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Behold is a Christ-centered gathering of women from across Nashville and beyond with a singular focus; lifting up Jesus. Through that, we foster deep community, lasting heart change and miraculous freedom. We believe that when we behold Jesus, everything changes.
Heather’s favorite things are puzzles, naps, summer and dark chocolate. When she’s not hanging with her four boys and husband, you’ll find her reading, watching The Office or having a dance party in her kitchen. One of her aspirations in life is to make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.
When April isn’t sitting at a piano writing songs about God’s faithfulness, you can find her playing board games or building magnatiles with her kids, interior designing, biking to coffee shops with her fam or watercoloring at the kitchen table.
Lindsay loves Thai food, Bluebell peppermint ice cream (like a true Texan), traveling, and has a twin sister. She’s a boy mom and loves editing (What?).
Eileen is a creative with an eye for detail. She loves working in her garden, baking, and spending quality time with friends. Outdoor time, travel and family top her list of favorites, so her goal is to visit all 50 states by the time her oldest graduates from high school. So far they’ve hit 33.
Sarah is a wife, mom and Christ-follower who loves anything to do with flowers. In her free time she enjoys working in the yard with her husband Ben and decorating her home. Her heart is to minister to women in crisis; crisis pregnancy, adoption ministry and women’s shelters.
In 2019 I had been building a business for 20 years and while I had experienced some success, I began to feel unfulfilled and had an inkling that the Lord may be moving me into a new season. I know some people may feel that this is normal for someone my age (mid-40’s when this was written) and would label it a mid-life crisis but to be honest, I’m way past he middle of my life and I was not looking for anything new. Besides, why would I lay down a 20 year career without a definite, clear and planned out direction. Simultaneously, I began teaching occasionally at a moms group at my church and fell in love with the women and began to discover a new gift God had given me.
When 2020 happened and everything shut down, I had time to slow down and ponder what was happening in my life and what my next steps should be. But, fear began to set in. I still felt a stirring in my heart but couldn’t see the way forward. I continued to flounder and wait, believing that the safest thing to do was to do what I’d always done. I was trying to figure out next steps by more deeply exploring my own story and while exploring a story in and of itself is not a bad thing, it caused me to lose focus on the one who was writing it. This gradual drift from the Lord and his leading also caused conflict in my marriage. While I’m a “wait it out” kind of girl, my husband is a take the next step (even if we’re not ready) kind of guy. You see where this is going. He saw these gifts in me and wanted me to use them but saw me giving in to the internal spiral in my mind. He watched me wake up daily and express the same insecurities and hesitations. He wanted me to act and I was frozen in fear. It was a vicious cycle. We both felt like our marriage was in a good place but we needed a mediator to help us navigate this impasse where we had found ourselves. We started marriage counseling.
In 2021 we were invited to be part of the speaker team for Family Life Weekend to Remember Conferences (a branch of Campus Crusade for Christ or CRU). This was further confirmation that the Lord was using this new gift. It stirred in me a longing to communicate God’s word clearly to help people. I knew that tips and tricks wouldn’t save or strengthen their marriages. Only Jesus could do that. My teaching at the local moms group became a more regular and I began writing curriculum to teach. This same theme was burned into my heart. The only thing that will help these women in their motherhood journey is the power of God at work in their lives. The fire was being stoked and a vision was becoming clearer.
Then in 2022 a group of five random couples gathered together, upon the prompting of one of the wives, to have dinner. She felt a bit isolated and wanted to create some new relationships that pushed her in her faith. We all gelled right away. It was quite unique. Several months later at one our supper club meetings, I tentatively shared a little bit of my three year journey. It’s a little scary and I never wanted it to feel like self-promotion. I wanted it to be Jesus-promotion. The other four couples affirmed in me the gifts that the Lord had been using and pledged their support to begin dreaming with me about what it would look like to take the next steps in faith. We prayed, sought council, dreamed and met almost monthly since then and in February 2023 launched a small gathering of women for the purpose of coming together, lifting up the name of Jesus, proclaiming his word and viewing our own stories in light of his story. In short, we believe when we Behold him and not ourselves, everything changes.
I want to invite you into this story by faith. Just like us, you may wonder what you bring to the table. We had no money, no clue what we were doing and yet we stepped out in faith and stepped into what the Lord is doing and will do. While it’s true that the Lord is omnipresent, he also manifests his presence in specific times and places with specific people. Think about Adam and Eve, Moses, Noah, Elijah, the disciples at Pentecost and Paul on the Damascus road. We are praying another manifestation happens again on Feb. 10, 2024. In fact, we’re planning on it. It will be our first official Behold Women’s Gathering and we want you to be part! Click this link to register and come behold him with us.
