I can't believe it's this time of year again already. Even with the message of last year's conference in Brighton still ringig in my ears, I'm making preparations to be back there again for my sixth Brighton conference - and my final one whilst technically a student!
The last week has been dominated by Brighton for me, in the sense that I won't have this coming week to do half of my work! So in Life Church's offices last week we were not only preparing for this Sunday, nor even just for the conference, but for next Sunday and beyond. Needless to say it was quite hectic!
On Wednesday night we hosted Life Vision Night. This was our opportunity to launch Life Groups (we now have five up and running across the city) as well as to keep a check on progess. We have five 'Life Targets' which are helping us to remain fixed on what God's called us to do. They're all do-able and in every case by God's grace we're either right on target or exceeding expectations. Thank you God! As I presented how we're doing financially it was brought home to me again just how much it has meant to us to be a part of Newfrontiers (who have a new website by the way!). The training, teaching and friendship alone would be enough. But we have been so helped financially too (both from the 'Newfrontiers' organisation and from friends within the family). I wouldn't want to plant a church any other way!
Yesterday we had our first Life Church wedding! Phil Morgan and Toria McBeth got married in Bournemouth Family Church's newly and beautifully-refurbished St Swithun's Centre. Tori grew up in Bournemouth Family Church and her family moved to plant the Salisbury Newfrontiers church just before I arrived for my FP year. Both of them are now stuck in with Life Church and it was a really special day. I got to spend some good time with my wonderful Lawrence family, most of whom I hadn't seen in almost a year. This blog started with a post about how they were moving (back in 2005) and now they are well established in their new home next to the river in Christchurch. It was great to organise seeing them in amongst the wedding.
This morning was another fantastic time at Life Church - I felt God actively preparing me for this conference and I realised that this is really my favourite time of year - I think the excitement I get just before the Brighton conferences even outweighs how excited I get about Christmas now. It's not hype - It's just the result of having lived in the benefit of these conference over many years and seeing what they've put into me. There have been dry times of my life where feeding off a conference like this was a primary feeding time. Thankfully, for me it is not now a 'help-me-to-survive' conference but a 'spur-me-on' conference. I feel the callenge to make myself ready to hear from God - not to make myself acceptable to Him (by His grace, I already am!), but to make the most of the opportunity!
Adrian Warnock will be live-blogging the conference (he is now blogging at a new address: http://adrianwarnock.com) and Dan has promised updates throughout. I think this is very generous of them, so make the most of it! Personally, I will probably do the same as last year and blog through them a fully as possible afterwards. This is purely selfish - I go to these conferences for my personal encouragement and blog them afterwards to help me process. At any other conference I would consider live-blogging, but not this one. I appreciate its content and the people there too much to spend time on a computer throughout the conference!
If you're there and you see me, do come and introduce yourself. And I'll be back after the conference, no doubt with some amazing stories to tell!
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