We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Karen Conyers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Karen below.

Karen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I began worship dancing in 1997 with a group at my church. I wasn’t the choreographer of the group. I was just a member of the group–in fact, the oldest member at 22 years old among a group of middle and mostly high school girls. After my mother passed away in 1999, I moved to Aiken, SC which is about 45 minutes away from my hometown and I knew NOBODY! Wasn’t in school there or anything. Didn’t know anyone. One Sunday morning, I got dressed for church, although I didn’t know where I was going to church, as I didn’t go to my hometown every weekend. So I got in my Honda Civic that I had at the time and drove around and a small church caught my eye. The name of the street that the church was on was called Orangeburg St., and I thought to myself, “I’ll go to this church on Orangeburg St. because Orangeburg is the name of my hometown. So I walked in this little church and took my seat. After service, a young lady my age came up to me and I realized that we went to college together. The next Sunday I went, someone called my name and I realized that it was a lady from my hometown who used to live near us and whose child my mother used to babysit. She and her family had since moved away from Orangeburg and they were visiting there with her brothers and their families. Come to found out she was the pastor’s sister, and she had told my pastor and his family all about my mother so they were familiar with me. So I knew that was the church that I needed away from home.
Getting back to the worship dance which brings me to my second risk that I took! After I moved away, I still wanted to be in worship dance, but I wanted to do more of teaching dance and actually dancing. So after putting myself out there, I was able to get some kids together to teach them a dance. A community center near where I lived allowed to me to teach the kids dance and didn’t charge me for using one of the rooms. So we were asked to dance at an event at the community center. NONE of the kids came! Not a one! I went to the coordinator and I did something my little shy self thought I would never do. I told her I would dance the song by myself. So I took that risk and went out and danced the song by myself….and have been dancing ever since!

Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am originally from Orangeburg, SC but moved to Greeleyville, SC in 2003 after I got married. I live in Greeleyville, SC with my husband, McKeever, and our two sons, McKeever and McKenzie, and I am an angel mom to McKaylan. I am a lab proctor at an alternative school for a high school classroom. I got into dance ministry in 1997 at my home church, New Light United Methodist Church. As I began to branch out, I began to learn more about the dance ministry and the biblical foundations behind dance. I have helped implement and worked with dance ministries and have conducted two dance workshops. In 2021, I stepped out of my comfort zone and began flagging. I have always seen people flag and I thought it was powerful, but I didn’t see me doing it. One pair of flags led into 6 pair…and I still want more! Lol! My dance scripture is Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.”

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal of my dance ministry is to spread the gospel through dance. Some people grasp things audibly, and some may grasp it visually. A person may have heard a song thousands of times and may not have understood the song; however, if they see the song interpreted in movement, they may understand the song or see the song in a different light. Through my dance, I want people to see how powerful the dance can be. It is an intimate space betweeen God and the worshipper.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Speaking in the dance ministry sense, some who are not in dance ministry may struggle to understand that worship dance is more than just putting on a nice garment and making up moves to a song. It goes so much deeper than that. Worship dancers are not entertainments (that’s a big one). We are not program fillers. We are ministers of movement. First off, we have to make sure that we have the right heart posture before we stand before His people to minister in dance. Before an assignment, we spend time in prayer and consecration. Sometimes we are led to fast. We dancers like to sit with our songs before we minister them. This was something that I had to learn in my journey as a dancer. Starting out, I looked at it as entertainment and didn’t see the real power behind it, but now I see just how much power there is in dance ministry.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @glorycarrier75
• Facebook: Karenglorycarrier Conyers
• Youtube: Glory Carrier

Image Credits

On the third picture, the flyer, credit BPrincess Corp (Phylicia Wall)