The 2009 Eurupean Conference was hosted by the Tallinn Church of Christ. It was an awesome and inspring event.
From February 12th - 15th, the 2009 European Conference was held in Tallinn, Estonia.(Click here for a video clip.) It was an awesome, unifying time for disciples from all over the Europe. It started with a leadership conference on Thursday evening and Friday morning. Classes and instruction continued over the entire weekend. It was like one long spiritual feast as mature leaders from Europe and United States preached and taught classes about church building, unity, missions, parenting and caring for each other. It was a blessing to learn from these classes and from living examples of well-known teachers and preachers, like Gordon & Theresa Ferguson, Wyndham Shaw, Reese & Mary Kay Neyland, Valdur & Irene Koha, Andy & Tammy Fleming, Shawn & Elena Wooten, Tomm Wilson, Chris Reed, Thierry Fender, Ronny Yttrehus, Alexey Donskoy, Sergei Kononenko, Taras Medvedev, Peti Szabad, Sebastian Maass and Kaido Leesmann.
There was a special women’s program during the conference, also an encouraging evening with heart-to-heart fellowship, food, and dancing for over 100 singles and a special event for teens.
The ability for 100 disciples to stay in other disciples’ homes was also very bonding: to eat and pray together and to have kitchen-table talks for long hours!
Simply put, it was a great time, full of solid spiritual food and great fellowship. 39 Churches from 30 countries were represented and over 550 people attended on Sunday service! We can say with full confidence that the time in Tallinn built unity between Churches in Europe as well as between disciples and has strengthened the “walls” of Europe like those of Nehemiah’s day.
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews,
and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”
Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!”
Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.
Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.
So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart….
Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows.
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”…
So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out.
At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.”
Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water (Nehemiah 2:1-6,13-14,21-23).
The fight for unity is not over. The building of our Churches is not over. So let’s be on guard of Devil’s schemes and let’s keep building all together!