Three Days That Changed The World

(Click here to go to the Album of this event)

On Wednesday, November 12, approximately 15 Europeans flew in to Boston. On Thursday morning, hords of evangelists drove in from around New England to combine for quite a kick-off for the workshop we were to enjoy. Douglas Arthur was the over-all event planner and came with his usual bag of high spiritual impact with a focus-on-fun mix.

After initial introductions, Douglas kicked off the time with a lesson on “The Work of an Evangelist,” from the books of I and II Timothy. Among his challenges was the plea to be a father for spiritual sons, to put God’s house in order and to lead the way in growth and repentance

Other presentations for this start-up Thursday featured sharing about the European churches (Peti Szabad), the Northern New England churches (Mike Fix and a host of brothers), and the Southern New England churches (Jimmy Allen and many others). A great unity was built as we all saw there are strengths and weaknesses in each group, but God has called us to encourage and help one another.

On Friday, Shawn Wooten from Kiev, Ukraine, challenged us to dream and move forward in 2009. His textual look at Hebrews 10 inspired us with the knowledge that the price has already been paid by Jesus and sobered us with the intense point that “this is not a game.” He also shared practical ideas for our disciples in the upcoming year like reading through the Bible in the year, having new member dinners, creating events for Christians who have been around awhile, etc.

But beyond the messages were a variety of wild competitions. It began with a “Church Builders” event to see which group could build the highest tower with blocks. Along the way, we played soccer, basketball, dodgeball, foosball, pool, charades, Euro and American trivia, card flinging . . . . It just went on and on. Through creative score-keeping and an interesting weighted point system, one team was proclaimed the winner. However, everyone won as we laughed, fellowshipped and swapped stories from the spiritual battlefields scattered across the globe.

Our final Saturday together was a mix of the International Missions’ Society board meeting and ongoing staff training. Several classes were taught on teen ministry, campus ministry, the teaching program of a church, etc. Non-staff disciples drove in to be representatives from their local congregations in prayer and focus on how to best use the funds to promote our mission in New England and Europe. Even the Boston, campus interns came out to be a part of the action.

And then finally, after three long days together – we parted. As we left, each church representative took home with him a European to preach for the next-day’s Sunday service. This pulled in all of the New England disciples in a powerful way. One European evangelist flew as far out as Syracuse, New York (not New England, but tied in with our family of churches). Others remained locally in the Boston regions. Throughout the entire time, all of the staff members stayed in homes of disciples.

The workshop’s theme was “Partners in the Gospel.” By Sunday, we felt it and had seen the concept be put into practice. Monday would view all of the Europeans heading back home to family and churches. The effects of the workshop will long remain. Our Father’s desire for us to be “contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27)” will linger on.