The kids and I spent most of the day in Pekin today at our church district's conventions. It was a combination of NMI, NYI and SDMI conventions, and I'd been asked to be a delegate for NMI. Since I'd never attended convention before, I chose to go as an alternate. It was an awesome day, and I'm so glad I went!!
The morning started out with great worship, led by Olivet's All Things New student worship band. Then the meeting and voting started, and I was very glad I was just observing that part, whew! Then, leaders presented reports from each of the conventions, and that was very encouraging and inspiring.
Our church had 21 (including children) attending the conventions today. All the adults got away to Culver's for lunch. When we returned we attended 2 sessions of our choice. (Pastor Todd and Pastor Scott both presented sessions.)
The first session I attended was Hot Topics for Youth Leaders, since Pastor Scott was presenting and couldn't attend, I went and took notes for him. The speaker was Pastor Mark Holcumb, who is the Chaplain at Olivet. The session was actually cut short to about 45 minutes, but I could have listened to him for hours. My my mind renewed and heart was transformed through his presentation, and I'm so grateful to have been in that room! He talked about how the church has an authority problem and a language problem, and how we need to see life through the lens of scripture, not scripture through the lens of life! He talked about how the church needs to have the difficult discussions, show charity and love in all things, and provide a safe place. He gave many great resource recommendations I can't wait to look into.
The second session I attended was Raising Mission Minded Kids with Cheryl Sherwood. She is always so great--hilarious and energetic and so sweet at the same time. I laughed and cried multiple times while she gave us some great examples and ideas of ways to teach our children to help others. It was fantastic.
After the sessions, everyone gathered in the sanctuary again to hear the challenge put forth by our District Superintendant, Scott Sherwood. We attended Bloomington 1st Naz for 10 years while he was the lead pastor there, and it was so great to hear him preach and challenge us again!
Scott actually caught the kids and me in the parking lot as we left, and we had a great quick chat about what God is doing through us. Miss him and his family a lot!
Sylvia and Caeden were in kids' worship all day. They got to hear from missionaries Steve and Debbie Baker as well as the adults, and thoroughly enjoyed their stories. They had worship time, recess, crafts, pizza lunch, Veggie Tales, and said they had a great time!
Annah attended most of the morning sessions, then left with the youth to volunteer at the Crisis Pregnancy Center and then to a local grocery store to hand out flyers about the Walk for Life. She was able to attend 2 NYI sessions this afternoon, and really loved the day.
When we left, Pastor Todd sent his keys to the church with me, and we went straight there to meet Jeremy and start setup. Many times the kids just try to stay out of the way or do admin tasks if they are there during setup, but since we were the only ones there, we just did as much as the 5 of us could do. Jeremy showed us how to set up the stages, and the 5 of us put up both the sound stage and the main sanctuary stage! It was a great teamwork lesson for all of us.
I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God! Days like this where we get to learn and serve are refreshing to my soul!
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