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A woman with a Wal-Mart bag tied on her head is addressing a roomful of women who are laughing and taking notes. The woman next to her is talking about hair color—how the plastic bag helps each application last longer and how to get two uses from each box of home hair-coloring. Both women are dressed in hot pink and black, and a large sign behind them announces that they're the Spa Girls.
The "Girls" are Melissa Calvert and Lisa Seale, two 40something working moms in the Houston area who launched this creative women's ministry in early 2004. The "spa" in Spa Girls stands for Spiritual, Practical, and Amusing ways to live the godly life, which they teach in 60- to 90-minute demonstrations at women's retreats, luncheons, conferences, and parties.
They give six main presentations: Spa Cents, their signature talk, shows women how to make spa treatments for pennies with everyday household products. Teen Spa Cents gears this info for teenagers. BYOMB (Bring Your Own Make-up Bag and Bible) provides make-up lessons and scriptural truths about beauty. Home Cents includes tips to efficiently organize and manage home and family life. Money Cents teaches women how to set financial goals and create a livable budget. And Savvy Cents helps women decorate their homes on the cheap, including bargains from garage sales and thrift stores, and capture the true spirit of hospitality.
"Most women think they're too busy to take care of themselves," Melissa says. "But we remind women you can't take care of others if you don't take care of yourself. These presentations are a fun reminder of that truth, providing practical, economical ways to do so."
Sisters in ThriftIt all started with an "argument" when Lisa and Melissa found themselves seated next to each other at a Sunday- school class dinner. They'd met briefly a few weeks earlier when Melissa and her family showed up for an evening service, and Lisa welcomed the newcomers to her church.
"At that dinner, Melissa turned to me and told me she was the queen of thrift shops," Lisa says. "And I said, 'I beg your pardon, I believe that would be me.'" As they kept talking, they realized their shared love of a bargain was just one of many things they had in common. They both grew up in traditional Southern Baptist churches, believe in debt-free living, are make-up junkies, own dachshunds, and have a passion for worship music. They're also one year apart in age—Lisa's 42 and Melissa is 41—and have kids around the same age—Lisa's daughter, Erin, is 15, and her son, Ethan, is 12; Melissa's blended family includes a son, Bryan, who's 19, and three daughters, Lindsay, 15, Whitney, 14, and Courtney, 12.
Lisa and Melissa began serving together on their church's worship team, where Melissa sings and plays the flute and Lisa plays the keyboard. And, of course, they went thrift-store shopping together. While spending this time together, the women discovered their most poignant commonality—their shared grief. A couple months before they met, Melissa lost her brother to cancer. A few months before that, Lisa lost her dad.
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