I always looked up to Pattie Marco. She was an inspiration to me ever since I was a girl. Well, me and who knows how many girls like me. She wasn't like other Youth Ministers who just talked about the need to resist temptation. Well, she spoke a little about that, but she also talked about how faith could give a girl the strength to say no to someone pressuring her, overcome obstacles in her school at her at job. She said that faith could give a Christian girl the power to resist the worst influences while still being able to participate in larger society.

Her lectures, books and podcast helped a lot of girls I knew find their way out of a lot of problems: depression, anxiety, bullying, a need to overachieve, resisting drugs and alcohol, stuff like that. Even though I went to public school, I still took some of her books with me from time to time. Me and the other Christian girls talks about them a bit but we didn't share them with the rest of our classmates if they didn't seem interested. My time at high school was kind of like that. We didn't get bullied because of our religion but people left us alone for the most part so it just took a bit more legwork to find a potential friend who wasn't a believer. We were more of a 'curiosity' than something people really looked oddly at. We didn't try preaching, that was something we agreed on amongst ourselves.

I'd never heard Pattie speak in person before. That was until I heard about a three week-long event she was holding near Columbus, Ohio early that summer. She was hosting a series of lectures, workshops and activities for twenty two thousand girls from age seventeen to twenty seven at the Baptidome. The Baptidome was an indoor arena mixed with a convention center. Aside from the main hall, there were tons of meeting rooms and facilities. It also had an enormous pool right outside as well as lodgings for people staying for a few days during religious revivals and other big events. Pattie's cost 150$ for the whole week. That was it.

I knew that Pattie was pretty well known but I had no idea she had the kind of clout needed to rent out the Baptidome. That had to mean she made it into the big leagues. Or maybe the people who owned it just saw how much it'd be to their benefit if she was allowed to speak there. I didn't read too much into either way.

Everything else would be provided: food, lodgings, wifi, you name it. From the moment I saw the announcement that I had to go.  It only made the whole thing more amazing. 150$ for an experience I'd remember for the rest of my life. After talking with my parents about it, I bought a ticket and everything went smoothly from there. I got my room number for lodgings, I got information on the food they'd be serving and I got a list of workshops to choose from. Swimsuits were recommended but not required.

Two days after I graduated high school, I got on a plane to Columbus along with a few other girls from my town. I was so hyped.

This was gonna be an experience I'd never forget.