“Don’t be deceived regarding the knowledge of what will be after your death: what you sow here, you will reap there. After leaving here, no one can make progress. Here is the work, there the reward; here the struggle, there the crowns.”
— St. Barsanuphius the Great
That truism of the Orthodox way is one of the beliefs that kept me going when planning the Ludwell Orthodox Fellowship inaugural conference, which took place last month and welcomed with Southern charm 125 attendees from 10 states, and the UK to the sold-out event. As conference attendee and video volunteer Amanda Goins explained, “It brought together Christians from varied traditions and jurisdictions” with both lay and clerical speakers covering “an array of topics with the common theme of the South’s deep-rooted remembrance of traditionalism.”
“Southerners have a long-held sacramental vision of life and Orthodox Christianity can bring about the fulfillment of this vision with sacramental religion,” she aptly surmised. Ironically, it is that very blessed fact and the Fellowship’s evangelistic mission of planting seeds into that obvious fertile ground which was the source of many of my pre-conference struggles.
Of course, planning any event can be rife with chaos. Heck, I’m the kind of mom who could barely pull of kids’ birthday parties back in the day. Cake’s ready, but where are the candles? Okay, candles lit, but who has the ice cream? Now it’s time to sing. Nope, wait a minute, somebody’s gotta record the video. Fortunately, my three now-teen sons know my heart was always in it. But execution? Well, let’s just say, Martha Stewart I am not.
Let’s rewind so that you, dear reader, will see as clearly as do I how God’s hand was at work in making the conference a smashing success. Truly, it was protection from above since it wasn’t missing candles or ice cream that was my fiercest obstacle. Rather, it was an onslaught of demonic forces from a slew of haughty humans, all of whom call themselves “Orthodox.”
January 2023
The other Fellowship founders (Fr. John Whiteford, and Drs. Don Livingston and Clark Carlton, whom I refer to as “the gang”) and I began discussion of hosting an event. After all, the Fellowship had been “officially” in existence since our website launch on November 11, 2021, so we figured it was high time to do something “in real life.”
However, Drs. Carlton and Livingston thought we should stick to something small, say, a rented hotel suite where a dozen or so folks could gather to mull over what it means to be “Southern Orthodox.” But because of our fairly prolific online presences, Fr. John and I both knew receptivity within the greater “Orthosphere” would be warm.
Moreover, as the communications face of the Fellowship, I have corresponded with A LOT of like-minded folks over the last 2.5 years, beginning with crowd-funding for support in building our website way back in the spring of 2021 through today and being the web admin and frequent point of contact for most of our pages, as well as admin for our four social-media accounts.
Thus, I was extremely confident we could pull off something much bigger, better, and bolder than a handful of scholars waxing theological and historical in a hotel room. So, Fr. John and I convinced Drs. Carlton and Livingston that our inaugural conference could pull in “at least 50 people.” I was fairly certain that was a conservative estimate, but it seemed like a safe bet, especially when trying to persuade two skeptical philosophers.
February 2023
Once we settled on a date that would align nicely with both the Old and New Calendars (in other words: we wanted to avoid a time of strict fast or bumping into feast days), I began promotion in early February.
Yet, the date was all we had. What would be our theme? Who could be our speakers? Who would say yes if we asked? What would be the registration fee and what would it cover? Where would the event even take place? At a large parish with ample gathering and eating space? In an affordable but flexible rental space? And what (if any) parish would be amicable and welcoming to the Fellowship and our cohort of Southern-fried friends?
March 2023
Besides the gang and I tackling these and other questions through a text group and a couple of Zoom meetings, this month offered up my first taste of potential pitfalls and dastardly distractions – a harbinger of some of the evil that lay ahead.
Sure, the Fellowship had been attacked by those within the Church before, and both Fr. John and I have our unfair share of haters. But I had never before been slandered by piety-signaling priests at a diocese conference! At first, the bewildering experience threw me off.
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
— Ephesians 6:18
Then with the guidance and encouragement of my husband and friends, the wisdom of my father confessor (who happens to be Fr. John) and parish priests, and much prayer, I decided that instead of having this nonsense slow me down or even stop me in my tracks, God forbid, it would serve as fuel for my conference-planning fire!
April 2023
This was the first Holy Week and Pascha for St. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church in our new home in Tobaccoville, North Carolina. Christ’s Resurrection is the whole reason for the Fellowship and our work within the Great Commission. We want to make disciples of the Southern nation and for all our neighbors to rejoice at the words of this Paschal Homily: “Let no one fear death, for the Saviour’s death has set us free.”
“O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!”
May 2023
Back to business, the gang finally narrowed down the location to two doable options.
