I’ve heard many great things said about the Linger Conference, but I haven’t had the opportunity to attend until this year. I asked my sister to go with me for a #girlsweekend, so we decided to leave one day early so we could make a “detour” to Waco, TX first. (I mean there’s not too much there…just the Magnolia Market and the new Magnolia Table!) 😉😉
First things first, after arriving at the airport, we picked up our luggage and rental car and drove to Waco. The drive isn’t bad at all from Dallas. It took us about an hour and a half (with some traffic) to get there. Our first stop was the Magnolia Table. After hearing from some others that have been, I fully expected there to be a long 2 hour wait minimum just to get in; however, there was only a 30 minute wait!! I couldn’t believe it! The 30 minutes went by really fast as we walked around the grounds like a couple of tourist taking photos of the outside of the building and visiting the gift shop! 😉 Once we were seated at our table, we ordered some of Jo’s biscuits and strawberry butter as our appetizer. Yum!!! I ordered their pimento cheese sandwich for my meal, and my sister ordered their cheeseburger. The food was delicious!! I just wish this restaurant wasn’t so far away! I could really go for more biscuits right now! Haha
Following our lunch, we visited The Harp Design Co., (such a lovely shop!!) the Little Shop on Bosque, as well as Jimmy Don’s shop. We were privileged to get to meet Mr. Jimmy! He is such a nice and down-to-earth man! Last but not least, we stopped for a cupcake at the Silos Baking Co., and I did a little shopping at Magnolia Market.
We then left Waco to drive to Frisco to our hotel. We stayed at the Springhill Suites, and the accommodations were wonderful! The Stonebriar Community Church, which was the location of the Conference, was only 5 minutes at the most from our hotel. Frisco is a very nice town…lots of restaurants and shopping available!
Registration started at 8:00 Friday morning, but we arrived around 9:30ish, so we could sleep in a little longer! We loved visiting all the vendors that were set up there, and I really enjoyed all of the unlimited Coffee provided by Hope Coffee! It was also a pleasure to meet the owner of Wheat and Honey Co. They create the most beautiful Bible covers! You can find her page here on Instagram. Go check her out!
Just to give you a brief overview of what happened during Friday’s sessions…
The morning session started at 10:00. Shane, from Shane and Shane opened up the session and he briefly talked about the Linger Conference, how it came about, what to expect etc. He quoted the scripture from Ecclesiastes 8:3 ESV that says, “Be not hasty to go from His presence.” That scripture sums up what the Linger Conference is all about…it’s a time to rest, reset, and have unhurried worship…a time to linger in His presence!
Worship was then led by The Linger Band, and we heard the well known Christian music artist, Jimmy Needham, speak. I really enjoyed his sermon and the worship during this service! We broke for lunch at 12:00, which included a trip to In-N-Out Burger! (It was my first time to go, and the burgers were so good!)
The second session started back at 1:30. Thabiti Anyabwile spoke, and Bethany Barnard joined the Linger Band in leading worship. We took a short break at 3:15 and resumed at 3:45 to start the third session which was a question and answer panel session. Lots of good information heard here! We broke for dinner at 5:00 and met back for the fourth and final session of the night which started at 7:00. Worship was led by Phil Wickham and Ben Stuart brought us a great word following.
I didn’t really know what to expect of the first day with it being my first year to attend, but I enjoyed it more than I can say!!
Saturday morning, the first session started at 9:30 as there were two speakers, John Elmore and David Nasser. My sister and I did not attend this particular session, but went to the Linger Room instead during this time. You may wonder what the Linger Room is! This was a room set aside and that was open all throughout the day, for people to come in and out to pray, have quiet time to read the Bible, or meditate. Worship songs and scripture reading were led by the amazing People and Songs. If you haven’t heard them, look them up! I guarantee that you will be blessed!
We took a lunch break at 12:00, and we met back at 3:00. Worship was led by People and Songs, and JR Vassar brought the message. Another wonderful session! I truly enjoyed the worship atmosphere in these services! We broke for dinner at 5:00 and met back at 7:00 for the final session, which was a “Hymns Live Concert” by Shane and Shane. If you haven’t heard their new Hymns Album, I encourage you to download it! The songs are really uplifting! I enjoyed this concert so much!
From spending the weekend with my sister, to visiting Waco, to getting spiritually refreshed at the Linger Conference, it was a very enjoyable weekend, and I hope to be able go to again! If you are interested in attending next years Linger Conference, check out their Instagram page for more information here. Or you can visit their website here!
