Fourteen stops and over 2000 miles later, I'm home in Dryden again before I head back to Kentucky this weekend. My last visit in the Northwest was the same place where my journey with the Network started-- at Whitworth College, my alma mater. It gave me some time to reflect on why I'm still doing the work I do, and to actually see some of the results of NNPCW's ministry.

I visited WISE, aka Women in Society Everywhere, a feminist group at Whitworth still thriving in its second year. It started when one Whitworth student, Katie Linder, came to the 2003 Leadership Event in New York. Her experience of womanspace at that event ignited her desire to start a group for women on her own campus. That inspiration grew into WISE. You can read more about WISE in the last issue of Sisters Together.

Last night I met with a group of about 10 WISE women to talk about faith and feminism-- what does it mean to reconcile the two in your own life? For me, though, the conversation had more poignancy because of its relationship to my own faith journey. Whitworth, of course, was the place where I deepened my Christian faith and first began to claim feminism for myself. It was where I first encountered the Network while looking for a job. I could identify with their experiences because facets of them mirrored my own. It amazed me to see so many young women, through WISE, traveling on similar paths of exploration.

I also talked to Angie Cesena, one of the members of the Leadership Event Planning Team for this year's event. Angie reappeared in my life at last year's leadership event, years after I had been her resident assistant at Whitworth.

During the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had written a feature for a campus newsletter that talked about NNPCW. In the article, she said, "...'Claiming Wisdom's Call: How Christian Faith Empowers Women to Engage Pop Culture from an Anti-Racist Perspective' changed the direction of my life.... Through attending workshops and engaging in some amazing and enlightening conversations, I realized that being a woman of faith means being a woman of compassion and of action." Angie told me last night that she now wants to join the Peace Corps for two years, working with HIV/AIDS education among women in Africa.

I've said before that this Northwest tour has presented some challenges and difficulties for me. I've talked about the mustard seed, the one that we plant but usually don't see to maturity. My visit to Whitworth gave me a glimpse into a burgeoning mustard bush. The women I visited there-- women like Katie and Angie and Maren Haynes (next year's CoCo co-moderator)-- were all nurtured in one way or another by NNPCW. And not only have they grown, but they've borne fruit that nurtures others on campus.

So I end the sixth leg of the World Tour on a hopeful note. God is at work in the world, and in the lives of college women. I'm thankful for women, both young and old, who continue to seek God's call to live lives faithful to the liberation of the Gospel. And I'm strengthened to continue planting seeds, seeds nurtured by the soil of the Holy Spirit to stretch toward God and reach out to the world.

God is good,
All the time.
All the time,
God is good.
Amen.

Kelsey