Genuine Conference 2006

Our young adult group, The Connection, went up to Vancouver, BC this weekend for our annual winter conference/retreat. We stayed two nights at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver. Just a side note...if you ever want a nice hotel to stay at, the Hyatt is great and the people are wonderful to you. We had an amazing speaker for the weekend, his name is Charles Lee. He is a professor at Life Pacific College in California, as well as the pastor of New Hope South Bay in the Redondo Beach area.

I didn't get to hear the message Friday night; however, the two sessions we had on Saturday were tremendous. You can definitely tell that Charles has a heart to see his world changed. He is very active in seeing that social justice is accomplished within the church. So, I wanted to just leave with you all the bare bones of his two sessions Saturday.

**Sorry about the spacing and how it looks, as I am still learing the html codes and stuff for blogging**

January 21, 2006 "Community"

Partial Truths about Community:
1. Geographical Proximity: Distance at times deepens relationships, not weakens them
2. Frequency of Gatherings: Paul and the Church of Ephesus shared from a distance without numerous gatherings
3. Purpose is Accountability
4. Structured Activities: Structure needs to be submitted to the Spirit of God
5. Created in Small Groups: Small groups are great; however, are people going to truly share their deepest fears and concerns with someone they just met?

Concepts of Genuine Community:

1. Birthed in Solitude: Mt 14:13--14
a. Solitude prioritizes our values
b. Solitude creates necessary space
c. Solitude is communal in nature

2. Intricate by Nature: Romans 12:4--5
a. Unity
b. Equality
c. Mutuality
d. Necessity
e. Diversity

3. Nurtured by Spatial Hospitality: Eph 4: 1--3
a. Journey from hostility to hospitality

4. Imprinted with an Ethos of Love: ICor 12: 4--7
a. Posture of love is selfless
b. Purifier of love is conflict
c. Power of love is forgiveness
d. Cry of love is justice
e. Outlook of love is optimistic
f. Committment of love is everlasting

5. Missional in Outlook: John 17: 20--23

January 21, 2006 "Missional Hope"

Becoming the Church God Dreams About....

1. Our purpose: Mt28:18--20

a. An empowered purpose

b. A motion sensory purpose

c. A creative purpose

d. A partnering purpose

2. Our priorities: Mt 22: 34--40

a. A non-religious priority

b. A priority of experiencing God

c. A priority of embracing humanity

3. Our plan: James 1:22--27

a. Live out your faith

b. Recapture the power of words

c. Engage pure religion

4. Our posture: Phil 2:1--5

a. Compassion

b. Unity

c. Humility

d. Posture for the other

5. Our promise: ICor 15:58

what would you dream tonight? be specific, God will use me to impact souls. as passionate as I am about my future, God is more passionate about my future.

I hope that you can glean even one tiny new truth out of these messages. I know that it is not the same as sitting in the same room and listening and taking your own notes; however, I believe God can impart truth to those that are just reading through people's blogs and stumble across something that God pressed upon us to write.