Charleston would’ve been nice since Dr. Livingston (who lives in the area and is abundantly knowledgeable in the real history of Holy City and many of its surrounding sites) could have given choice tours to our attendees. But we soon realized that Charleston was just too expensive for our shoestring budget.
I knew the event couldn’t be at my parish, since we had just moved into the 75-year-old neglected Methodist church the previous October and were on the heels of intense mold remediation and diving into monumental and messy foundation repairs. Plus, St. Thomas doesn’t have a fellowship hall, so hosting the conference at my parish was simply not a possibility.
However, renting the nearby community center might be an option. Before I sought the blessing of my parish priest Fr. Mark Tyson (since I would definitely want to encourage the conference crowd to attend Saturday-night Vigil and Sunday-morning at St. Thomas), I figured I should check out the facility.
And it just so happened that Fr. John and his wonderful Matushka were going to be in NC from Texas for their daughter’s wedding and planned on staying with my family for a couple of nights after their family obligations wrapped up in Charlotte.
The day after my sons and I took them on a quick history jaunt in my neck of the woods, we drove the hour-long trip to Tobaccoville for a tour of the center and to get price quotes for rental options. We were immediately sold on the community center, although there was little to no money in the Fellowship savings account. So, we had to act fast to raise some funds and secure the facility for the date we needed.
First order of business, though, was to ask for Fr. Mark’s blessing. And honestly, the aforementioned property issues alone were ample enough reason for him to decline, on top of the trials so common to mission life in a tight-knit but burgeoning community comprised of mostly converts.
Add those struggles to the fact that our parish had been receiving occasional anti-Russian-Orthodox hate mail since February and the Fellowship had many times been in the cross hairs of leftydox subversives like those at the well-funded and institutionally backed Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, and really, Fr. Mark should’ve declined giving his blessing for pragmatic concerns alone. Most other priests would have done so.
Without so much as a pause, Fr. Mark said, “Yes! What can I do to help?” And help he did, not only with his support in building my spiritual fortitude in planning what already seemed such a Goliath undertaking, but also in assisting us in getting a discounted local rate for renting the facility. Yep, Fr. Mark’s a pretty remarkable man and a fearless warrior for Christ.
The gang and I had one more zoom meeting, which was our last “face to face” till post-conference. We decided upon a theme, our lineup of speakers, a working schedule of the day’s events, and a few other odds and ends, knowing full well that some things would change as we moved forward. But we had a good framework for the next vital step.
June 2023
Armed with as many details as available at that point, I designed a promo image, an official Event page (which served as the hub for all pertinent conference info and updates throughout the the following months), and a registration form that I hoped would assist me in vetting registrants and weeding out any possible provocateurs. After all, Antifa and/or Fordhamites (is there really any difference?) sure would’ve soured the brotherly love vibe we were hoping for.
Despite my best efforts, it became increasingly clear that so much of this endeavor was already beyond my control and that I’d better darn well trust in God. Otherwise, I was never going to cross the finish line, which felt about a millions miles away at that point.
On June 8, I finally made the big announcement and started spreading word on social media. We had five speakers lined up originally, eventually losing one, but soon adding in Fr. Mark Mancuso later in the month and Met. Jonah in early August, and George Michalopulos confirming for sure down at the wire, as well as Buck Johnson as emcee.
Other than a brief divide-and-conquer ploy by Fordhamite darling Sarah Riccardi-Swartz in late May, the provocateurs had been fairly quiet about me (and by association the Fellowship) since the aforementioned diocesan drama in March. Notice of the conference, of course, triggered some of the usual suspects, like the anonymous hater who ironically claims the handle “Orthodox News” and specializes in tedious tropes. Lord have mercy.
Thankfully, many lay folk, such as blogger Byz Tex, and a cohort of courageous clergy like Fr. Joseph Huneycutt, who has long been advocating for Orthodoxy in the Southland, unapologetically put their necks out there supporting the Fellowship’s first stab at a conference. Like St. Thalassios the Libyan said, “The genuineness of a friend is shown at a time of trial, if he shares the distress you suffer.” Some people just get it, y’all.
But because the leftydox are so predictable in their hate of good things, I knew full well that there would be distress ahead. The devil delights in creating chaos. Regardless, I readied at the gate, always keeping in mind the mission, the Saints, the power of prayer, and the understanding that without struggle, there can be no deification.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
— Hebrews 12:1
But little did I know just how strenuous the race would be, how dark are the subversives’ passions, and how heavy would be my load. Thankfully, I would be as shocked at how much I could surrender to God’s will and utilize the mighty armor we Christians put on at baptism. After all, a spiritual athlete must work for his reward. Onward!
I cover the hot days of summer’s fiery spiritual warfare in “A dark horse in these dark times.”
