Mission Conference 2008 - Part 1

I know it's late, but I have to blog about this before I sleep. Today I attended the Saturday portion of the 2008 Mission Conference and so I attended the 2008 Uganda STM sharing as well as the night program led by Rev. Jim Foster's message. I've been waiting for this day for the past couple of weeks or so because I've felt God tugging at my heart regarding missions these past few weeks (Please look at the previous post for more of my thoughts...). So anyway, I came in today ready to just hear what God has to tell me, and now that I reflect on today, I feel that God has shown me so much....He has challenged me to really step out of my boundaries and really take missions seriously. I've never felt like I was ready for missions. Ever. Even throughout my high school years! PCA always had mission trips, and I never felt I was ready. Now that I think back on it, maybe I was just afraid to step out and see what I can do for God. I feel that I've always been worrying about not being able to do everything when God only asks ordinary people to do His work, and usually they turn out extraordinary because even though we each can't do everything, we all can do SOME thing. Pretty amazing. I guess the highlight of the Uganda STM sharing was when Peter read this Bible verse:

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ."
Philippians 2:19-21

Pretty amazing passage, eh? It felt like God talking directly to me about how even if I think I can't do anything, the least I can do is to have that "genuine concern" to look out for Jesus' interests! I still have lots of thoughts in my head, but I do think missions is something to really pray hard about. Just like what Rev. Foster said tonight....you need to have the Spirit in you when you are serving, and I still think I need to grow in that respect. I need to continue to grow closer to God via growing in His Spirit so that my service would be purified and sanctified and fully God working in me!

Those are my thoughts for now. More to come after tomorrow as Mission Conference 2008 concludes. I need to sleep now!