Susan Miller, founder of an Arizona-based newcomers' ministry and "Moving On After Moving In" classes for women newcomers offered at 10 churches around the Charlotte region, visits Charlotte Friday to speak to church leaders and newcomers. (To register for the free event, go to www.justmoved.org or call 866-587-8668.) Some of her comments:
Q. How did you end up planning this trip to Charlotte?
Charlotte is such an active area for us. We just have so many connections there. They're such a hub for movers.
What an opportunity for newcomers who don't even know about our ministry and don't even know about our classes to come and be encouraged and hopefully plug into a class.
Q. Where are the other top-growth markets where you Travel? Texas, Colorado and Virginia. We're hoping to be in Florida and Ohio next year. These states that are just so fast-growing are the very states that offer so many of our classes. That's where we're drawn to.
Q. Do you think the Charlotte area might have different issues than other parts of the country because we have so many transplants from so many other places?
A move is something that a woman feels and a man does. The circumstances may be different, but the feelings and adjustments and the transition are all so similar. There may be some growth areas which lend themselves to more things to do and be involved in and more advanced ways of incorporating a newcomer than others. But as far as the individual woman that moves, she's facing the same things.
Q. Do some areas have more culture clashing than others? That's everywhere. "OK, I've moved from the Midwest to the South, and I don't speak their language." You're always throwing that into the mix of moving. The cultural move, the weather, the food, the environment. Like when I moved from the South to out here (in Arizona), I went from grits to guacamole and from grass to rocks.
Q. What will be the result of your visit?
I'd love to see us add a dozen new churches. I'd love for hundreds of women to feel encouraged. Got a question?
704-358-5058 or Ldyer@charlotteobserver.com. Leigh Dyer
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