Last Thursday and Friday, a small group representing the ministry joined the Next Generation Alliance (NGA) Connect Conference, where over 120 evangelists, family members, and staff assistants joined to discuss how we could also connect with our ever-changing culture.
The dynamic presentations presented by various evangelists shared how all present participants could actively be engaged in churches, cultures, communities, and cities in America. NGA currently functions with 630 evangelists and evangelistic ministries, represented in this country and around the world. I am excited that I got to meet and reconnect with evangelists who are pictured below. But, these evangelists are also my spiritual brothers and sisters to be counted as a part of my family (and yours too), as they serve Jesus faithfully both in this country and around the world!
Then, just last Saturday, many Christians gathered at the National Mall in Washington D.C. to celebrate our unity found in Jesus. I love how this official one-year project (Nick Hall, the Founder of Pulse Ministry, has stated that this has been 5 years in the making) was named: “Fill the Mall” to later be transformed to “Fill them all.” See the difference? Those in attendance enjoyed God’s presence through worship and message, so that they would then go back to their communities and share the gospel. We are all called to be ambassadors for Jesus, even here in our home of the Shenandoah Valley, to share and shine Jesus unashamedly in our workplaces, our homes, our churches, our grocery stores, our banks, our civic organizations and clubs, and everywhere else we go.
Three other staff members and a tour group of 26 people joined me in D.C. to be counted among the masses to praise God through worship led by such performing artists as: Michael W. Smith, Casting Crowns, Matt Maher, Crowder, Lauren Daigle, Passion, and among others, and prayer initiated by such speakers as: Nick Hall, Ann Voskamp, Ronnie Floyd, Jo Saxton, Ravi Zacharias, Josh McDowell, Francis Chan, and among others. These additional pictures shown below only tell segments of the stories that were shared, as the crowd was asked to reset, praying into how they can make a difference and celebrate their new-found freedom in resetting.
As the summer progresses, I invite you to examine yourself and see where you need to be reset. God is opening up doors of opportunities, even as early as today, and into the near future as the fall starts.
May this update offer you not just information of what is happening here, but encouragement as you move forward with resetting, the truth of the gospel always remains, as “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:9, KJV).
Drawing Together through Christ and Resetting,
Steve
Photos courtesy of the Connect 2016 Conference and the Together 2016 Photography Team
