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Open Door Conference: Leaving the Paved Path
By Maya Sirka 
December 6, 2004

Early this morning, I got up before anyone else in the house stirred and set off on an adventure.  To a Christian Life College student whose idea of exercise is limited to a nightly ritual of speed-walking in endless circles around the parking lot, this is exciting!  Our senior class is on vacation in the mountains of South Lake Tahoe.    

Soon, I found myself walking along a paved path in a forest… but the view peeking through the trees proved to be too irresistible for me!  Leaving the paved path, I made my way through the trees and rocks.  There, I discovered a view that was absolutely gorgeous! 

This caused me to think back to my dream and realization of the Open Door conference for women in ministry.  It all started when I first caught a glimpse of the dream during my freshman year at CLC.  Deborah Azzolini, then a junior, had a burden for a conference specially designed to equip women for their various ministries, and she made it a reality.  Open Door 2001, the first-ever conference of its kind, transformed my life.  It was there that I began to realize the validity and absolute importance of women in ministry.  It was there that God planted a promise in my heart that someday I would be coordinating this conference! 

However, I let that promise lay dormant until the very end of my sophomore year, when I realized that, with Azzolini graduating, this conference was in danger of extinction if someone did not revive it.  Trust me, as a person who likes to stay on the “paved path” as much as possible, it was a huge step of faith but one that I will never regret.  The now-expanded view conceived by Open Door 2003 is taking my breath away!

Now, don’t get me wrong.  It wasn’t an easy path!  Being the executive coordinator of a conference while being a full-time Bible College student during the day and hosting a nightly radio show on KYCC, among other things, kept me nice and stressed.  I am still amazed, looking back, at how everything came together.  I will never forget Sis. Gwyn Oakes, who has been a vital supporter of Open Door since its beginning, sitting in our office and good-naturedly laughing at me as I flew around trying to get the last-minute details in order.  It’s a good thing that I had my faculty advisor, Sis. Gayla Baughman, there to keep me sane!  My organizational team, made up entirely of college ladies, was also a gift from our merciful Lord!

Who knew then that those two February days of Open Door 2003 would give birth to something so much bigger?  Sis. Debbie Foster, our evening speaker, used me in an illustration one night when she had me step on top of an up-side-down table being held up by balloons… and only balloons!  As I teetered there in my high heels, she had more ladies join me and, amazingly, we didn’t fall off!  Even when she began to kick out and even pop the balloons underneath us, we still balanced somehow.  Ladies, that’s how we live by faith!  Perhaps she was talking to herself that night as well because, since then, the Open Door vision has become hers.  She is now the North American director of Open Door Ministries. Open Door is now endorsed by the Ladies Division of the UPCI, and will be hosting these conferences for women in ministry across the nation!

The days of women seeing themselves as second-rate in the kingdom of God are quickly coming to a close!  We are stepping out and stepping up, striving for excellence in whatever area God has called us to!  My friend, there are still so many open doors that are yet to be walked through!  Undeniably, the paved path is a good path, but to expand your view and vision, you must get off of it!

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2004 © Mariena Sirka

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Mariena “Maya” Sirka graduated in May, 2004 from Christian Life College in Stockton, California with two degrees: a B.A. in Christian Music and an A.A. in Bible and Theology. She spent the summer assisting the missionary work in Greece.  She is succeeded in her  position by Danae Verret.