A Conference You Won’t Want to Miss
I stared out the window of my hotel room at the Hyatt Regency Dallas last August as a plane flew across what looked like a backdrop to a downtown city Hollywood set. The sun was just beginning to set leaving a stunning glow across the sides of the skyscrapers leaving me frozen before my window looking out at the camera-ready city. Having grown up 20 minutes north of downtown Seattle, the city landscape was similar in feel other than the obvious lack of water from the Puget Sound, Starbucks on every street, and the snow-capped mountains in the background.
I, like Dorothy in Oz, spoke out loud to myself, “Well Janae, you are not in Seattle anymore.” Truth be told, this was only my second visit to the state of Texas in my lifetime (other than airports), and it was my very first time visiting Dallas. Even more, it was my very first time experiencing the August heat of Texas! With the temperature gauge set at 100 degrees, one step out into that summer air and I wondered if I had somehow climbed into an oven set at 400 degrees! J Praise the Lord our conference is in November where the weather will be lovely!
While the summer weather was a shock to my “born and raised in the Pacific Northwest” body, my heart instantly fell in love with this wonderful city. I had anticipated loving the people in this city, and boy was I right! The staff at the Hyatt was exceptional, the Ballroom meeting space was stunning, and I was tempted to ride the glass elevator up and down many times over to look out at the giant star of Texas centered on the second floor, framed on one side by a trickling indoor water feature. And, as a true “Seattleite” I can confirm that the coffee was delicious!
My first day visiting the hotel to examine it for a 2024 conference possibility met with some of the “meeting checklist” doors closed leaving me to wonder if the Lord was also “closing the door” to this city as our conference location. However, in less than 24 hours those doors unexpectedly swung open and the Lord made a way where it seemed that there was no way. I love it when He does that! And, over the following few weeks, the Lord made it clear to the leadership at Aglow that Dallas was indeed where His Aglow people would fellowship together once more, marking this at the 50th conference held by Aglow in our 57 years of ministry. It is sure to be a conference you don’t want to miss!