Will this be more than just a triennial business meeting?
It’s a full schedule: elections, reports, and decisions on important matters like the Here We Stand document. There will also be learning times with Mike Breen and Christopher Yuan as well a host of breakout seminars. There will be shared meals, times of prayer, times of celebration and times of reconnecting with old friend as well as making new friends. By Wednesday afternoon the business will be done and we’ll be headed back to our respective homes. For some of us, we will begin looking forward to and planning for the 2019 General Conference Sessions.
We are people of routines. We arise, shower, eat, work, eat, work, eat, relax and rest and repeat the cycle all over again the next day. We gather for worship, give ourselves to personal devotion and disciplines, love and serve neighbors throughout the week, meet with brothers and sisters for encouragement and then repeat the cycle the next week. For some of us, events like General Conference Sessions are just a part of our routine.
My prayer for this next week is that in the midst of what is routine or even mundane to some, God might work in a powerful way to bring about real and lasting change in the CGGC. We’re often quick to claim such victories, but I think we’ll have a more accurate view about what really happened at General Conference Sessions 2016 in ten years or even twenty years from now. My prayer is God would graciously yet powerfully breakthrough in the midst of our routine to give birth to a new day in the ministry of the CGGC. I want this for my own life with Christ and I want it for the Churches of God, General Conference as well. Jesus is at work in our world and He’s inviting us to follow Him. Let’s search our hearts and be prepared to drop those things that hinder us so that we might give ourselves fully to His mission!
My hope is that twenty years from now we might be able to look back to this routine and ordinary three day period in July 2016 and witness that it was the start of something significant within the life and history of the CGGC. Please join me in asking the Holy Spirit to move us beyond ordinary and routine business into greater devotion and obedience to Jesus.
Christ’s Peace,
Lance
Live stream available at http://cfcog.cc/live/. The Chambersburg First Church of God website is http://cfcog.cc/. You can click on the “live” button in the menu options (farthest to the right).
Schedule of live stream coverage (all times are EDT):
Monday, July 25th
4:45 p.m. Opening address by Executive Director, Lance Finley
7:15 p.m. Keynote Speaker Mike Breen
Tuesday, July 26th
11:05 a.m. Keynote Speaker Mike Breen
3:10 p.m. Keynote Speaker Christopher Yuan
Wednesday, July 27th
11:40 p.m. Closing Message with Pastor Phil Scott