TRUTH

What is your source of truth? Is truth what your friends believe? Is truth what popular culture values? Are you true to yourself? You have great worth and purpose. Once you know the truth, the truth will set you free. We are excited to say that the theme for Beautiful Girls Retreat, 2019 is TRUTH. Join us March 1-2nd at the Embassy Suites in Rogers, Arkansas!

2019 Schedule

4th-7th track

Friday

4:30-6:30pm              Registration and Room Time

6:30-7:00pm              Dinner and Games

7:00-10:30pm            Breakout Activities 

Saturday

7:30-8:20am               Breakfast

8:20-9:00am             Worship/ Dance

9:00-11:30am Breakout Activities

11:30-12:00am            Awards

12:00-1:00am             Lunch

1:00-2:00pm               Main Speaker

2:00-2:30pm               Group Photo

2:30-3:30pm               Tea Time

3:40-4:40pm               Breakout Sessions

4:40-6:40pm               Dinner/Fashion Show

6:40-8:20pm               Speaker and Worship

8:30pm                          Dismissal

Our Sponsors

Speakers

Our  speakers are grounded and the message students receive is trustworthy. We invite the best national speakers, community leaders, and those passionate about girls ministry. Our teaching is developmentally appropriate and target the true needs of today's culture. Beautiful Girls Retreat is regional and inter-denominational, welcoming everyone. Self esteem, character, leadership, and identity grow when truth is taught and the lies of this world is squashed. This retreat is encouraging for the church as we come together in unity as a body of believers and invest in young women, mothers, and leaders. 

Keynote Speaker

Savvy Shields Wolfe, Miss America 2017

Savvy Shields Wolfe is an artist, motivational speaker, dancer, blogger and advocate for all things healthy living. Most recently, she served as Miss America 2017.

During her year as Miss America, she traveled the country serving as the National Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and promoting her platform, “Eat Better, Live Better,” which aims to educate people on the connection between what they are eating and how they are feeling. Her #savvychoices encourages all to embrace a lifestyle that can drastically change their health. During her year as Miss America, Savvy also visited many military bases all over the country ads well as overseas to Jordan, Kuwait, and Germany with the USO to support troops during Thanksgiving.

Savvy has appeared on many national television shows including Live with Kelly, Good Morning America, and Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve. She has been a presenter at many award shows including the Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards. Savvy is also an accomplished writer and has had her work published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, and currently runs a successful lifestyle blog at savvyjanine.com.

Savvy has won more than $90,000 in scholarship money from the Miss American and Miss Arkansas organization. She plans on finishing her degree in 2019 and is an Art major at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with an emphasis in drawing and painting.

Savvy recently married in July 2018 and resides in Kansas City with her husband, Nate.

Main Speaker

Breakout Speakers

Melissa Blair

Melissa Blair is a writer and speaker living in the Dallas area still dating her husband of nineteen years and raising a couple of teenagers, a tween, and a dog she swore she would never have. She is passionate about authentic conversations, pursuing the next generation, and dark chocolate with sea salt. Her spiritual gift is awkwardness and you will most likely find her in the corner of any party calling out the lies we tend to swallow or in a fit of inappropriate giggles. Melissa believes that understanding how God loves us and speaking His Truth out over our lives will change everything about it. She finds small talk and most high heels painful and much prefers jumping in the deep end of conversations (with bare feet). Melissa believes in fun marriages, raising good humans, and going to bed without regrets. 

Summer Hooper

I am a proud native Texan from birth until just a few years ago.  After several moves, our family of 7 now calls Northwest Arkansas our new home. A few of my past hobbies and interests include High School Cheerleader, performing at the Cotton Bowl Half-Time Performance, Freshman Class President & Competitive Clogging.  I attended Texas State University & University of Houston Clear Lake where I studied Mass Communication/Public Relations as well as Elementary Education.  I am so blessed to currently be a homeschool mom to my 4 kiddos (from elementary to a senior in high school). The Lord has called me to live my life encouraging others to follow Him.  I have had the privilege to create and teach Christian curriculum, as well as start-up and lead several Christian Girl’s Bible Study Groups.  My heart’s desire is to shine the Light of Christ everywhere I go…I pray that everyone that I meet sees the love of Jesus through my life and smile.  “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16 is one of our family’s favorite Bible verses. My day is not complete until I spend time in The Word and enjoy sipping on one of my specialty hand-crafted Bubble Teas…YUM!  I am so excited and honored to speak at Beautiful Girls Retreat this year!  The Lord has given me a message that I pray will personally speak to each girl that I share with.  Looking forward to seeing YOU there!

