With fashion magazine covers depicting Photoshopped imagery of girls with near perfect skin, hair—and everything else—Alyssa Shull is working to help teen girls see themselves through God’s eyes.
An Oral Roberts University graduate, Shull launched a conference in 2006 aimed at girls aged 12 to 18 who need a revelation on what true beauty is all about. Dubbed The Pink Lid, the two-day events include a fashion show, make-up seminar, speakers, a live band, food, giveaways, and Q&As about sex, love and dating.
“My sister was away from the Lord for a while, but then she attended a church event where 20-something girls shared their testimonies and it completely changed her life,” says Shull, co-founder of Shull Ministries International, the producer of Skunks TV. “She got on fire for God and she is still serving Him to this day. I wanted to give other young girls that experience.”
A 20-something herself, Shull started holding The Pink Lid conferences in 2006. The purity conferences work to undo the false messages of beauty the world sends. The messages and activities encourage girls not to compare themselves to what the world holds up as the standard of beautiful.
“We teach the girls that they are worth the wait—to wait for a husband and not to have sex before marriage,” Shull says. “We teach them how to stay pure until God sends them the person He has for them. We teach them not to settle for anything less than God’s best.”
The Pink Lid features seven 20-something female speakers because, as Shull says, teens think 20-somethings are cool and that opens the door to opportunities to make a positive impact. The Pink Lid speakers are raw, honest—they don’t hold anything back or water anything down.
“We speak about issues like sex, love and dating because if we’re not going to tell them in the church, they are going to hear it from the world,” says Shull, who is also a youth pastor at Words of Life church in North Miami Beach, Fla. “We want them to know biblical truths about purity and beauty. We tackle the tough issues head on. If we instill in these girls that they are beautiful, then they don’t need to look for a guy to tell them that.”
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