We are back from the Spiritual Growth Workshop 2012 in Orlando! It is always like one big family reunion with people from my past coming out of the woodwork. It was great teaching alongside my co-teachers Eric Green and Donny Dillon on ministry to 20s & 30s. It was also a treat to catch up with people like Jerry Rushford, Jerry Starling, Steve Puckett, Bob Bliss, John Ross, Bruce McClarty, Steve Diggs, Lynn Stringfellow, Matt Carter and so many others. It was also a pleasure to meet some new people including Bobby Ross from the Christian Chronicle and so many people who spoke with us after our three classes. We put out a signup sheet after each class for people to request a pdf of the Jesus 101 study and we had 75 people sign up to get that! If you haven’t gotten that get that evangelistic study of Mark here. There is an updated version that will be coming out soon! I am also working on a followup study…more on that later.
I want to pass along the part that was most encouraging to me…there is a spirit of taking our faith seriously that is spreading throughout our churches. We have seen the doors closing so many places that people are more and more open to answers. The answers are not new. The answers are old. It is not about getting trendy, it is about getting back to Jesus and reading the Gospels with a new set of lenses. It is about going rather than expecting them to come. It is about discipling rather than solely teaching doctrine. It is about the mission of God being broader than preaching, teaching and worship. This is seriously good news and I am convinced it is just in time. It is not too little, too late. God is up to something and people are getting on board!
Thanks to Joe Roberts, Larry Cline, Bob Bliss, and so many others who work so hard to make this workshop happen.
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I’m not sure that I deserve to be in this line-up – but I appreciate your grace in including me in it!
Hearing the first of your three presentations and having the opportunity to introduce you was a real privilege to me. I liked the fact that you and the others had your feet solidly on the Rock that is Jesus! I’m encouraged by the number of younger men who are pointing the way – and also the number of older preachers who are sounding out an emphasis on grace while also stressing the seriousness of sin.
As David Young pointed out in one of his messages on Saturday,
This, I thought, was typical of the messages being delivered all weekend.
Keep up the good work!