First Conference Completed! It is a God Thing
Where do I begin?
The conference was amazing! Now that we are in Mahabalipuram, this is my first shot at an internet connection. I am downloading 500 emails while writing this… not sure what will finish first. The conference ended today at noon, and we just arrived a cool place with a great view of this tourist trap. Tomorrow, we see the sights and the crusade begins.
The pastors of Kanchipuram are some of the most devoted christians I have ever met. They were wonderfully grateful for our visit and they really really loved me and my message. Probably the best compliment I received, and what stuck me the most, was when Hallelujah Samuel, a pastor to pastors in the area, said that in 15 years of leadership ministry, I was the first to meet with him and really ask what his needs are in the area. He said many foreign ministries come and go, doing a short program, but none have sat down to ask his opinion about the needs and strategies that will really help the Kingdom of God be established here. We were moved to tears.
There were about 700 attendees, all hungry for the word, and hungry to see the gospel take root. The Tuesday Night service was awesome. We prepared the tipping point theme presentation with an actual 10×4 foot platform on a fulcrum that I climbed up and over numerous times to demonstrate how the breakthroghs for Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Elijah and Daniel all meant a complete change of dynamics for the people of God. The resistance each Bible hero challenged was wiped away and the nation turned from fear to faith. The team constucted a facade of a mountain that I could demonstrate climbing, but when I took a BOLD STEP past the middle, of course i hit the tipping point, which changed the entire environment, demonstrating that the mountain is more of a mental barrier than real. I hope that clears it up. —maybe you had to be there. Anyway, they really liked and related to the visual representation.
Wednesday I started it off again building on the same theme but with a focus on Gideon, and the three issues he had to overcome before he could trust God to take the bold steps necessary to deliver Israel. Local pastors preached next and we had a conference going on! Pastor Martin Roberts preached on individual breakthrough, and then after lunch and the afternoon break we had a sunset service on the beach preached b Sundaram who covered the blessings of trusting God like Elijah did when the ravens fed him. The night time service was a celebration and pastor Aruldas (my pastor in India) preached on the power of the blood of Jesus. Wonderful.
This morning was great as well, as Pastor Aruldas did a seminar with his wife where they opened up and talked about the challenges of ministry on family life. It was exactly what Dr. Jesus ordered for the crowd. Practical instruction on how to break cultural curses among leaders is exactly what will help God’s kingdom advance. Then I got to preach again, covering all the various things God laid on my heart while there, chief among them was that in order for the church to create change in the community, they must first embrace change. Instead of being religious and resistant to what is going on the world around them. We are the change agents of the world!
Just before I closed the meetings I showed everyone that we have a website, and we can communicate through that (blog comments please!).
Then I asked those called to preach and to enter into a life of ministry to come forward for prayer. This was awesome! About 70 young men and women answered the call of God on their lives, and we (pastoral ministry leaders and I) prayed for each one. Answering the call is the first step, now they will all need training — discipleship.
There is nothing but joy at this stage. I felt a great amount of peace as far as my part went. I knew God was guiding my thoughts as I spoke. Your prayers are being felt! Now we just work to build these relationships further and see fruit come in the form of bold steps on behalf of those who were paying attention. 
Check out the selected image collection!
June 28th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
[...] The 2007 pastor’s conference will be held at the same venue as last year. (2006 pastors conference) The promotions have already begun and the response is overwhelming. We still hear a great testimony of pastor’s who are experiencing the Tipping point in their lives, ministries and churches. Our register has recorded 400 participants so far and the number is swelling everyday. This year’s theme, “Overcoming fear in the deepest level” is very essential and practical especially for apostles who carry God’s word because only if the theme of the conference is achieved on a personal level, will they be able to take to the world at large. [...]