Global Missions Conference

We dreamed it could be that good, but we never really expected it. God gave us all - all who were involved in helping it happen - and he gave His church a great blessing in the Global Missions Conference. The whole event exceeded our expectations in every aspect. I am still floating pretty high from the experience. An entirely new forum has been established for world evangelism in the churches of Christ. I know I sound pretty over-the-top about what happened, but what happened was over-the-top.

We don't have pictures, but Marilyn was in charge to of the opening ceremony's Parade of Nations. The Conference had purchased a full set of UN flags - 194 nations. So Marilyn had to recruit 194 flag bearers. There were several ideas about how to do that - Boy Scout troops, Girl Scouts, etc. - but in the end it came down to phone calls and emails. 20 flags did not get paraded, but the rest were brought in the triumphant songs of God's love and salvation led by the RHCC Praise Team. the parading of flags always proves the point that there is much work to do. It also always moves many people to tears. This was the case again with this Parade of Nations.


Just under 1,000 people registered for the Conference. There were 12 tracks of teaching taking place with 99 separate classes. I was on a panel for the whole group entitled "Lessons Learned from Great Mission Churches." It was a super experience to get to tell a bit of the RHCC story. The whole conference was purely devoted to teaching and promoting and discussing and improving our abilities as a church to reach the lost of the world. The conference was a collaborative effort of churches, missionaries, universities and missions agencies. It was excellent and exciting!


Since we held the conference in the Arlington Convention Center we were literally next-door to the Ranger's baseball stadium. So, part of the conference was an evening out together at the ball game. I took Marilyn's picture with two brothers from Africa who were experiencing a real cross-cultural event for them. Our block seating section included an all-you-can-eat hot dog supper. It was just the break we needed after the first two days of intensive study and discussions.



Attendees came from all over the US. Many drove from out-of-state. Many others flew in. I got a phone call, today, from a brother in Arizona who said 9 of them drove over for the conference. He said, "It changed my life." My former secretary, from when we were working in Makati, Metro Manila came from Kansas with several from her congregation. That's her, Remy, between Marilyn and me in front of the Ranger stadium.


Another part of the Conference was an opportunity for missionaries, churches and various missions oriented ministries to display their work and network with each other. Rapha had a display that gave them a lot of exposure. There were almost 90 displays. Many people come to such gathering strictly for the networking opportunities. There were numerous side meetings that took place throughout the days of the conference. Some ministries hosted luncheons. Several ministries had Board meetings. Special Interest groups had gatherings and strategy meetings. The Global Missions Conference provided many great blessings to the health of mission work among the churches of Christ. We praise God for these blessings.