By Emily Jenkins

Staff Writer

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women focused on the theme of “good things” which God gives in Psalm 103 through worship, small group discussions and speaker sessions during the Psalms Event 2026.

The Psalms Event 2026 is a free, two-day, campus-wide conference for female UMHB students “to worship together, grow in sisterhood, engage in small group discussions and deepen their walks with Jesus” according to the Psalms Event Instagram page @thepsalmsevent. The event  at the Walton Chapel lasted from Friday, Jan. 16, at 5:30 p.m. to Saturday, Jan.17, at 9 p.m.

At the beginning of the event, Emily Silver, senior public relations major on Psalms Event outreach committee, led the women attending in prayer saying, “Lord, you are good, and you do good things, and, God, it is a good thing to be here today. God, I thank you for this place that you have allowed us to come and meet you, and what I pray [is] that our hearts would just be prepared to meet you in this place, Lord. The decorations are fun. The colors are so pretty, but, Lord, the thing that we are most excited for is you; you being here today.” 

The Psalms Event included four speaker sessions and one speaker Q&A. Brandy Parrish, church planter’s wife and mother of four, returned as one of the speakers. Morgan Gallion, high school pastor at CrossBridge Community Church in San Antonio, joined Parrish as the second speaker for the event.

Parrish said on Friday, “I said ‘yes’ to Psalms because I fell in love with Jesus when I was in college in a way that radically changed my direction of where I was going with my life, and I want that for you. I grew up knowing Jesus and saying that I loved Jesus, but everything changed when I was in college.” 

In addition, Gallion said, “I am so excited to be in a room with women because I believe that God has set you apart, and I think in the midst of that, there is something going on specifically in your generation that’s calling out ‘we don’t want the fluff anymore. We want what Jesus has to offer and we want it to be bold and we want it to be blunt and we want to go where he goes.”

The Psalms Event included five small group times where individuals met with their small group leader. The small group leaders were there to lead each woman there through the discussion questions and to encourage conversation. 

Emma Kate Quanz, senior marketing major and a director of the Psalms Event, said before releasing everyone attending Psalms for their first small groups on Friday, “we ask y’all to be vulnerable tomorrow and ask y’all to just talk to your small group, to push yourself because it truly does just show you that God is good and goes before us and holds our right hand and he’s going to be there with you.” Quanz continued to ask everyone to be open to sharing despite imperfections saying, “We’re all not perfect, but the Lord is perfect and we get to glorify him through that.”

Throughout the event, the band led four worship sessions. Each member of the band and each song was specifically chosen for the Psalms Event. For example, the band led the congregation in singing “We fall down. We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus” after Parrish spoke on the crowns God gives his people. Cardigan Davis and Melanny Barbosa were the worship committee. 

In addition to the main events, everyone was offered food at the start of the event both days. Some of those attending won door prizes and everyone also had the opportunity to buy the Psalms Event 2026 T-shirts. Each person attending also could attend the church fair after lunch on Saturday. 

Madi Patterson, freshman public relations major attending the Psalms Event, said, “My favorite part about the Psalms Event has honestly just been all the sisterhood girls on campus just coming together to grow closer to the Lord.My Cru leader is actually one of the directors, Maggie [Hodnick], and she recommended it, and I’m so glad I decided to come.”