True Beauty
Sisters want the best for each other.
“My sister needs more confidence,” said Butler Intermediate High School seventh-grader Nevaeh Maga, 12.
The Fishbone Ministries True Beauty Pageant is one way Nevaeh's sister, Butler Intermediate High School eighth-grader Peyton Maga, 13, can learn to stand tall.
The two sisters are among the contestants in Fishbone Ministries fourth annual True Beauty Pageant — set for 7 p.m. Nov. 2 at Faith Fellowship Alliance Church, 200 Faith Way — that is a non-competitive pageant meant to equip girls, ages 8 to 17, with the confidence to stand up and be who God made them to be.
Girls in fifth- to 12th-grade can message the Fishbone Ministries' Facebook page or email fishboneministries@gmail.com if they are interested in joining the pageant.
For Nevaeh and Peyton, this is their second year participating in the pageant, they said.
“We were trying to get more confidence,” Nevaeh said about why they joined their first year.
Last year, Nevaeh performed a dance she learned with her dance group, while Peyton performed the song “My Lighthouse” by Irish faith group Rend Collective on buckets for her talent.
This year, Peyton, who said she and her sister are music lovers, plans to sing “High Hopes” by Panic! At the Disco.“It's also about God. We like church,” Peyton said. “I learned how to build up my confidence and more about God.”Every week at pageant practice, the girls not only prepare for the performance, but also spend time learning and growing in God's Word, said Allyson Gould, pageant director. “When we meet together, we do a Bible lesson and do what we can to encourage the girls to look at themselves as who they are and appreciate that and to love themselves for who they are.”For the pageant, each girl models her favorite outfit or a gown or dress, and they are also encouraged to perform a talent of their choice.
Gould, 26, has helped Fishbone Ministries since she was in seventh-grade because her parents are the founders.After she attended a mission trip with her youth group, Gould began volunteering and assisting with ministry.“I had a passion to reach the young ladies and girls in the community,” she said. “That's what my focus has been on.”Young girls should be taught to first accept God's love and compassion, Gould said.“Once they receive that, they can turn around and express that to the people around them,” she said.Although Nevaeh and Peyton can disagree sometimes, the pageant has increased their bonds of sisterhood.“We learned how to love each other,” Peyton said.
WHAT: Fishbone Ministries fourth annual True Beauty PageantWHEN: 7 p.m. Nov. 2WHERE: Faith Fellowship Alliance Church, 200 Faith Way
