Lauren’s upbringing Pageantry’s your passion
Lauren is a pastor’s kid or PK, her mom is a pastor’s wife and preschool teacher. Little did she know that Pageantry’s her passion. “I grew up with very loving nurturing parents. I was able to get saved at the age of six after Awana’s one night. A preacher talked about heaven and how amazing that is and hell and how not amazing that is and I said, ‘Oh I know where I want to go!’
I went home and told my dad I wanted to be saved and then he helped me through the sinner’s prayer. Since then I was very conscious about serving the Lord, but it was all rules-based instead of relationship-based. I know I came across as more judgmental and self-righteous instead of loving, which was a big problem getting into middle school and high school.
My mindset for my friends and myself was to always try to do what is right even if it isn’t easy. I was very much by the law and that didn’t really help me reach people for Christ. I remember an instance when I talked with a girl, who was Catholic, and I told her the way we’re supposed to live if we believe. And she told me I came across super judgmental and self-righteous. No one had ever told me that before!”
Judgemental but repentant Pageantry’s your passion
Because of this Lauren went into self-reflection and realized the girl was right. “I really prayed for the Lord to change my heart. About that time I was getting ready to graduate and I wanted to go to a Christian college, so I prayed and asked the Lord to reveal what college he wanted me to go to. Of course, I was hoping for an inexpensive Christian College in Florida because my parents live in Florida and boom, Pensacola Christian College popped up.
I never heard of that college before, so I read information from their website and I asked my parents to visit during Spring Break of my senior year. We went up there and had a great experience. The following fall I began my education studying elementary education. Let me tell you freshman year was rough because even though I love Pensacola Christian, there are lots of rules to abide by.”
Bible time is the right time
Something every Christian strives for is to spend quality time in God’s word, it was no different for Lauren. During her time in college, she grew a lot closer to Christ and in her faith. She not only did her undergrad there but also her graduate studies as well. She also did Christian Sororities as well as got into Pageantry. Currently, she is working at a summer camp in South Florida, then Lauren plans to take a teaching position near Orlando in the Fall.
Lauren went onto say, “Winning a Pageant was a dream of mine since I was 19, I hadn’t grown up in Pageants like I shared earlier, it wasn’t something I grew up with, I was an athlete. But when I was approached by a lady at church to enter a Pageant, I came to the conclusion that it would remove me from my comfort zone and force me to become a more well-rounded person. So, that was simultaneously exciting and scary. After deciding to train for my first pageant I soon came to realize it took a lot of hard work. Pageants are not what I thought they were.
Misunderstanding of Pageantry
I imagined pageants as the Toddlers in Tiaras kind of bratty girls. At first, I didn’t really want to be a part of that but the more I researched it the more I realized all of hard work that’s involved but also how rewarding it is. Scholarship Pageants are one of the largest organizations to give scholarships to women in the United States and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Lauren explained what it was like to win Miss Central Florida, “It was such a surreal feeling because so much hard work went into that moment. When I won my mom was jumping up and down like a crazy person. She is an extremely supportive and encouraging woman. Both of my parents were immensely supportive during the entire process. It was just such a huge blessing, which I just tribute that all to God because without Him I wouldn’t have had the courage to do any of that.”
Pageants are supportive Pageantry’s your passion
One thing people don’t realize about Pageants is how supportive and how godly the girls competing can be. Lauren continued with this shocking truth, “I ignorantly assumed that pageant girls were focused on gowns, glitter, and glamour. So, when I educated myself, I found out that I was very inaccurate in my assumption. The neat thing about pageantry to me is the high priority community service plays in the system.
A major goal of the Miss America program is to get these girls in their communities to reach out and help other people. My social initiative was called Mentor Matters and I got to mentor multiple young girls to live to their fullest potential. Furthermore, I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to the Miss Florida pageant after winning Miss Central Florida to find there were a lot of Christian girls there.”
Very helpful unexpected Pageantry’s your passion
It’s important to note that the girls at both competitions were very helpful with even small tasks. “In addition to that, the Lord put it on my heart to start a Bible Study at the Miss Florida pageant week. It was vital to begin the preliminaries of Miss Florida week focusing on God. I thought, while we’re here to compete, we need to remember what this is truly about. I stood up in front of all the girls after a meeting and asked if any of the girls wanted to meet in my hotel room for Bible Study… and about 12 girls actually came! I was elated!”
