This Mercer official is a Middle Georgia Hidden Hero who ‘is devoted to helping women’

Samantha Murfree, along with a group of women, traveled to Salvation Army’s women’s shelter earlier this year to hand out specialized gift boxes. They were filled with practical items such as hand sanitizer, lotion, body wash and feminine products, as well as messages of inspiration.

Murfree, founder of Prevailing Woman Ministries, said the women were filled with excitement and joy when they opened their boxes.

“It also reaffirmed to us that this was needed and that this has impact on the lives of women who are struggling,” Murfree said.

Murfree is the assistant vice president for student affairs at Mercer University and has a doctorate in philosophy in counseling and student personnel services, but she also provides hope to women in negative situations through her nonprofit.

“Prevailing Woman Ministries is a ministry that was designed specifically to help women overcome, conquer and prevail regardless of their circumstances. That is part of our messaging to any woman that we encounter. Our goal is to help women to be encouraged, inspired and motivated, as well as empowered from all walks of life,” she said. “We specifically want to encourage them with the word of God, and we do that through opportunities to pray for women and as well as house women’s conferences and Bible studies with women who are interested in the messages we have to share.”

Murfree was named the Hidden Hero for November by The Telegraph and Positively 478, and she was nominated by Michele Josey, administrative assistant to the vice president and dean of students at Mercer University.

Josey said tears came to her eyes when Murfree showed her the gift boxes that women were receiving at possibly the lowest point of their lives.

“She’s just devoted to helping women who need help and who need to be lifted up at a bad time in their lives. … I really feel like she was called to do this by the Lord. I really and truly see that in this ministry,” Josey said. “These women that she’s trying to minister to... just need that extra something in their lives, and I hope, along with Dr. Murfree, that this will be that extra something to get them over the bad place they’re in.”

Prevailing Woman Ministries began in April 2018, and they hosted their first Prevailing Woman conference Nov. 10, 2018. Murfree said they partnered with the Crisis Line and Safe House at the conference and asked people to bring different supplies to be donated to the Crisis Line and Safe House.

At the end of the conference, Murfree said they asked women to write a letter to God about what they needed in their lives and join them in 90 days of prayer. Murfree said during the 90 Days of Prevailing, she hosted monthly Bible studies, and she said they mailed the letters the women wrote back to them at the end of the 90 days.

She said they are gearing up for their second conference in March 2020.

Murfree said after the conference, she wanted to find a more tangible way to impact women, and she said they thought the best place to do that was in shelters for women.

“We designed these Prevailing Woman gift boxes and customized them with women in mind. Women who are hurting. Women who need encouragement. Women who need empowerment. Women who need reminding of their value and their worth as a woman,” she said. “Everything that we’ve included in that gift box is to say to them that you matter, that we love you, that God loves you and that you can overcome and you can conquer and you can prevail regardless of what your circumstances look like right now.”

Murfree said they have partnered with the Salvation Army’s women’s shelter and the Crisis Line and Safe House to provide boxes to women in need.

Dottie Stafford, Sexual Assault Advocacy Coordinator at the Crisis Line and Safe House, said Murfree truly cares about the issues that their agency deals with, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, and receiving a beautiful gift box that so much time and effort has made really means a lot to the women at the Safe House.

“She cares about people who have been through these situations and wants to find a way to help bring hope to them,” Stafford said. “It means a great deal to them to be able to have something that’s just there for them when they get there.”

Murfree said as a nonprofit, they need donations and volunteers to provide services. She said a gift box costs $25 to make, and donations can be made online or mailed to 5972 Zebulon Road, #235. People who would like to volunteer can email Murfree at samantha@prevailingwoman.org.

“We are reaching outside of the church walls to minister to women in a unique way and pretty much are just trusting God for wisdom and guidance and leadership and for him to expand it in a way that is fruitful and beneficial to women who would benefit from what we have to say, especially women who are hurting,” Murfree said. “We want to be that ministry that doesn’t judge them. We want to be that ministry that encourages them and that’s willing to walk alongside them to encourage them.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 9:00 PM.