Not just another missions conference...

I enjoyed our recent missions convention, the seventeenth in our history at Grace Fellowship Church, where I no longer serve as pastor--but now participate as a member of the church family.

I went because I truly love missions conferences, although they are often poorly attended and I am disappointed for the missionaries.  Except this year I was not the pastor with those concerns to manage internally.  I was a member of the church family, choosing to make a discretionary decision to attend--a Friday evening dinner, a Saturday morning breakfast and a Sunday morning worship service (All right, I confess.  We missed the SS hour).

Here were the highlights for me...

*A great presentation about multiplying the work of missions through discipleship

*A passionate challenge to be broken for the needs of those in our sphere of influence and to share the gospel with them

*An articulate message on the enveloping call of missions on every believer--using one's particular gift whether serving on a missionary field or sending and supporting others as they go

For me, it was not just another missions conference.  I was for the first time a member of our church family being challenged through the Word to obey God in some specific ways.  I am asking God what that will look like in the months ahead as I consider the needs of my family and my neighborhood.