Need a speaker for your Bible study, MOPS group, retreat, or event? I’d love to connect with you! Check out my speaker sheet, watch the video (so you know what I look like when I’m talking), and skim some of my favorite topics. I’m always up for tailoring a talk specifically for your group.
What to expect:
If you hire me to speak, you can expect a friendly presentation style coupled with theological depth and real-world application. Think of me like that one friend you could always count on to recap the professor’s lecture in plain English. Or like a golden retriever with an unaccountable penchant for theology. (Did I just write that? Yes I did. Woof.)
I like to start with one Bible story or passage of scripture and go from there, weaving in historical facts and biblical scholarship that make the story come to life, and drawing connections to show how it relates to our messy, mundane, everyday lives.
I do topical messages on missional living and justice issues as well, and share personal stories from time to time. For the most part, though, I am all about digging deep and mining the riches in the Bible itself. It has plenty to say to us today, if we have the ears to hear!
2017 Speaking Schedule
January 25, 2017 – Faith United Methodist, Superior, WI
February 23, 2017 – InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Duluth, MN
March 5, 2017 – United Presbyterian Church, Superior, WI
April 2, 2017 – Salem Covenant Church, Duluth, MN
April 6, 2017 – NEXT, Hermantown Community Church, Hermantown, MN
April 18, 2017 – Twin Ports Christian Women, Superior, WI
May 1, 2017 – Women Ministries Spring Supper, Virginia, MN
May 13, 2017 – Celebration of Daughters, Superior, WI
September 20-22, 2017 – EFOGE International Conference, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Download Jenny Rae Armstrong’s speaker sheet as a PDF by clicking the link.
A Bright Idea from Don’t Hide Your Light under a Laundry Basket
Speaking Topics:
Don’t Hide Your Light under a Laundry Basket
Ever feel like the demands of everyday life hamper your ability to make a difference? Jenny has literally written the book on that subject! In this message, Jenny talks about her own experience navigating the exhaustion, overwhelm, and loss of identity she struggled with during her children’s early years, and shares bright ideas that will help you shine right where you are.
Girl Power! How Empowering Girls can Change the World
What if there was one simple way to reduce extreme poverty, lower child mortality, address the orphan crisis, and stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in the developing world? There is. In this message, Jenny talks about the importance of girl’s education, sharing stories from partner ministries overseas.
Busting the Motherhood Myth
Motherhood can be an amazing blessing and an amazing challenge. But do you know what it is not? It’s not the be-all, end-all of a woman’s life, or healthy place for a woman to root her identity. In this message, we’ll look at Genesis 1 to see what God created women (and men) to do and be, dismantling the myths that keep women enslaved to false expectations and freeing them to focus on the one thing needful: being a disciple of Jesus.
Retreat Topics:
Each of the messages listed below are also available as stand-alone messages.
Actually, You’re Not Enough: Releasing our Weakness to Embrace God’s Strength
Remember that famous A.A. Milne quote, “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think?” That’s true of most women I know. But whether you’re confidently juggling an impressive array of plates, or cowering among the shards of your life, there will come a time when you realize that you are, in fact, not enough. That you need to rely on the God Who Is.
Over the course of four sessions, we will look at four different weaknesses we cling to instead of clinging to God: relying on our own strength, pandering to our fear and insecurity, feeding our frustrations, and letting shame rule the day. We’ll consider how they played out in the lives of four biblical women, and how they impact our lives today.
Sarah, Supermoms, and Other Control Freaks
Okay, Wonder Woman. Lay down the cape, and back slowly away from the power bangles. You may be a strong woman with a deep sense of duty and responsibility, but you can’t be the solution to every problem, and sometimes meddling just makes things worse. In this session we will talk about how Sarah’s socially-sanctioned drive to “fix” her family by setting up her husband with her handmaiden backfired, and how we can put our faith in God’s ability to address our problems (and our loved ones problems), not our own.
Esther: From Passive Princesses to Warrior Queen
As an exiled orphan girl, Esther survived by being sweet and compliant, suppressing her true identity to become whatever others wanted her to be. But when her people were threatened, she had to choose between clinging to her old patterns of fear and passivity or taking bold action on behalf of God’s people. In this session, we will talk about how we can kick the spirit of timidity to the curb, and cling to God instead of our fears and insecurities.