After reading a devotional with scripture references the girls started opening up about how God was moving in their lives. I was happy to find out that a couple of girls got saved Miss Florida week the year prior! Lauren went onto say, “One of the girls said a lot of girls have gotten saved by the testimonies of other the other Christian contestants in the competition! I was blown away! And I was very happy to be among such professional, kind, and accomplished women!”
Pageants not perfect Pageantry’s your passion
However, such is life… not everything about my pageant experience was perfect. She explains, “The judges, unfortunately, did not seem to be Believers… they were actually very worldly. The Judges asked a bunch of controversial questions, knowing I was the pastor’s daughter, most of which I did not answer diplomatically. I did not place 10th or even 15th at Miss Florida, but I did my best to glorify my heavenly Father and to be an encouragement to my peers.
When asked how she uses that platform of Miss Central Florida she said, “With the platform of Miss Central Florida and then having experiences at Miss Florida the Lord really molded my confidence around Him and who He says I am. I was reminded that my identity is found in Him and Him alone. Therefore, I don’t need to base my identity off of the things I’ve done or the people I know. But I solely identify by what He has done for me. I was immensely blessed to walk in that truth and live that out. That really changed my life and perspective on ministering.
Opportunity through Pageants
Once I received opportunities to speak, I got to speak at the very camp I became a counselor at the year prior. So, I went back with a PowerPoint and a story to share about my experience of Miss Central Florida with all the girls at the camp. We talked about their dreams, goals, and their desires to live for Christ.
As previously mentioned, Lauren has continued her mentor platform by mentoring a girl through the Big Brother’s Big Sister’s organization and would take her out weekly by bringing her to church among other fun things. It was important for her to remind her little of just how special she is to Christ even though her home life was extremely difficult.”
Sports and Pageants Pageantry’s your passion
Now you might be wondering how this relates to sports. Lauren explained, “Sports and Pageantry are similar to me because they both force an individual outside of one’s comfort zone. In life it can be challenging to get over yourself in order to allow yourself to look silly at times. For example, I played basketball throughout my childhood and if I missed a shot, double dribbled, or performed an unsuccessful pass I would be embarrassed in the moment. However, I have found it is beneficial to laugh at myself and then move on quickly.
Similar with Pageantry you learn not to take yourself so seriously because you’re going to mess up…you’re going to trip. It’s simply a part of life. You’re going to say something stupid in front of the crowd, I actually did that. I totally butchered my onstage question at a local pageant and looked like a complete oaf. I didn’t know the answer to a controversial social issue question occurring at the time. It was a scene from one of those exact instances where the Pageant girl’s like ‘what?’ The best part was that my whole family was there, and they still bring up the blunder to this day.
Not me but Christ! Pageantry’s your passion
At the end of the day, this life is not about me anyway it’s about Christ. That’s learning to not take myself so seriously. It’s about letting go of pride. Sports and pageantry require a large amount of teamwork but in different aspects. Pageantry is not as cutthroat as some may assume it to be. Your friends and your family members are your teammates throughout the entire pageant process. I would have never won if I had tried to do it by myself.
We were created to thrive in community.” In the Bible, God makes it clear we need each other. “We need community. All throughout scripture, the Lord emphasizes to love God and love others. It’s all throughout scripture, ‘if you give water, food, or clothing to the least of these you are serving the Lord. All throughout scripture the Lord talks about that concept.”
Scripture is life Pageantry’s your passion
“The Lord has shown me what it’s like to really invest and learn from godly relationships. You take those principles found in scripture and you live them out. He says love others as I have loved you. That’s taking it a step further than love your neighbor as yourself. We can not love with a perfect, god-like love unless we are asking God to help us love like he loves. This past year, God has taught me how to love my friends sacrificially and not selfishly.”
Lauren is currently working at a summer camp but will return home to teach in Orlando, Florida this fall. She will be teaching third grade which she says is the ‘best grade’. She is very excited about teaching kids biblical characteristics through Bible stories every day. She desires to start a YouTube account which she is praying will be a source of faith-based videos for young people to watch to find encouragement to follow Christ wholeheartedly.
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