PCA Global Missions Conference

I had so much fun at the PCA Global Mission Conference. I reconnected with old friends. I made some new one. I found spiritual rest as we feed each other with our testimonies and the gospel.

We started Friday night and Michael Oh started by sharing some of his testimony and work in Japan. His powerful testimony was the perfect way to start the conference.

Then Dr. Paul Kooistra preached from Ephesians 1:3-14. One of the things that he said spoke to me,"It takes all of the resources of the universe to change us and make us holy...The best is yet to come...because the Holy Spirit has sealed a future for us."

After this I had an opportunity to visit the different exhibits from missionaries around the world. I meet up with Steve McGee who I had meet in Trinidad.

Saturday we heard from Rev. Joe Novenson about: Do You Feel the Gap Between Your Condition and Your Calling? The answer is yes I do. He encouraged us to know God better and then we will be more defined by our calling than our condition.

I then went to a seminar on What You Would Love to Know About Your Missionary Women. There I re-meet Betsy Christiansen. She was the first nurse to help me start an IV.

I then went to a seminar on Medical Mission: The Vision, The Reality. Ted Kuhns compared mercy ministries to a bridesmaid. The church is the bride and Christ is the groom. The role of the bridesmaid is to assist the bride. The primary goal of mission work is to preach the gospel. Some times this is not being done. How this is done properly is to work along side a church and use the medical ministry as an aid to the gospel. The medical ministry may leave after a few weeks, but the relationships and the discipleship the a clinic provided for that church goes on. It is important that there is a church to carry on with those relationships.

Much of this idea was echoed in a later seminar by Keith Bucklen in Making Medicine Serve the Gospel. So much money, so many people are sent on medical missions each year; however, these trips need to be well thought out and planned so that we strategically share the gospel. Problems that can arise are: Medical Missions can take away the business of local doctors, natives may feel like they have to go through a conversion experience to receive/in exchange for medical care, or we preach the gospel and then we leave with no infrastructure to carry on the work started.

Both these men gave me much to think and pray about.

I then bumped into Drew Wilkins and later meet his wife Lindsey. He had been my soccer coach in high school. He told me about the work he was doing with Third Culture Kids(TCK). Before this conversation I did not know what a was. It is a child who has grown up outside of their parents native country. As an army brat, I found that I was so encouraged by their ministry. It was the feelings of not belonging and loneliness that came from moving around and never really belonging that lead me to rely on Christ. I am so excited for their ministry and can't wait to see what God does through them!

That night we were able to hear again Dr. Paul Kooistra on Theology Through Prayer. It was a very convicting sermon on the power of prayer, encouraging people to pray saying,"Prayer is hard work that takes the most time...If you are not praying for missions, then maybe you should reconsider missions."

So that was Friday and Saturday. I will update later on Sunday.

2010 GMC Live - Friday from Seth Wallace on Vimeo.

2010 - GMC Recap - Saturday from Seth Wallace on Vimeo.