Gospel Music Legend Karen Clark Sheard, the first lady of Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God and Christ in Detroit, MI, which is pastored by her husband, Bishop J. Drew Sheard, will host an international summit for women who serve in various leadership roles in the church. First Lady Karen Clark Sheard Presents: Ladies 1st “A Celebration of Women” Inaugural International Summit will be held September 10-13, 2014, in Virginia Beach, VA. The summit will bring together women from all over the globe, including pastors, co-pastors, bishops, and minister’s wife, widows and adjutants from all denominations for three days of sharing, healing and breakthrough in a relaxing environment outside of the traditional church landscape. To date, confirmed presenters include Faith Evans, Erica Campbell, Dorinda Clark Cole, Vickie Winans, Jacky Clark Chisholm, and Kierra Sheard; and more to be confirmed in the coming weeks. For more information, please visitwww.kcsladies1st.com.
The summit will be divided into three phases: The Woman Within, The Woman for Her Family and The Woman of the Ministry. The first day will focus on personal needs. It will begin with a morning of beauty, pampering, shopping and sightseeing; followed by an afternoon tea time (meet and greet); and capped off with a white carpet dinner and fashion show. The second day is designed to target family needs and issues. The final day of the summit focuses on issues and concerns around ministry. Days two and three will feature a series of workshops and other activities.
The Ladies 1st International Summit is the vision of Clark Sheard, who hopes to use the summit as a platform to recognize and show appreciation to women who give so much of themselves to their families and ministries. Part of First Lady Sheard’s vision and goal for the Ladies 1st Summit is to provide enriching and fulfilling tools that will help maximize the full potential in those women who have a sincere heart for servitude. “As a partner in ministry with my husband [Bishop J. Drew Sheard], and through my travels, I get to see firsthand the need for this summit,” she says. “These women of God are often forced to conceal their struggles from the friends, who just don’t understand, and the congregations that they serve. They have stories to tell and hearts to be healed.”
Clark Sheard can relate to the struggles these women have in trying to juggle family, ministry and their own personal development. She has seen and done it all and she will share her experiences and lessons-learned with her fellow summit participants who are facing similar challenges.
A four-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and multiple Stellar and GMA Dove Award winner, Karen Clark Sheard is a vocalist, songwriter, entrepreneur, first lady, wife and mother. The daughter of pioneering gospel choir director and gospel music icon Dr. Mattie Moss and member of the famed Clark Sisters, she is part of a musical dynasty. She also has a thriving solo career and is the founder, along with her husband, of Karew Records, a family-owned label. She guides the lives and careers of her daughter, award-winning gospel music sensation Kierra Sheard and her son, J. Drew Sheard II, a producer and musician. She travels the country as both a singer and an evangelist, and she plans and leads both church-based and national women’s conferences. In addition, her family is the subject of a docu-drama series, The Sheards. The second season of The Sheards will air later this year on the BET Network.