Published: May 15, 2009 10:37 pm         

Thousands gather for Valley Ladies Unity Night

TERRE HAUTE — Prayer, laughter, music and inspiration filled Hulman Center on Friday night as thousands of women gathered for the sixth annual Wabash Valley Ladies Unity Night.

Around 6,500 women from Vigo County area and beyond filled about three-fifths of the seats in the Indiana State University arena. It was the largest crowd in the short history of the event, which began with a gathering of about 1,000 women in 2004.

“I come every year,” said Cathy Allen of Dennison, Ill., who attended the event. Several area churches sponsored buses to bring women of all ages to the gathering.

The featured speaker at this year’s Unity Night was Lysa TerKeurst of the Proverbs 31 Ministries and the author of several books. She spoke of “saying ‘yes’ to God,” and urged her audience to avoid living safe, comfortable lives.

God “wants you to live a great life,” she said.

TerKeurst, of Charlotte, N.C., told of hearing God instruct her to adopt two teenage orphans from Liberia, West Africa. Later she found that the boys needed to be home-schooled because they had received no prior education.

“I felt completely overwhelmed,” TerKeurst said.

After many struggles, seven years later, one of the boys was recognized as the outstanding senior in his large North Carolina high school and will be starting college as a freshman this fall, TerKeurst said.

“When a woman says ‘yes’ to God, she changes the world,” she said.

Mayor Duke Bennett, who spoke at the beginning of the event, told the audience it was good to see so many people coming together, despite denominational differences.

“We don’t do that enough,” he said.

Music for the Unity Night event was provided by an all-female band, which played soft-rock Christian music during the more than two-hour event.

“It was wonderful … very inspirational,” said Vikki Cissell of Hymera, who came to Unity Night with her mother and members of her church. “It was very good.”

The idea for Ladies Unity Night originated in 2003 with women from the North Side Christian Church in Terre Haute. Tickets to the event are free and expenses are met through donations from local businesses, churches and individuals.

As soon as the gathering came to an end, dozens of women met with TerKeurst, who signed copies of her several books.

“I was moved to tears a few times,” Allen said after the event was over.

“It was definitely a good message,” added Gayle Mitchell of Terre Haute, who was at her second event. “I’ll absolutely come again.”

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.