Naomi is Not Buying Your Lemonade
Naomi had never heard the phrase “everything that could go wrong, did,” but it certainly described her situation. A famine had forced her out of her homeland, her husband and her sons had died, and both her daughters-in-law had been unable to bear children, leaving her without any hope for the future. But God was not done with Naomi yet. In this session, we will talk about love, lament, and hanging onto God, even when it’s too dark to see Him clearly.
Deborah and Friends Take a Tent-Peg to Shame
The pagan warlord Sisera hadn’t just conquered the Israelite’s lands—he had conquered their spirit. Instead of living fully in the land God had given them, God’s people were slinking around the back roads of the Promised Land, wallowing in fear and shame. But one day, Deborah had enough. In this session, we will talk about the paralyzing effects of shame, and how looking to Jesus sets us free from our obsession with our own failures, so we can live into our spiritual birthright.
Navigating the Wilderness
A week in the wilderness may be an adventure, but forty days or forty years? Most of us would rather not be exposed to the harsher elements of life for that long. But God meets us in the wilderness, guiding us through those dangerous grounds and teaching us to rely on him and him alone. In this series, we will discuss the treacherous terrain of the desert seasons of life, identify the sand traps that keep us mired in misery, and rejoice in how God redeems the hard times and uses them to prepare us for what he has planned.
Out of Egypt
When all you’ve known is slavery, it takes some time to learn how to walk in freedom. In this session, we will discuss the significance of the theme of forty days or forty years running through the Bible, consider the dangers of looking back, and learn about how God uses the wilderness as a buffer zone, helping us release our grip on the past so we can move into God’s plans for our future.
Idol Fancies
The Hebrews had an idolatry problem, but we do too. In this session, we will ask ourselves what we crave more than God, shudder at what happens when God hands us over to our own illicit cravings, and be challenged to accept God’s provision for our well-being, instead of insisting on what we think we need and deserve.
Building Sand Castles in the Desert
God had meant to lead his people out of the desert after a short sojourn. But the Israelites balked at the Jordan, and wound up wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this session, we will talk about the lack of faith that freezes forward motion, why it feels safer to wallow in the muck of the past than move into an unknown future, and the amazing compassion God has for his children, even when they mess up.
Into the Promised Land
No matter how long we stay in the desert, it is not meant to be a permanent dwelling place. We can have confidence that God is directing us toward something good, even if we won’t see it until we reach the other side. In this session, we will consider how we can heed God’s call to be strong and courageous, in whatever season of life we are journeying through.
Girl Meets God: Biblical Women and their Journeys of Faith
Each and every one of us has a life story, a narrative that reminds us where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. Over the course of four sessions, we will look at the life stories of four biblical women, consider how they intersect with our own stories, and marvel at how God is weaving us all into his grand story of grace and redemption.
Eve and the God of New Beginnings
Eve gets a bad rap. Sure, she was the first person to bite into the forbidden fruit, but she was the first woman to do—well—anything! Despite her mistakes, Eve was a resilient woman whose reliance on God gave her the courage to begin again…and again…and again. Listeners will be asked to consider whether they are relying on their own judgment or on God’s, encouraged to quit cowering behind the bushes when they mess up, and reminded that God clothes them in dignity and strength, so they can walk confidently into the future.
Hagar and the God who Sees
Hagar’s story is hard to read, filled with tragedy and injustice perpetrated by people who were supposed to be followers of God. But even when God’s people failed her, God never did. Listeners will be reminded that God cares about the suffering of those society has used and cast aside, that he grieves over the ways we have been hurt and the ways we hurt others, and that he wants to free us from that vicious cycle through the real promised Son, Jesus Christ.
Ruth and the God of Unfailing Love
Ruth is a love story, but it’s not a romance. It’s a story about what happens when three people do the right thing, driven not by emotion, but by the dogged determination to honor God and others by living in a way that reflects God’s love. Listeners will learn about the Hebrew concept of chesed (faithful covenantal love), asked who they are called to demonstrate God’s love to, and challenged to love as God loves.
Mary and the God of Impossible Things
Mary of Nazareth wouldn’t have recognized the meek and mild woman smiling serenely out of our Christmas Carols. A scrappy teenager who had the audacity to believe that God could create life in places where there was no possibility of life existing, she put her life on the line to partner with God in his plan to bring new life to the entire world. In this encouraging message, listeners will be urged to consider the barren spaces in their own lives, asked what impossible thing God is calling them to trust him for, and encouraged to move forward in faith, instead of remaining frozen in fear.
