by Maggie Wallem Rowe

It’s less than two weeks until conference time! Those of you able to attend this year will gain so much from the general sessions, workshops, and faculty appointments.

But do you know what attendees mention each year as the most valuable takeaway of all? It’s those personal connections you’ll make.

 “Connected” is the welcome word I hear when I switch on the speaker in my car. In North Carolina, hands-free use of a mobile phone while driving is mandated by law. If I want to chat while at the wheel, I simply stab the button and a tiny, impersonal voice assures me I’m connected.

Connecting in the twenty-first century is super simple. Except when it’s not. We have faster ways to communicate than ever before: Email, texting, and direct messages are available to anyone with a computer or a smart phone.

 Social media lets us post opinions, photos, status updates and recipes with a few taps on a keyboard.

Applications give us round-the-clock access to directions, transportation services, online shopping, or ways to meet total strangers.

But with a seemingly infinite number of ways to connect, fewer and fewer of us have confidants—friends who share our interests as well as our secrets. Peers who “get us.” In an ocean of connectivity, men and women alike too often feel moored on islands of alone-less.

Multiple studies over the years demonstrate that women in particular crave connection with others.  Oxytocin, central to biological functions specific to women, is often called the “tend and befriend” hormone since it acts as a powerful neurotransmitter in the brain and promotes bonding.  Men recognize the need for significant friendships as well, though some may be less intentional in seeking those connections.

Dave Eggers, author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, wrote of his need to describe his experience of raising his younger brother after losing both parents to cancer: “We share things for the obvious reasons; it makes us feel un-alone, it spreads the weight over a larger area, it holds the possibility of making our share lighter.”

In a world where we have more opportunities for connection yet are lonelier than ever, where do we go to find soul-connections with others, to feel less un-alone? That’s both the beauty and the benefit of faith-based conferences like BRMCWC. As you grow in your skills as a writer, you’ll also discover friendships with others who share your love for Christ as well as your affinity for the written word.

Scripture has a lot to say about the importance of human connections. We need one another.

Only days before his death, Jesus said to his closest followers, “I am giving you a new commandment, “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35 NLT).

Human relationships grounded in spiritual realities must be cruciform: robust horizontal connections between friends with a vertical dimension pointing both towards God.

Two are better than one, a well-known passage from Ecclesiastes reminds us, for they can help each other succeed. Whether we call it discipleship, mentoring or simply friendship forged in faith, making soul connections with others who are journeying towards God will inevitably strengthen our own walk.

Seek out new friendships at the conference. You just might be the answer to someone else’s prayer.

Maggie Wallem Rowe is a national speaker, dramatist, and author whose first book, This Life We Share, was a finalist for the 2021 ECPA Christian Book Award in the New Author category. Maggie has also been a TEDx presenter. Her second book, Life is Sweet, Y’all: Wit and Wisdom with A Side of Sass, released from Tyndale House Publishers in 2022. Maggie writes weekly from Peace Ridge, her home in the mountains of North Carolina. MaggieRowe.com.