SHAMELESS PURSUIT | Kathryn Garrett

THE STORY OF SHAMELESS PURSUIT

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With the help of her friends, the word about the conference spread far and wide. On May 21, 2022, the Shameless Pursuit Conference took place, bringing together 250 women from 46 different churches—an unforgettable day of worship, connection, and empowerment.

God placed a dream in Kathryn Garrett’s heart to build a women’s conference—one that would unite, uplift, and empower women in their faith in Rochester, NY. For 10 years, she patiently waited for the Lord’s timing. Then, in the fall of 2021, she finally sensed the Lord give her the green light to proceed

Kathryn reached out to nine female leaders from various local churches to serve as speakers. Her vision was to help local churches network and collaborate.

PHOTO CRED: Kristina Bleiler

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Worship Band & Keynote Speaker Bonny Hoeflien From left to right: Trina Duncan, Shannon Pritzkau, Becca Johnson, and Rachel Shipman. Abi Landean is in the background. *not pictured Merci Gbenjo. In front is Bonny Hoeflien.

Leadership Team: From left to right: Suzanne Austin, Kathryn Garrett, Rachel Anderson, Michelle Garrett, and Susan TerHaar

NEXT STEPS

After the success of the Shameless Pursuit Conference, Kathryn waited to see what God’s next steps for her would be. She secretly hoped for another opportunity to build a second conference, but God had other plans.

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In December 2022, while seeking God’s guidance and direction, Kathryn found herself at the doorstep of a woman named Robin Day. Robin welcomed her in, inviting her to sit, worship, and soak in God’s presence. Kathryn said yes, and as she spent time in worship, she felt a deep sense of renewal and encouragement. The experience lifted her spirit so profoundly that she later shared it with Robin, sparking a thought—what if other women were also longing for a space to simply worship and be refreshed?

Both women quickly realized the need for a dedicated time where women could gather, seek God, and be renewed in His presence. With a shared vision, Kathryn offered her home as a gathering place—if Robin would join her in hosting. Without hesitation, they set a date for the first Pursuit Worship Night in February of 2023.

It was incredible to see how God moved in and through this invitation to shamelessly pursue his presence. Diversity showed up. Women from all kinds of backgrounds, cultures, and denominations drove from all over Western NY to attend Pursuit Worship Nights.

In the living room, as women worshiped the Lord, the presence of the Lord fell on them and as a result, the ministry naturally flowed into a time of prayer.

Every night, what began as a worship time turned into a prayer training ground where women could practice laying hands on people, anointing them with oil, interceding for them, and hearing the Holy Spirit's voice.

In August 2023, Kathryn felt a strong prompting to attend the EPIC Women's Conference in Rochester, NY. She invited her friend Stephanie to join her.

At EPIC, Kathryn marveled at how powerfully the spirit of God moved among the women and the ways the women responded

in return. When altar calls were given, hundreds of women immediately rushed forward, falling to their knees or flat on their faces in surrender, eager to hear and obey the Lord’s call. For Kathryn it was a profound and life-changing moment to witness and it gave testimony to the deep hunger for God stirring in the hearts of women.

Kathryn and Stephanie left EPIC as changed women. And Kathryn walked away with a God-inspired question... what would happen if EPIC and Shameless Pursuit could somehow work together for Kingdom building rather than run separate conferences in the same city?

PHOTO CRED: LaShunda Leslie-Smith

Top Picture: Pastor Jacquema Jones, Stephanie Baxter, and Kathryn Garrett

Bottom Picture: Response to the EPIC altar call

Picture to the Right: Life Coach, Nikki Parris wearing a wedding gown skirt as she presents her workshop.

After leaving EPIC, Kathryn reached out to the founder, Dr. LaShunda Leslie-Smith, to request a meeting where she could ask if a collaboration was possible. Meanwhile, the Pursuit women began to pray.

PURSUIT RETREAT

Meanwhile, in the Fall of 2023, the Pursuit women desired to have a retreat so they could spend more time in worship and fellowship over a weekend. Pastor Shelly of Exley Community Church allowed the group to be hosted in her building. It provided a middle location for both Buffalo and Rochester women to gather between cities. While at the retreat, God moved! One woman even got a car donated to her. The Lord was meeting needs for everyone there!

Dr. Rebecca Letterman was the retreat speaker. She is pictured here on the left next to Lissette, one of the women from Buffalo.

INTRODUCTION TO
SOMETHING EPIC

TOURQUOI THE TUFTED COUCH

After a year of witnessing God move powerfully through Pursuit Nights, Kathryn and Robin felt led to write a book—a testimony of the incredible ways He had worked in their lives and the lives of others.

As they envisioned the book’s cover, Robin recalled a vision God had given her: she and Kathryn sitting on a turquoise couch. It seemed unusual—neither of them owned a turquoise couch—but the image stayed with them. Inspired by this vision, they set out on a mission to find a couch they could transform, painting it turquoise to use as a ministry tool.

They found a FREE tufted couch on Facebook Marketplace in East Amhearst, NY, over an hour from where they live.

Finding a couch in a vacated apartment through Facebook Marketplace,

it took both women to heave the couch in an elevator, shove it down a hallway and load it into Kathryn's minivan.

The couch was in rough shape. It had stuffing coming out of her tufts and cat scratches on its arms. The couch was in need of a serious makeover. So Kathryn painted it with latex paint (yes, a couch can be painted). It took 3 coats of diluted paint and soon the fabric was dyed a deep rich turquoise color.

One week later, the madeover couch was transported back to Buffalo. The hope was to gather the Buffalo women who shamelessly pursue God to sit on her and capture a picture. However, the city had just experienced a heavy snow storm and so it seemed odd to put a couch in the snow. But they did it anyway. Everyone piled onto the couch and enjoyed making a memory.

Once pictures of women sitting on the turquoise couch started surfacing online, a woman named Julie suggested the couch be named "Torquoi". She explained that in French, "porquoi" means, "what is it?" And if a "T" was placed in front of that word, the couch could be called Torquoi. So Tourquoi became the official name of the couch.

Torquoi started being invited to different places around upstate NY. Many women and families who shamelessly pursue God gathered on her arms and we tried to get as many pictures as possible.

PHOTO CRED: Zach Hardy

She was even invited to sit on a dock in the middle of a lake with a bunch of kids.

EPIC Women's Conference 2024

In September of 2023, Kathryn and LaShunda met face to face and quickly sensed the Lord leading them to collaborate. This created a beautiful bridge between conference builders in the city of Rochester.

To introduce their followers to one another, they sat on Tourquoi who was parked in the middle of Parcel 5 in downtown Rochester, and took turns interviewing one another over video.

As a result, in August 2024, 40 women from Shameless Pursuit purchased tickets for The Epic Women's Conference. The event saw an incredible surge in attendance, growing from 250 to 500 women. It was a powerful reminder of how God continues to move, drawing more and more women together to experience His presence and work in unity.

PUBLISHING A BOOK

Kathryn and Robin decided to write a book called, Shameless Pursuit: Ordinary women saying YES to an extraordinary God. This book was written to testify to what they had seen and experienced over their first year of ministry. In the manuscript they reference over 30 women who had said "yes" to God.

As they awaited their publication date, they hosted "conversations on a turquoise couch" where they interviewed some of the 30 women featured in their book, capturing their powerful stories and experiences.

If you would like to meet the women or listen to the couch conversations, push the button below.

Couch Conversations