Grace Horton

Grace is eighteen years old and a Junior at John Brown University. She is studying Digital Cinema with future hopes of using her cinema degree to pursue her passion in the film industry. She has been a speaker at the BGR and has been a Thing's Above Bible Study leader for the past five years. She has had a heart for girl's ministry since. You'll find her with a camera at her side working on a new film project, shopping at thrift stores, dancing to loud music in her dorm, or studying women of the Bible at a coffee shop. God has challenged her throughout her life with applying truth to hurt and broken places and ultimately showed her to abide in the truth of dependency on the Gospel. 

Bonnie King

Bonnie is passionate for connecting women of all ages and stages through mentoring and discipleship because of the impact it has had on her own life through seasons of grief and joy. She thought she would teach Kindergarten forever, but God had other plans! She is a Clinical Instructor for the Elementary Education program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville where she also serves as the faculty advisor for a Christian women’s ministry called IF:UofA. For over ten years she has led a weekly bible study in her home and cannot get over how God exceeds all expectations through the power of prayer. She and her husband are raising three gifts from God. She will need someone to hold her as she sends her oldest to junior high and her youngest to kindergarten in the fall.

Robyn Starling Ledbetter

Robyn is the Director of Student Media at the University of Arkansas.  She is also a part of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media's faculty.  Robyn specializes in on-air performance, live reporting and storytelling.  Robyn is also a professional interview and performance coach.  She coached and mentored Miss America 2017, Savvy Shields, through her journey as a competitor in the Miss America Organization.  Robyn was a local director in the Miss Arkansas Organization for 12 years and during that time had four state titleholders, seven top ten finalists and numerous Overall Interview and preliminary winners.  Robyn is also a former news anchor and reporter.  

Emily Pearson

Emily's true passion is to equip, empower and release the women around her to fully step into their identity and purpose as women of God, and her life shows nothing short of that. After studying at one of the largest global churches in the world, Hillsong, Emily decided to return back to her home of Northwest Arkansas to build the church in whatever facet she could. Emily is currently a church planter in the local area and leads a college young women study on Ephesians. Emily soon plans to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico to chase the same passions, serving as a youth pastor. This is Emily's second year being a part of Beautiful Girls and strongly believes that the message of truth can radically change the lives of the women in Northwest Arkansas. 

Avery Shaw

Avery LOVES coffee! More than anything, she loves singing, worship, and college ministry, attending C3 in Fayetteville. Avery attends Paul Mitchell Cosmetology School and has a huge passion for people, traveling, and seeing the world. Her favorite is sparkling water!

Amber Ward

Amber serves 6th-12th grade girls at FBC Rogers as their Girls’ Minister. She loves leading girls to fall madly and passionately in love with Christ, his Word, and his people. She triple majored in Psychology, Philosophy, Theology from Harding University and now loves to teach and share with others! Her dream is for every girl in NWA to pick up their Bible every single day, and to turn to Scripture before they turn anywhere else. Reading, laughing, and studying with girls are some of her favorite things.

Devotional Speakers

Cecile Bowen

Cecile is a Sophomore at John Brown University studying nursing.  She loves turtles, Savoy, and ice cream.  Cecile grew up in Springdale (but in Benton County!).  She is the middle child of 5, in addition to her family hosting an international student from the Bahamas.  Cecile played basketball and track in high school, and so far in college, she can boast being a Flag Football Intramural Champion.  She loves to spend her summers at New Life Ranch, pouring into students as a counselor.   If she could eat cereal for every meal, she would!

Anahi Davila

Anahi is a sophomore in college at Northwest Arkansas Community College. She desires to pursue a degree in elementary education in hopes of becoming an English as a Second Language educator. She has been part of Things Above ministries for four years now, and her goal in life is to be an intentional individual, have an impact on those around her, and ultimately live her best life knowing God has a plan for her & that he has everything under control.

