Author and popular women’s ministry speaker Jen Hatmaker will bring her “Scandalous Grace” outreach to Little Rock on Feb. 21-22. Hatmaker, a self-proclaimed “Jesus girl,” will lead the two-day event at Fellowship Bible Church, 1401 Kirk Road, and women of all ages are welcome.

Hatmaker lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Brandon, and their five children, two of whom were adopted from Ethiopia. The Hatmakers started Austin New Church in 2007, where the mission is “Love Your Neighbor, Serve Your City.”

In addition to her speaking ministry, Hatmaker is also an author and blogger. Her books include 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess; Interrupted; A Modern Girl’s Guide to Bible Study; and Ms. Understood: Rebuilding the Feminine Equation.

The family also will soon be featured on a television show on HGTV.

“Of all the crazy things,” Hatmaker said about the show. “I was on the Today show last summer for some writing I had done and HGTV contacted us and said, ‘We would like to develop a show around your family.’”

The family was getting ready to move to another area of Austin. After a lot of prayer, they decided to do the show and let HGTV film their efforts to make a 105-year-old farmhouse their new home.

“It’s been hilarious and challenging,” Hatmaker said. “We’ve never renovated a house, much less lived in it” at the same time.

The as yet untitled show will include eight episodes, to air beginning in July.

Hatmaker said having cameras and dozens of people, from the film crew to construction workers, around all the time was a little taxing.

“I’m a little bit of an introvert and I very much crave being in my home with my people,” she said. “My life requires me to be on so often publicly … so for me home is a recharge all the way. We have loved our crew. That’s been best part of the entire process, but I will not miss them in my house every day.”

Hatmaker grew up as the daughter of a pastor, and even though she swore she would never marry a minister, that’s just what she did. It was also only natural for her also to find a path to ministry.

“The road to ministry for me was an easy and a short one, well paved,” she said.

Hatmaker started out working alongside her husband in ministry and was then asked by a friend to lead a women’s Bible study. Until then, her focus had been youth ministry.

“I said absolutely not,” Hatmaker said. But the experience changed the trajectory of her life. She went from teaching women in her own church to teaching women around the country. “I never imagined it would become an entire ministry career, but it’s been such a delight and a surprise and so humbling.”

Hatmaker said she’s excited to be involved in women’s ministry and is encouraged by the women she meets as she travels.

“I sense that God very mightily has his hand on this generation and there’s some special mission awaiting us,” she said. “It’s exciting to grab hands with people and say we can do this together. We can live bold and brave.”

Hatmaker said the event at Fellowship Bible Church will focus on what she calls the “scandalous grace” of Jesus.

“Grace is what has always drawn people to Jesus,” she said. “That’s his calling card. We are going to jump right into what does it mean to love our neighbor and the world. How do we not just defend Jesus all the time but how do we represent him?”

The program will be 7-9 p.m. Feb. 21 and 9 a.m.-noon Feb. 22 at the church. Tickets are $25 and are available online at fellowshipwomenonline.com or by calling (501) 224-7171. Information about Hatmaker is available online at jenhatmaker.com.

Religion, Pages 12 on 02/08/2014