We met with God
Over 3000 Leaders and Twenties have now returned to about 40 nations and are separated by many thousands of miles having spent last week together with a common sense of vision and purpose at the annual Newfrontiers Conference ‘Together on a Mission‘ hosted by Terry Virgo.
There seems to have been a general air of satisfaction as they returned home having met with God through:
• Powerful teaching and preaching both in the Main Sessions, Training Tracks and Seminars (sessions all downloadable >>)
• Anointed Worship
• Some significant prophetic words
• An evening of prayer for the nations
• A visit to the Global Zone to see where they could get involved in going to the nations
• Strengthening their understanding of Newfrontiers’ Vision and Values through the videos
• Refreshing old friendships and making new ones
• …and the glorious sunshine whenever they left the building, perhaps visiting the beach where Hudson Taylor received his call to China!
To share in the joys of the conference have a look at the Highlights video. Reports of the Conference are available here>>
Paddling hard
But while all this is going on peacefully (I hope!) and enjoyably on the surface there is, like the proverbial duck, great energy being expended under the surface by an army of helpers, sometimes late into the night as they duplicate CDs and DVDs, edit videos etc.
TOAM is the climax of 12 months work by a dedicated team. We hold four half day meetings through the year to discuss how to improve the Conference and ‘make good’ where things did not go to plan last year, and to review progress and monitor developments. Then everyone returns to their base and works hard with emails flying through the ether to bring the whole event together.
On the day before the conference begins we invade the Brighton Centre to
• install audio and video equipment in the main hall
• build the ‘set’ on the stage
• put up signs around the building
• prepare displays in the Global Zone
• prepare for the invasion of people on the first day who have lost their tickets and have a thousand and one questions
• put up partitions
• connect to the internet
• Set up the translation equipment and the area for signing for the deaf
• …and much much more
During the conference the Management Team meets for breakfast each day to review the previous day and to plan the current one.
Then at the end, like the disciples who cleared up the hillside when the 5000 departed having been fed with the word, and with loaves and fish, another army (many are the same people) break it all down again and put it on vans and lorries to go into store or to Newday, the annual Newfrontiers conference for teenagers.
However hard we prepare there is always the unexpected.
• Deliveries that do not arrive on time or, when they have arrived, somehow get lost in the melee of setup.
• Unexpected illness or family bereavement for members of the core team of workers.
• The fire alarm and building evacuation during the counting of the offering. Is it a devious plot?
• The poor delegate who collapses as people are flooding out of the building and an ambulance needs to be called.
It is at such times that we draw deep on the grace of God and I give Him thanks for a team who are loyal and dedicated, and quickly ‘fill in’ to cover the problem.
The final TOAM
And so it is over for another year. Or, rather, next year’s preparation will begin with a debrief in the next few days.
2011 will be the last TOAM in its present form and we anticipate a great gathering. Don’t miss out – put the dates in your diary now. July 12th – 15th. Bookings will open on the Newfrontiers website in January.
See you there!