, meaningful group experiences, and unique journaling exercises in a confidential, caring community. The class is always offered in confidence for privacy, so no one needs to know, and it’s open to any sister in need regardless of church affiliation or none at all. I encourage you to view this trailer: https://youtu.be/QuVt-5kn4yY, then reach out to Katie Bailey at secondchron714@verizon.net. Katie works for Life’s Choices, a pregnancy help center with offices in Hamburg and Kutztown, and will be leading the study. Katie and I will both be praying that you can take the first step towards healing, or help another sister to find it too.

And if you’ve already come through and been healed – Praise God, and consider being an amazing support by walking another sister through it, hand in hand. ♥

05/07/22: Lisa Harper at GT Church in West Lawn!

Posted on February 7, 2022February 9, 2022 by Marie Perry

If you’ve seen Lisa Harper speak at some of our past Women’s Conferences, you’re gonna love this! Lisa will be at GT Church in West Lawn on May 7th! And even better, tickets are $20 each. Bonus!!!!

You can check out GT’s Facebook Event for all the info, or just go get yourself a ticket! Tickets seem to be first come, first served, so don’t waitt too long to purchase. And since there’s already a few ladies going, be sure to visit the Inspired Sisters Facebook page and let everyone know that you’re going… maybe we can make it dinner and a show. 🙂

See you there!

02/–/22: Zions Church Ski & Snowboard Trip to Blue Mountain!

Posted on February 6, 2022February 9, 2022 by Marie Perry

Tired of the snow? Bite your tongue!

Let’s have some fun with it and go skiing! This is open to women, men, and children!

We’re planning the trip, but we’re deciding on three days:

• Sunday, February 20

• Tuesday, Feb 22

• Monday Feb 28

Trip will be at Blue Mountain. Lift tickets will just under $70.00 for an 8-hr lift ticket, regardless of weekday or weekend, if we get at least 20 people in a group.

Please reply to this email, text Marie, or visit the Zion’s Church facebook page and leave a comment.

** Note: For those who’ve never tried it before, you are more than welcome but are strongly encouraged to take a lesson or two, which means that you will be assigned to a separate area of the slopes until you are comfortable to join up with the others.

5Randy Bond, Julie Rittle Smith and 3 others22 Comments2 SharesLikeCommentShare

03/19/22: Saturday Morning Hike to Pulpit Rock, 8:00am

Posted on February 6, 2022February 9, 2022 by Marie Perry

It’s been a while, but we’re heading up Pulpit Rock again!

Women, kids, and puppies are welcome!

If there’s any interest in heading up earlier for a sunrise hike instead, send a text to 610-587-2136. We’ll also be entertaining the option of continuing on from Pulpit Rock over to Pinnacle Rock for a roundtrip of 8ish miles.

We’ll let you know the plan for sure as we get closer to the date.

Be sure to visit our Facebook Page Event to let us know you’ll be coming, and we’ll share the meeting location and time with you then (for safety reasons).

Hope to see you there!

What’s In the Works For Inspired Sisters?

Posted on November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 by Marie Perry

The connections that we make during the retreat are very important. When we are able to bond with other women, we feel a sense of “belonging” to that group or place where we normally gather. We can know God and make the choice to attend church regularly to grow in our faith, but when we find our “family” there, it can also change our perspective because we belong. And that helps us grow closer in our relationship to Christ as we are able to find commonalities and share our burdens with, and to find strength and connection in our sisters-in-Christ.

What can Inspired Sisters do to help facilitate that in the coming months?

• Spring Retreat (most likely in April 2022). Certainly don’t want to ruin a good thing, but maybe just get more of it! Camp Swatara has availability in April of 2022. Prices would be the same as the November weekend.

• Monthly Ladies Breakfast: We can meet at a different place each time or the same place on a monthly basis. And if someone wants to host in their home, that’s an option too! We can do a Saturday morning breakfast gathering, or maybe even a Sunday brunch would work better? Let me know what you think!

• Marriage Study: “Becoming Mrs. Betterhalf” in January (women only!). You might have heard about this study…it was run as an online Facebook group study by Holly Furtick (wife of Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church) last year. I was able to participate, and I thought it was a really strong and challenging study. It’s not your usual open-the-book-and-share-your-thoughts study. While there is a video session for each, women are encouraged to memorize scripture and share requests and questions with their spouses as homework. During each meeting, women study the Word and process our husbands’ responses. It’s an interactive study that will challenge you to learn how to be “Mrs. Betterhalf” through God’s Word and your husbands’ feedback.

Please take a moment to reply to this email or comment on Facebook for what you would like to participate in. And if there’s nothing listed that works for you, please feel free to suggest something else! <3

P.S. – If you think other ladies would benefit from a study or activity that you also feel you would participate in, remember that YOU are welcome to suggest it and lead it too! I will be glad to support you with encouragement and resources!

2021 Women’s Retreat Re-Cap

Posted on November 9, 2021November 9, 2021 by Marie Perry

Every year has it’s memories and things that made it special, and this year is no different – just take a look at some of the shenanigans below!

You might have thought Women’s Retreats were stuffy and boring, but you’ve never been to one like this. From laughing together until our bellies hurt, to laying hands on a sister with a burden and asking Jesus for healing and breakthrough over her, this retreat is really one of a kind.

This year we opted to view four powerful sermons instead of a session-oriented bible study. Busy moms have sports and other responsibilities, so we thought it would be helpful to make the sessions independent of each other to make it easy for those arriving late or needing to leave early.

After introductions and a one-unique-thing icebreaker, we watched a sermon by Tim Ross, formerly of Gateway Church, from the 2015 Pink Impact conference. It was the perfect sermon to kick-off a weekend – Tim is engaging and quite funny. Check out this clip for yourself…

Anytime you don’t have to cook and clean for yourself is a bonus! And sometimes it even seemed like we just finished eating and it was time for our next meal!

Our next inspiration came from Pastor Shannon Nieman from Abundant Faith Center church in Texas. Her entire sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman went verse by verse and creatively contrasted each between the English Standard Version and the Passion Translation. It’s hard to imagine that any of us can measure up to the standard of the Proverbs 31 woman, but we learned to look at her knowing that we are all equipped to be her already. And how good is our God that he gives us a guideline to work with!

We introduced a new song and style to our worship in “Promises” by Maverick City before taking in a sermon by Sarah Jakes Roberts called “Get Up Girl” – she is a powerhouse! And if you liked “Promises”, check out “Man Of Your Word” and “I Shall Not Want.” Other worshipped songs we were blessed by were “Highlands (Song of Ascent)” by Hillsong, “Goodness of God” by Bethel Music, and “Make Room” by Community Church.

We closed out the weekend with Louie Giglios’ sermon titled, “Don’t Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table.” And God is so good that even in four independent sermons, he could speak continuity and give each of us what we needed to find in the teachings.

Another big hit this year was the ‘craft’ – and not only because it was fun to do, but because each guest was able to make the craft their own. There were three pre-designed images, yet every shirt created is a variation all it’s own.

Special thanks to the Inspired Sisters team (Amy and Kaitlin), and to Jess who graciously provided her Cricut machine and heat-press for the shirts. (Can anyone say, “guess what’s going on MY christmas list!).