Missions Conference

Just thought I would share about my experience at The Harvest Gathering Missions Conference. Facebook pictures.

Greg and I signed in around 12:15 Friday and waited for our team to arrive. Josh and Monica brought Dick and Mary and they decided to stay over, where Greg and I wanted to drive back and forth to see the kids Friday night. We saw the Coordinator for the conference and one of our board members, John DuPree.

At 1:00 we had worship with Todd Anderson, which was great. Then there was a drama titled "Terrorists Interrupt Worship", which actually happened. Our keynote speaker was Pastor Wally Magdangal, you can see his very powerful story about being kidnapped in Saudi Arabia for preaching the gospel and his death sentence here.

Exhibits, bookstore and refreshments were from 2:30 to 3:00. Then the Workshops started. I went to "Raising Missions Visibility in the Local Church". It was great. We got a handout with about 30-40 ways to do this, broken down into different areas like Worship, Sundays, Visual Technology, Published Media, Special Events, and Special Projects. Lots of great ideas!

After another 30 minute break, it was off to the next Workshop. I went to "The Story of the Bible: Discover God's Heart from Genesis to Revelation". It was taught by Bob Sjogren, president of UnveilinGLORY. He wrote Cat and Dog Theology. Again, great workshop. Monica went to this with me and loved it as well. We couldn't write fast enough. Check it out here.

At 5:30 we had a great dinner, donated by Mt. Hermon. At 7:00 we had a general session with Todd Anderson and Brenda Myers doing worship. We had Hmong Dancers and the keynote speaker was Dr. Fermin Whittaker.

The next day, we got there about 8:15 and had worship and our Keynote Speaker was Bob Sjogren. It was fantastic! The workshop I chose that morning was "Chef's Recipe for Church Staff and Missions" by Dr. Sam Earp. Yes, he is related to Wyatt Earp. His great-great grandfather was Wyatt's brother. It was about how to get your staff to take ownership of and participate in the lives of the missionaries. Very good stuff!

Lunch was great and met some very interesting people.

Greg and I skipped the workshop part where 4 exhibitor spoke at a session and took a walk, sat on the grass, and had a great conversation with Monica. I invited Mary to go to the next session with me, which was "Loving Our Neighbors". I got some great info on a program I'd like to bring to our community. More on that another time.

Our last General Session was with John DuPree and it was a Commissioning Prayer service. He had those who felt called to "Go" and "Evangelize" stand up and everyone around them layed hands on them and prayed for them. Our whole team stood up as Evangelists. Next, he had those who felt called to "Send" (by prayer or giving) do the same. Next, "Welcomers", those felt called to welcome the nations here. Then the "Mobilizers", which we also all stood up for. It was a very touching, tear invoking time. Then John had everyone break into geographical areas, we had Modesto, Lodi, Gustine and even South Carolina (we didn't want him to feel left out!) We talked about events and things going on in our areas.

We came home well fed to be sure. Greg had prayed that a fire would be lit under our team members and it surely was. As a result, Monica and I will be having a Bible study together on the Old Testament. Can't wait! I enjoyed doing the first lesson already!