Category Archives: conferences

Final Day Conference Update

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I want to make sure to write my final conference update while it is semi-fresh in my mind. A Baptist pastor named Bob Perdue shared a very encouraging testimony. After the testimony, we sang some awesome worship songs, and the worship leader, Marianne Adams, encouraged us to come down front & dance. Guess who was one of the first ones down there? 🙂 Me!

The enemy has been defeated
Death couldn’t hold you down
We’re gonna lift our voice in victory
Gonna make your praises loud

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
Shout unto God with a voice of praise
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
We lift your name up, we lift your name up

Amen!! I love that song! I danced so hard my calves hurt the next day 🙂

Then Randy Thomas talked about his journey of healing as it related to singleness & celibacy. He quoted Revelation 3:5, 12-13:

5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

I could write a bunch about what Randy said. He’s quite knowledgeable & wise & funny & I always enjoy hearing him speak. But he mainly just shared his journey 🙂 I have to admit also that I had to leave early because we had to drive to Charlotte to catch our flight, but I ordered the DVD 🙂

Over all, I personally walked away from the conference encouraged, as well as challenged & convicted about the importance of the work that we do. I attended the International Conference in the summers of 2004 & 2005, but had not been able to attend a national conference since January of 2006. With all the changes in my life & the challenges of trying to balance motherhood & ministry, I was feeling rather disconnected. There isn’t really a model that I have seen within the Exodus network of how to be a mom & a ministry director. Most ministry directors who have children are either men or women whose children are grown. I don’t know of any other directors who are trying to balance having a small child at home with working part-time, directing a ministry, while their husband works a full-time job in another field (as many couples do ministry together). So I definitely needed the encouragement of reconnecting with my ministry colleagues.

I was also encouraged because we brought the baby & worked it out so that I could attend the conference, and Roy could enjoy parts of it as well. Most of the other moms with small children who were attending left their kids at home, which isn’t possible for me as Bear is still breastfeeding. Plus, that’s a long time to be away from your kids! So I’ve wondered how, as we keep having more children (God-willing), will I be able to continue to do ministry. How will traveling work? Will the kids come? And I see that it can work – we just might want to bring a nanny as they get older so we can both attend the conference together 🙂 Thankfully, the Bear had fallen asleep in the Bjorn, so Roy was able to hear me share my testimony.

I did order the DVD of the testimonies, as well as a copy of my workshop on CD. The final DVD’s will be mailed to me, so I’ll let you know how I feel it all turned out when I get a chance to watch & listen to them!

And now, Roy’s back to work & it’s back to the daily grind for me 🙂

Back Home

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We’re home. Our flight was delayed about two & a half hours due to the rain storms in Boston. So we sat on the runway for 2.5 hours! Bear did very well, all things considered.

I have to say first that while I had an amazing time at the conference, I’m happy to be home 🙂 I had eggs and a mostly decaf americano for breakfast for the 1st time in almost a week. And we missed Noodles so much! I’ve never seen him so happy to see us.

I’ll try to post a wrap-up from the conference later today if I have time. You can check out some other conference update at Laura Leigh’s blog (including a picture of me sharing my testimony).

Sunday Conference Update

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On Saturday morning, there was a panel discussion involving Alan Chambers (President of Exodus), Randy Thomas (Vice President off Exodus), Terri Brown (Director of Exodus Membership & mom to a gay man) & Janet Boynes (she had shared her testimony of overcoming same-sex attraction that morning). People in the audience wrote questions on index cards, handed them to the panel, and then the panel answered different questions, such as, ‘Would you attend same-sex marriage?” “How do I know if I’m called to singleness or marriage?” and “How do I interact with my loved one’s partners?” It was quite interesting.

After lunch, I went to a workshop entitled, “Building Ministries on Solid Foundations”. Ron Elmore from “Beyond Imagination” was the speaker. I did have the opportunity to ask a couple of questions, so that was good. After that, we attended a Special Interest Group for those who attend Assemblies of God churches, to hear updates on what’s happening in the denomination as it pertains to this issue.

In the evening, Dale Evrist, pastor of New Song, a Foursquare church in the Nashville area, spoke on “Stepping Into a New Day of Intimacy & Freedom”. It was based off of Luke 7:36-50:

36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41″Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

His 7 steps we need to take are:
1. Authentic Humility
2. Thorough Brokenness
3. Abounding Love
4. Extravagant Giving
5. Selfless Servanthood
6. Honest Assessment
7. Rapid Response

It really was inspiring. I wish I could write more, but it’s time for breakfast & then we’re off to hear Randy speak 🙂

Internet in & out

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There was a power outage yesterday, so the internet hasn’t been working very well. There’s not much to update on yesterday. It was Freedom Friday, and we had no scheduled activities, so we hung out in Asheville for a while. I ate at Earth Fare, and most everyone else ate at Sonic 🙂 Not only did I find some healthy, filling food at Earth Fare, I found gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free donuts! They are made by Kinnikinnick, and oh my goodness, they are so good.

