'By Grace' Testifies About DS Conference

Before launching into the details of our experience in Singapore, we’ll tell you a little bit about how we were given the opportunity to go.

The tale begins in the final months of 2006 when Jenny was diagnosed with mononucleosis (for the Aussie reader, glandular fever.) As a result of this diagnosis, she was unable to attend Third Wave, a massive leadership conference held in South Africa in December that she had been saving and raising funds to attend for almost a year. While she was still recovering, we led the service at the NYI convention of our local District Assembly where we met Natalie and Verne Ward. Natalie and Verne had flown in from South Africa to attend the assembly and on the same night we met they suggested having by grace involved in a regional conference to be held in Singapore in 2007.

The offer put a bit of colour back into the cheeks of a girl still recovering from glandular fever as well as the disappointment of missing Third Wave… but it seemed a long way off and a little too good to be true. It’s funny how things work out, -  by grace is often invited places, “You should come to…” and “We’d love to have you…” but local ministry and charity gigs are often a lot easier to organise in between work and study. (It’ll be so great when the music ministry goes full-time…)

Never-the-less, as July approached, we thought it’d be worth dropping an email to some people at the Regional Office to see if the offer was still available. The next thing we knew we were flying over mainland Australia and the Pacific Ocean to Singapore in the new A380. Our primary role was to coordinate the worship services throughout the conference that reflected the theme, “To make Christlike disciples in the nations”. One of the greatest privileges as a musician is to coordinate corporate worship times. The conference was attended by 42 men comprised of seven English speakers, 17 ESL speakers ranging from minimal to conversation level and 18 non-English speakers. It seemed such an impossible task to provide an atmosphere that allowed each person to worship effectively and even now it is so difficult to comprehend the undeniable intercession and leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The conference was an incredible experience. It is mind-blowing watching God perfectly complement songs chosen weeks in advance with messages brought to the congregation. The experience gave us great insight into the leadership of our church on a local, district and regional level. It is difficult to explain how much it has opened our eyes to the phenomenal movement that is the global church. It literally felt like a shift from hearing about a great movement to realising that we were right in the middle of it.

It was incredibly moving watching the hearts of great, educated leaders be filled with a clearer calling, delving deeper into the will of God for their lives, their churches and their districts. We were also extremely privileged to hear Dr Jesse Middendorf (our General Superintendent) preach at each service. Our spiritual lives were deeply enriched by his teachings and our hearts stirred by the Spirit as he shared visions of planting churches within walking distance of every person on the planet. It is always hard to come away from a spiritual experience like that and explain what you’ve learnt or how your perspectives have changed other than that you change the way you live �“ we hope the change will be obvious in us.

We’re different, transformed, renewed… by grace

this post was filed under Around The Region on Jan 9, 2008