Alabama WMU event leads teens to be COMPLETE in God

Get serious. That’s the message COMPLETE, an event for teenage girls grades 7–12, nailed home March 10–11. Sponsored by Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), the event had one goal in mind for the nearly 600 participants who gathered at Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham, in Birmingham Baptist Association — for teenage girls to realize that completion comes only through a serious relationship with Jesus Christ.
   
COMPLETE is based on Colossians 2:10, which states, “And you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.” COMPLETE is the brainchild of Faith McDonald, Alabama WMU students and ministries consultant. 
   
COMPLETE seeks to address the cultural misdiagnosis that major milestones such as getting a prom date, graduating from high school or college, getting a “real job” or getting married bring completion. 
   
“Our secular culture may suggest these things to us but Scripture clearly suggests otherwise,” McDonald said. “When the apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Colossae, he wrote powerful, liberating words that apply to us today.” 
   
COMPLETE owes its beginning to Acteens Pizzazz. Although the event was renamed Pizzazz several years ago to help all teen girls — not just Acteens — feel included, McDonald felt a completely different name would further accelerate that transition.
   
So in 2005, Pizzazz became COMPLETE, giving it a new identity and a focus on all teenage girls.
   
“In broadening the scope of the event to become more relevant to teenage girls in general, the event continues to provide exposure to missionaries, contemporary worship and relevant Bible study, but it also addresses relevant topics during breakout sessions. These topics seek to address issues which affect the mental, physical, spiritual and social development of teenage girls,” said Brittney Arnold Gardner, communications specialist for Alabama WMU.
   
Worship leader Karen Bell focused sessions around purpose, believing teenagers amble through the day to day not knowing what life is about. She is a licensed professional counselor for Pathways Professional Counseling of the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries. Bell presented sessions on Living a Life of Purpose, Living a Life of Purity and Living a Life of Passion and Power. She exhorted the girls, explaining, “None of you are an accident.” 
   
Bell said society pressures teenage girls to be the best at everything. “Your talents are specific to you, and your talents are going to be used for God, if you get to know your Creator.” 
   
For the 35 Lakeside Baptist girls who attended, completion in Christ was the main topic of conversation the next morning in Sunday School. Leslie Cash, volunteer on-site coordinator at Lakeside, believes this “girls-only” event was a successful introduction to missions. 
   
“Many of our girls are not involved with our Acteens program and so were exposed to missions up close and personal,” Cash said. “I also think it is valuable for girls to be involved with a ‘girls-only’ event where things can be discussed that are not appropriate in mixed company.”
   
While the event offered life, missions and ministry conferences geared to all girls, COMPLETE carried vestiges of its Acteens past. Alabama ACTeens Challenge Team members represented Alabama WMU by promoting missions involvement and encouraging teenage girls to be Christ followers. 
   
Kerrie Carr, member of the Alabama ACTeens Challenge Team and Lakeside Baptist, helped in every stage of the conference. 
   
“Being complete in Christ is having the void in your life filled by the Most High (God),” she said. “So many girls today try to fill the void in their lives with clothes, boyfriends and cars, but when they realize that Jesus Christ is all they need, they can truly be complete.”
   
“Our prayer for the young women at this event is that they will believe with confidence that they were made complete when they received Christ as their Savior and Lord,” McDonald said. “Nothing and no one can ever make them whole; that duty has been reserved solely for the Lord Jesus. 
   
“We hope that our girls will believe that only Jesus can make them complete, and we pray they will get serious about living for Him and serving Him.”