From all across New England and beyond, they gathered on the weekend of August 1-3 at the Worcester DCU Center to worship God, focused on the gripping theme “As For Me and My House.” Literally thousands of people were touched by the teaching, preaching, singing and fellowship.
The structure for this year’s event was a bit different than its predecessors. The Friday program began with a staff luncheon and workshop. Just short of 100 evangelists, women’s ministry staff, teachers, elders and other church leaders came together to kick-off the weekend of memories. John Causey began the parade of speeches with a powerful lesson on faith. He worked through several “D’s” of building our faith: the Dream, the Decisions, the Delay, the Difficulty, the Dead Ends and the Deliverance. Mike Taliaferro then taught on “A Rededication to Discipling.” This lesson called us to have a heart for people, to develop a lowerarchy of serving and explained the benefits of close relationships. The supper break was to set off another round of discussions and interactions all across the city of Worcester.
Next to meet were the small group leaders as they arrived in town for the evening session. Over 400 came and heard Shawn Wooten from the Ukraine teach on how to have a great family group. Shawn’s usual great illustrations of airplanes and stewards pointed us toward using our distinct gifts and abilities planned in advance for us by God. Randy Jordan, the new CEO of HOPE worldwide, was also in town from Philadelphia. He shared briefly about Jesus’ heart for service and directed us to care for the poor of the world. The evening concluded with split classes for men and women entitled, “Inspiration,” and were directed by San Antonio’s Mike Taliaferro and Lena Wooten from Europe.
Saturday was to be a new day and would also bring in throngs of disciples from many states and even different countries. Some attended early morning breakfasts for teachers or elders prior to the actual conference beginning. When the morning service started, a worship team led us in a series of moving songs, including the original piece “As For Me and My House,” written by Carol McGuirk for the conference. The first main speech in the DCU auditorium was delivered by Jimmy Allen from Hartford. It was called “Unless the Lord Builds the House” and focused on the strength, peace and victory of God, which can overcome all our shortcomings. It concluded with the removal of his suit jacket revealing a tattered and dirty shirt to go along with Isaiah 64:6, “. . . . All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”
The Saturday afternoon sessions were to begin a series of classes on a variety of topics for all ages. This year’s conference even catered to elementary aged-children as different churches rotated disciples through and made crafts, sang songs and even performed a musical for the 125 kids. Pre-teens, teenagers and college students bonded with peers. The women heard from experienced female disciples who have been through more of the ups and downs of life and persevered with hearts for Jesus. Whether an attendee showed up to learn about “Science and Religion, “Growing the Church Through Disputable Matters,” or something else - there was something for everyone to think about and discuss.
The Saturday night session started with inspiring vertical praise to God. Randy Jordan shared again, but this time to the entire conference crowd. A free will offering was given for the poor and $16,243.94 was collected on the spot that evening. John Causey from LA closed out the busy day with his inspiring message on “We Will Serve the Lord.” He gave us great background and an interesting twist to the Revelation 3 passage dealing with hot, cold and lukewarm. One of his straightforward points was, “Sitting on the fence just don’t make sense.” A dance followed for many until late into the night.
Each year, the culmination of the conference is the Sunday worship service. Approximately 2,700 people flowed into the DCU Center at 11 AM ready to go. It truly was a prelude for heaven. Tom Heaton, from Springfield, Massachusetts, thanked the New England churches for supporting the Pioneer Valley congregation over the past several months and asked for prayers in their evangelist search. Jeanie Shaw and a cast of many taught and entertained the kids in an adjacent area with “Fruity Tunes.” Eight songs were sung to God uninterrupted to prepare our hearts for the day and say thank you to our Father. The Wootens shared again, prior to the communion.
And then a group of radical disciples took stage. First to be introduced were a band of 10 college students, who have spent the month of July out near the University of Connecticut to prepare the way for the fall planting of a ministry there. Danny MacDougall, newly hired to be the male staff member for the campus group, shared good news from the month. He also introduced an open-hearted woman, Yenney, who was with them that morning and was close to her decision to follow God. She represents the thousands that will be walking the sidewalks this fall and are looking for answers to their lives. But next, about 20 disciples and their families were introduced. They will serve as the long-term team to share the good news with northeastern Connecticut. The churches in Groton, Hartford and Worcester have contributed disciples to make this planting work. Val Koha, chairman of the IMS board, led a prayer for this exciting undertaking, the first ministry planted in New England in the past 12 years. This portion of the program closed out with the singing of “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” directed to the mission team.
There was still plenty more to come. Mike Taliaferro was to take the stage and close out our conference with a stirring sermon called “Zeal For Your House Will Consume Me.” He challenged us to be responsive, be recharged and be resilient in our connection with God, His people and His word. Anything less will kill our hearts and allow us to become Pharisees.
Certainly many volunteered a large number of hours to make this conference work. Mike Fix, from New Hampshire, was the coordinator of this year’s event and has led both in 2007 and 2008. Boston elder Mark Buchholz served as his assistant this year and will direct next year’s time. However, mostly we have God Almighty to thank. He has given us His good news, and we can say along with Joshua, “As for me and my house – we will serve the Lord!”
