our story
In the summer of 2015, a group of women in Dayton, Ohio met to study the Old Testament book of Joshua. It didn’t look like much — 20 or so women in an empty youth room at Apex Community Church, with kids playing in childcare below. They studied God’s Word, shared what they learned and prayed for each other. It was small and simple, but powerful. What God started there, He intended to grow.
After the study of Joshua was over, several of the women expressed their longing for more Bible-rich gatherings in Dayton. A few of them met together in the fall of 2015 to dream and plan. In March 2016, Dayton Women in the Word (DWITW) held its first city-wide gathering. We worshipped together, read God’s Word and experienced the gift of community. The DWITW team would go on to host several workshops and three more city-wide gatherings that year, each gathering covering a person of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2015-16 team: Mindy Braun, Jillian Vincent, Natalie Herr, Daisy Dronen & Jen Squire
With each in-person gathering, we met more and more women who were craving Bible-rich community. The 2016 team organized a second summer Bible study through the book of Daniel and made it a priority to teach not only the content of the Bible but also study tools to help women in their Bible reading after the study was over.
As the DWITW network grew, the team saw the opportunity to encourage and equip women with online resources as well. During the summer of 2016, we started the DWITW blog to share what God was teaching us through writing. In the fall, we launched the DWITW podcast as a way to learn from local women and their relationships with God and His Word.
That fall, we also felt a call from God to tackle the topic of discipleship. We began planning for the conference that became DiscipleHER. More than 250 women came out to DiscipleHER to learn about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and how to disciple other women and children in the faith.
2017 directors: Lauren Steckling, Mindy Braun, Jillian Vincent, Natalie Herr, Kelly Gwin, Christina VonMoll & Kaitlyn Carl
As the organization grew, the team grew along with it. In 2017, we added many more hands to the work. Our summer study (this time through Ezra and Nehemiah) grew from one session to two, and we added kids lessons for the first time. At the close of the summer, we had the privilege of partnering with Declare Worship Community (co-hosting a public reading of Nehemiah in Courthouse Square) and IF:Dayton (night of prayer over our city). It became clearer than ever before that God was reviving hearts all across the city of Dayton.
In 2018, our bigger team had lots of big plans. We launched DWITW365, a year-long chronological Bible reading plan (with accompanying weekly blog posts and book intros on social media) to work through as a network. We hosted our fourth annual summer study through the book of Hosea, and we launched an at-home guide for the first time so that our friends outside of Dayton could study with us. We also had the opportunity to celebrate 100 episodes of the DWITW podcast with a live podcast recording.
2019 directors: Christina VonMoll, Tiffani Decker, Lauren Steckling, Natalie Herr, Kate Haas & Jillian Vincent
2018 also brought the launch of our teaching initiative, DWITW Teaching Collective. Through equipping women to study their Bibles for several years, we became aware of women who were longing to grow in their gifts of teaching and sharing the gospel. Teaching Collective has since sent many women to teach God’s Word in their own churches and homes.
That year, we also sent many of our own team members. We began to see that the DWITW organization itself had an internal opportunity to disciple women and send them to serve the Lord in other areas of influence.
DWITW leaders: DWITW Founder Natalie Herr and 2020 Team Lead Brittany Ganzsarto
In 2019, after much patience and endurance, the Lord made a way for the release of the At Home in the Word videos. Our team was so grateful to get this resource out into the world. We hosted our fifth annual summer study through Mark (our first New Testament book). We continued to refine the summer study process and saw several satellite groups pop up in homes and churches in and around Dayton (and some as far away as China!). We ended the summer with a night of worship to thank God for his faithfulness. The fall brought prayerful plans for a second conference and the long-awaited answer to our prayer for a new team lead who would keep moving the mission forward.
In light of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, we felt God’s direction to cancel plans for the 2020 conference and focused instead on making our 2020 summer study available remotely. We experienced how God worked this heartbreaking situation for good in our ministry as we watched many women become empowered to lead Bible study on Zoom and in small groups in their areas of influence. The team began to focus on how to support the leaders of these groups and the women studying remotely.
DWITW leaders: Team Leads Jillian Vincent and Lauren Steckling in the DWITW office!
In 2021, the team took a sabbatical during the first half of the year to follow in obedience God’s call to rest. During this time, God gave much refreshment and new vision to our team to continue in our mission long term. This vision changed the structure of ministry by adding a Board of Directors, Pillars for a year-long Dwell Richly Plan, a Group Study Bundle, and Open Bible Night, and down-sized the number of leaders. The DWITW leaders felt God calling to simplify then grow. As the sabbatical ended and the ministry resumed work in their new structure, God answered the long time prayers to have an official office for the leaders to work. Apex Community Church became the new home of the DWITW offices.
2022 began with the start of the new Board of Directors structure which added new wisdom and discernment to the team. Ministry work kicked off on January 1 with the Dwell Richly plan in Deuteronomy. The team empowered women to spend the entire year in Deuteronomy, a challenging Old Testament book. To go along with the Dwell Richly plan, the team created a Group Study Bundle on the Shema. The Group Study Bundle was well received among participants but the longing for an in-person event among the team and the women they serve was still evident. God worked wonders in the team and helped lead them to host a one-day Tools Intensive workshop in July. This much needed in-person event was a beautiful display of praise and fellowship with God and other women. God also handed DWITW a new ministry and the means to support it with the St. Vincent’s Bible Study. God is good!
St. Vincent’s Bible Study: St. Vincent Bible Study team
God continued to grow the ministry and the leaders grew with it. DWITW focused on four pillars in 2023 - Group Study Bundle, Open Bible Night, Tools Intensive, and the new St. Vincent’s Bible Study. Open Bible Night started the year with a beautiful night reading through all of Hebrews at the beginning of January. This started the year off with a bang and the pillars brought glory to God and many women to him throughout the year. God graciously supplied the women and the funds to support the pillars. By the end of the year, the team was fully staffed for the first time! God’s blessings over-flowed from the leadership team onto the women of Dayton.
2024 Staff and Pillar Leads: Jillian Vincent (Team Lead), Jennifer Bayer (OBN Lead), Olohana Strong (St. Vincent Study Lead), Heidi Lenzo (Fundraising Lead), and Amanda Saliba (Operations Lead). Not pictured - Laura Swain (Communications Lead) and Bri Marino (Summer Study Lead)
God has been nothing but faithful to the women of Dayton through the ministry of DWITW. He has given us hope, strength, Bible literacy and community— but above all, He’s given us Himself. With every Bible study, with every open page, He has revealed more and more to us about His good character and sovereign nature. He has been beside us as we’ve wrestled with difficult passages and confusing doctrines. He has used our sisters to teach us, admonish us, encourage us and love us.
Our desire has always been for the women of Dayton to read their Bibles and know the God revealed within those pages. Lord-willing, DWITW will continue to be used to this end until that desire is realized, or Jesus returns.
May we all be known in Dayton and beyond as women in the Word.
This story was originally written by DWITW Founder Natalie Herr. It will be updated by the current DWITW team as God continues His mighty work and adds more to this story. Please note that not all DWITW team members (past or present) are pictured in these photos (see the Our Team page for current team members), nor are the countless volunteers from years of DWITW Summer Study. We are grateful for every person who has given their time to serve DWITW and help the women of Dayton to read their Bibles and know their God.