Chloe Haynes

Chloe is 16 years old and is a junior at Rogers High School. She enjoys spending time with close friends, watching Netflix, and conquering the roads while learning behind the wheel. Chloe was adopted into her family 3 years ago and has since chosen to see the best in people, knowing that each person has their own story to tell. She is learning how to lead in ministry and has become involved with Bloom. She enjoys bringing people up with encouragement so they feel self worth. Chloe would like to work with animals some day in search and rescue. 

Olivia Haynes

Olivia is a wife of 18 years to her childhood sweetheart. She and her husband enjoy leading a bible study for engaged and married couples. They like to carry a lighter tone with humor and being real during their studies, showing how imperfect people make for a perfect couple. She is blessed to have the opportunity to encourage and counsel younger women in pursuing a strong, God-centered relationship with their spouse. She believes that vulnerability is the key to close relationships and tries to share her personal success and failures as a wife and mother. Olivia is a nurse who works with a specialist and in her “spare time”, she is raising 3 teenagers who seems to keep her on her toes and eat her out of the house. She enjoys goofing off and spending time outdoors with her family.

Darcie Fullington

Nuggets... Garlic & Herb Ranch... Leadership Development... all a day in the life for Darcie Fullington! Darcie serves as an Executive Director for the Chick-fil-As in Rogers, AR. She graduated from the University of Arkansas with Spanish and Latin American Studies as co-majors, and gets to use her language skills to interact with her guests and team on a daily basis. She loves to dance, spend quality time with her husband Stephen (especially at High Rise), and is an avid audio book listener. Her favorite book of the Bible bounces back and forth between Isaiah and John, as both books were instrumental as the Lord drew her to Himself as a 19 year old. He used other young women as instruments to guide and mentor her, and now Darcie seeks to do the same for those the Lord has entrusted her with! 

Abigail Howard

Abigail is an eighteen year old girl who desires to love God and love people. She is a junior in high school and loves being around people. She moved to Arkansas when she was fifteen and believes God has set her here for such a time as this! She uses the sport of soccer as her mission field and has felt called to ministry. Abigail loves to travel and to learn new things. 

Hadley Hutchinson

Hadley Hutchinson is a quirky, 15-year-old homeschool student born and raised on country music in the beautiful North West Arkansas. She has been attending Things Above bible study organized by Momentum Ministries since 2015 and this year is co-leading a group for the first time! She will tell you that her number one value is her faith and that she finds great joy in doing missions. She hopes to one day major in a field related to history, bible theology, or become a professional writer. Hadley delights in writing, reading, and poetry. She aspires to become a stronger writer and has hopes that God will use her words to shine His light.

Madeline Morgan

Madeline is a senior at Providence Academy! She has grown up attending Providence and Fellowship Bible Church, both of which she loves dearly! Madeline serves in the worship and elementary ministries at her church and on the worship team at Providence. She also leads a peer-discipleship ministry at Providence with forty seventh through tenth graders being discipled this year! Fun fact: Madeline has been swimming competitively for twelve years!

Alyssa Simmons

Alyssa Simmons is 12 years old and in the 7th grade in Bentonville. You will usually find Alyssa in athletic clothes as she loves competitive sports. She currently plays on her school basketball team as well as a travel softball team, and has done soccer and tennis in past years. Alyssa loves music and has played guitar since she was 8 years old, she also plays flute in the school band. For the last two years she has served in preschool ministry at her church. In her daily life, Alyssa strives to be an example of Christ’s love in all circumstances, at her school and in her community. She has been a part of Things Above Ministry since 4th grade and has enjoyed growing her faith with this wonderful group of girls and leaders.

Haley Owen

Haley is a senior at the University of Arkansas, studying finance. Haley enjoys reading, baking, watching Netflix, and making handmade gifts for her friends. If she could only eat one food for the rest of her life, she would probably pick sushi or movie theater popcorn.  She loves hand lettering and even has an Etsy shop where she sells her art. A dream of hers is to someday backpack across Europe with her husband, Evan.  Her favorite verse is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” She feels so blessed to be able to be a breakout speaker for the retreat this year and can’t wait to meet everyone!