Though Ridgecrest has been very helpful at making me special meals, I’m hungry all the time.
I realized yesterday that it’s because most of my meals have almost no fat. Lunch & dinner is always steamed or boiled meat with potatoes or rice & a steamed veggie. At home I’d put olive oil or something like that on it, but here I don’t have access to any oils. So yesterday, I ate a bunch of Bear’s avocado 🙂

So off to lunch, and then the Assemblies of God Special Interest Group is this afternoon.

Friday Morning Conference Update

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I didn’t go to a workshop yesterday afternoon. Instead, I hung out with Bear & took a nap 🙂 Then for the evening session, Bear was quite tired, so I only caught bits & pieces. A neat thing that Alan Chambers shared was that a conference attendee had heard about Exodus on an episode of Queer as Folk. He looked it up on the internet, never having heard of Exodus, and is attending this conference for the 1st time How awesome is that!

I didn’t get to hear the main speaker, Michelle McKinney Hammond, but I heard she was really good, so I plan on getting the DVD. I also missed Andy Comiskey this morning, as Bear was antsy & Roy seemed as though he would like to hear Andy. So Bear & I played outside for awhile and chatted with a woman from CrossPower in Midland, TX.

Today is called “Freedom Friday” because the time after lunch & throughout the evening is free time, so we are going into Asheville to hang out.

Conference Update

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Last night, Anne Graham Lotz (yes, Billy Graham’s daughter) spoke on the person, power & priority of the Holy Spirit. I caught most of it, but I was tired & having a lot of trouble focusing, so I left early.

This morning, Clark Whitten of Grace Church spoke. He, as always, was amazing. I met him earlier in the week and had the opportunity to share with him how his teaching from the Exodus Freedom Conference in 2004 on “Grace” & “The Law” were really transformational for me (they are available through Christian Audio Tapes). The MC announced that Clark’s life message is grace, so of course, he spoke on grace. It was also interesting to hear how he was introduced because I’m pretty sure my life message is freedom. (Side note, the MC introed me by saying I drink green smoothies & am a recovering hippie!) Anyway, Clark spoke on Hebrews 6:13-20. I’m including it here because it’s so interesting & so much of it, I had never thought about before.

“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”

(I had never thought about the fact that God had to swear on His own name since there is no one greater.)

“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

As believers in Christ & His saving grace, Jesus is our High Priest who lives forever. Whereas in the Old Covenant, there were many high priests since death prevented them from continuing in office (Hebrews 7:23), Jesus now holds that position permanently. “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25 Wow.

So judicially, we are fixed. Experientially, we may not be.

We tend to be more conscious of our sin than we are conscious of God’s grace.

If we are living in the knowledge & reality of God’s grace, we ought to be happier than we are.

All covenants are conditional: you do your part, and I’ll do my part. The New Covenant is between God & Jesus for me. My part is to believe.

We got a good deal 🙂

I always enjoy hearing Clark speak. I wanted to ask him after he spoke what, if any, books he recommends on the topic of grace. I always struggle when I speak because I do believe having a correct understanding of grace is absolutely essential in our journey toward freedom. In fact, that was one of my points in my workshop yesterday 🙂 At the end, I recommended some resources & wished there was a book on grace that I could wholeheartedly recommend. Instead, I recommended getting Clark’s teachings on Grace & The Law. Anyway, there was a long line of people waiting to talk to him after, and I was headed to a workshop, so I might write him a note or something.

Workshop Done

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My workshop is done; it went well. Sitting in the car with Bear, who feel asleep while riving around with Roy, and the stayed asleep while we went to the grocery store. Gotta love the Asus!

Roy is off playing laser tag 🙂

I’ve had a killer headache all day & could really use a coffee. I’ll wait until Bear wakes up.

Testimony

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My testimony went well; it was well-received, and I got a lot of positive feedback.

Jimmy Evans of Marriage Today spoke after me about many good things, including “The Fig Leaf Conspiracy”, which he has written a book on.

A couple of his thought-provoking points:
The devil has corrupted our understanding of sex.
The devil left man alone until he got married. He uses our sexuality to pervert our relationships.

Get the book:)

I really wanted to goo to Randy’s workshop, but we needed to come back to the room for a quick diaper change & baby refuel. I sent one of my ministry friends in my place. My workshop is at 1:30. I’ll let you know how it goes later.