Love,
Heather and the Behold Team
Eileen is a creative with an eye for detail. She loves working in her garden, baking, and spending quality time with her friends. Outdoor time, travel and her family top her list of favorites. Their family’s goal is to visit all 50 states by the time their youngest graduates from high school. So far they’ve hit 33.
Heather’s favorite things are puzzles, naps, summer and dark chocolate. When she’s not hanging with her four boys and husband, you’ll find her reading, watching The Office or having a dance party in her kitchen. One of her aspirations in life is to make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.
When April isn’t sitting at a piano writing songs about God’s faithfulness, you can find her playing board games or building magnatiles with her kids, interior designing, biking to coffee shops with her fam or watercoloring at the kitchen table.
Sarah is a native Nashvillian and a full-time momma/champion of her family. In her free time, she enjoys hosting, gardening, taking walks with her pup, and cheering on her kids in their various sports and activities. Her past career experiences and heart are to minister to women in crisis; crisis pregnancy, women’s shelters, and adoption ministry.
Heather Cartee is a communicator, Bible teacher, author and founder of the Behold Women’s Gathering. God awakened a love for His word during her in college years where she found truth and community with disciple makers and mentors. She entered college believing she’d go on to become a physician, but by the time college was over, life had totally shifted course and she found herself in ministry alongside her husband. The following years were filled with days on the road, starting a sales business, four sons and then homeschooling. But all along, the winding and wild journey never strayed from a desire to worship Jesus and to teach his word. As more and more opportunities came from within the local church, God ignited in her a fresh desire to encourage and inspire women to find their identity by seeking Christ and serving others. She founded Behold Ministries and works to see women grow and thrive in Jesus. She speaks at conferences, Bible studies and with her husband at Family Life’s Weekend to Remember Marriage conferences. Her own story of discovering healing, value and purpose in Christ is what gives her passion to speak, write and gather women, so they can behold him too and see for themselves that beholding Jesus changes everything.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, April Geesbreght (pronounced JEZ-bray) Cushman has been writing songs since she could make a joyful noise. Trusting Jesus at a young age, April served in church and on worship teams throughout her youth. April moved to Nashville, TN in 2010 and landed her first publishing deal writing pop + country songs for Sony ATV. The Lord called her back to worship in 2019, moments after her father passed away. April’s journey of physical pain, anxiety and grief, is now a story of hope, healing, assurance, freedom, and joy as she testifies to what the Lord has done. Moved and called to tell others of her journey in Christ and the Lord’s faithfulness April wrote and released an album in April of 2023 titled “Deep Waters” [available on all music platforms- under the name April Geesbreght].
Born deep in the heart of Texas, Lindsay McCaul Mattingly grew up singing harmony with the Gaither Vocal Band…cassette tapes, every Sunday driving to and from church. A love of music and the arts was instilled in her by her USAF Colonel father and watercolor artist mother, and as a preteen she began writing songs as she learned to play her dad’s old guitar.
Since graduating from the Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Applied Linguistics, Lindsay has released two albums (If It Leads Me Back, One More Step), and toured extensively with respected artists including Casting Crowns, Mathew West, Sanctus Real, The Afters, Brandon Heath, and Mandisa, among others. Although she isn’t (yet!) using her degree to translate the Bible into another language, Lindsay counts it one of the greatest privileges of life to get to “translate” the Bible into songs and link arms with others worshipping the Jesus who changed her life.
Lindsay has been leading worship for over twenty years beginning in college, continuing as a founding member of Vertical Worship, and now regularly leading at her home church, Fellowship Bible Church, in Brentwood, Tennessee, and as a part of Fellowship Songs. In addition, Lindsay tours with Aspire Women’s Conferences. She loves being a wife to her husband, Mark, and a mom to her two sons, Malachi (7) and Ezekiel (4).
Recording artist Spensha Baker is breaking barriers in the music industry, with a genre-defying sound infused with gospel roots. In Season 14 of The Voice, on Team Blake, she was the first African-American country singer to make it to the Top 4. Her songs from the show consistently landed in the top 10 on iTunes, with her rendition of original song, Old Soul, hitting #1 on the Country Charts and #3 on overall charts.
A performer since the age of six, Spensha got her start in gospel music, making appearances on Christian Artist Talent Search and Star Search, before signing with Geffen Records to release her debut album, “Outloud!” at the age of 15. With both of her parents being prior military veterans, Spensha spent most of her childhood moving constantly to different military bases developing a strong and committed love for GOD and Country.
These days you can find her in sports arenas across the country singing our nations song and traveling from all over Texas to Nashville leading churches and congregations in worship and working on an upcoming music project.
Kelly Minter is passionate about teaching the Word of God. When she’s not singing, writing, or speaking, you can find her picking homegrown vegetables with her six nieces and nephews or riding a boat along the Amazon river with Justice & Mercy International. A Southern transplant, she delights in college football, long walks, and a diner mug full of her favorite Justice Blend coffee.