Monique Rowlett

Monique is a 22-year Veteran from the U.S. Navy. She has been afforded many opportunities and experiences through her Naval career to meet and learn from people from around the world. A native of Southern California, Monique and family found themselves planted in Arkansas. Monique most recently became a Youth Ministry Assistant at First Baptist Rogers Church, and also volunteers as a LIFE group leader at her church for 12 amazingly beautiful 10th grade girls. Family life is centered on their faith in God, and continues to be a wonderful and ever-changing adventure. The Rowlett family members are avid outdoor enthusiasts, and most recently enjoyed an exploration to Yosemite’s National park and Lake Tahoe. God is the great creator of all things, and it shows in every single thing that he has touched.
Monique ‘s immediate family includes her husband and Naval reserve Officer Kevin, Son Evan, Daughters Allison and Cameron and most recently added the beautiful and athletic Margaret from Poland. Margaret will attend Providence. Monique is also Mama to three toy Australian shepherds Dylan, Daisy, and Millie, a Lab/pointer rescue named Mae, Two Nigerian Dwarf goats Grace and Deb, and some chickens.

Joana Valdez

Joana Valdez is 17 years old and a junior at Bentonville High School. She plays Alto Saxophone in the Bentonville Marching band and Baritone saxophone in concert band. Joana has been a part of the Things Above ministries for many years. Her main goal in life is to find joy and purpose in every obstacle that comes her way, knowing that God has a plan. Joana is one of the kindest, most caring girls you will meet! 

Missions Speakers

Madison Kinderknecht

Madison Kinderknecht is a missionary.  Actually, if you are a child of the King you are a missionary as well.  The question becomes where is your mission field.  For Madison, in addition to the people of NWA, God has given her a heart for the Dominican Republic.  2019 will be her fifth trip there to love on and share the love of Christ with the locals.  It is an honor and a privilege for her to introduce them to the Jesus she loves.  In a place with much need and despair, Jesus provides the hope that surpasses every trial they face.  She know no greater privilege than this. 

Kaitlyn Koretoff

Kaitlyn is a creative 17-year old homeschool student in her senior year. She leads a middle school bible study weekly through Things Above. Kaitlyn is a devoted and award winning artist and is planning to open her business in the upcoming year. Kaitlyn attends Master’s Apprentice Art School and is eager to learn new skills and utilize her creativity that God has given her. Alongside art, Kaitlyn loves to play guitar, piano, and ukulele. She is so thankful for the wonderful talents God has gifted to her in both art and music and uses them to glorify Him. Her life verse is Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understandings. In all your ways trust in Him and He will guide you on the right path.” She feels so blessed to be able to lead and serve at the retreat and cannot wait to see and meet everyone!

Ariana Wright

Ariana is a 25 year old with two precious boys, Bradley and Benjamin who keep her very busy. In 2012, she graduated from Heritage High School. She became a Certified Nursing Assistant and worked as a CNA for 5 years. After having her second child Ariana was blessed to finally pursue her dream job of being a stay at home mom, and future teacher for her boys. One of her passions is volunteering as one of the leaders for Embrace Grace/Embrace Life. She is a teacher at her home church on Wednesday nights (age group 4-7). Some of her long term dreams, if God is willing, is to be a national speaker and to write a book. Her life motto she lives by is “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you” Luke 6:31. Ariana is o excited for this year’s Beautiful Girls Retreat on Truth!

Mens Session  

Clayton Bramel

Clayton has a passion for investing  into both highschoolers and elementary-aged boys throughout the week in Bible studies. He also enjoys the simple pleasures of life, such as family, friends, food, fitness and Live PD. Clayton currently attends NWAAC with the hope of transferring to U of A and pursue a bachelors in “something.” He collects nerf guns and has a giant turtle named Speedy.  His favorite verse to live by is Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Jim Zalenski

Jim has been married to his awesome wife Barbara for 32 years and has two incredible daughters, Tiffany and Shae. Jim is blessed to work for Team Direct, where he is responsible for supply chain operations supporting Walmart.  Most folks know his happy place is out on Beaver Lake aboard 31’ feet of fiberglass joy…the “Fellowship”. Jim also loves to travel and Israel has become a favorite place to for him to take other men and bring the Bible alive. Ever since his first Promise Keepers rally, Men’s Ministry has been Jim’s passion. He currently serves in a leadership role with Rugged Faith Ministries with a goal to equip men to be Godly husbands, fathers, and leaders. Jim looks forward to bringing a message to the men at BGR that will challenge us all to rise up and live out what Jesus called us to do.

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 

John 8:32