Highlights from the Missions Conference

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This photo was taken at the Welcome Dinner on Friday night, January 9. This represents roughly 60% of the missionaries that have been sent out by Denton Bible Church, either with DBC (us) or with another mission agency.

After wrapping up the Seminary Extension class December 22, we drove to NC to spend Christmas with our families.  We had a great time celebrating the holiday with family and friends. We spent the first week of January in preparation for the Missions Conference, and on January 9th Daniel flew to Texas.

One of the greatest joys of being on staff with SERVE is the opportunity to attend the DBC Missions Conference every other January. The idea for the missions conference comes from Acts 14:27-28, when Paul and Barnabas are returning to Antioch from their first missionary journey.  It says, "When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent a long time with the disciples." Following that pattern, the Denton Bible Missions Conference is part family reunion, part strategic planning, and part church-wide ministry reporting, giving praise to the Lord for his goodness in each part.

The Welcome Dinner with the elders on the first Friday night is family reunion. That's the top photo. It's lots of hugs and catching up with dear friends serving the Lord in other places. This year the fun featured a photo booth, but I was too busy visiting to go in.

For those who've never been to DBC, these are "the guys in the missions office". Back row: Mike Griffis (Missionary Care), Mike Scheer (Missions Pastor), Chris Cobble (Leadership Training), and Joe Calfee down front (Operations). Notably missing is Mrs. Janice Saville (Mission's Women).  She knew better than to get in the photo booth :)  

On Saturday, the Field Directors (team leaders) from all of the SERVE fields spent the morning together with the guys in office discussing shepherding, the theme of this year's conference. The conversation was geared around defining shepherding in our context and asking ourselves "How do we better shepherd the men and women serving on our teams?"

On Saturday afternoon, Charlie and Earlene, Meredith (via Skype), and I spent several hours meeting with the guys in the office (and Janice) to talk through the challenges and opportunities facing our ministry in East Tennessee.  It was super encouraging and they had some great ideas for us to pray through and consider implementing. More on those in the next post.

On Sunday we missionaries participated in the church worship service, and hung out in the lobby before and after the services to share with and encourage church members.

I got to meet some delightful new people while manning the table in the church lobby.

Monday through Friday, we spent our mornings hearing from the Word of God on different aspects of shepherding, including how to be both a good shepherd (leader) and a good sheep (follower). In the afternoons, we attended break out sessions focused on improving in various areas of ministry.  The evenings were spent connecting with ministry friends and supporters. It was a full week of encouragement to continue improving in the ways we are serving the Lord.

This is the "Leadership Training" break out session one afternoon, where I got to glean the wisdom of men who are currently training pastors and church leaders in the US and around the world.

Meredith and Lily flew out on Friday the 19th to join me for the church-wide conference on Friday night and Saturday. All of the SERVE teams from around the globe got to share about their ministry and how they've seen the Lord moving.  Each field shared a video update, and then the team members shared personally about the Lord's work in and through their lives.  It was a powerful reminder that the Lord and his work are bigger than any one of us. At the same time, the Lord is working locally in and through each one of us. It is truly humbling.  You can watch the video updates from the different fields online by going here.

You can watch the Tennessee Video by clicking here.

Tennessee from Denton Bible Media on Vimeo.

We had the amazing opportunity to share with the church what the Lord's been doing in east Tennessee.

Meredith found out she was going on stage shortly before it happened.  I love that my wife is candid and articulate, even without any warning!

During the week, I had the privilege of spending a few minutes visiting with Mel Sumrall.  After the tragic loss of a daughter, Mel quit his job as a steel mill supervisor and went to Dallas Seminary at the young age of 48.  At 52, he became the founding pastor of Denton Bible Church. He became the first missions pastor at 62.  Still faithfully serving Jesus at age 89, Mel continues to be an inspiration for men in all seasons of life!

We were blessed to spend a little time with John, Ngoc, Rachel, and Michael Brown. It's hard to believe that Michael was Lily's age when their family road-tripped to NC so John could perform our wedding! 

Michael and Rachel played the piano so Lily and I could dance!

Charlie and Earlene were blessed by the Newlands, who are coming to see us in March!

The trip to Texas was Lily's first through an airport.  She had a great time. She's going to be a world traveler!

Lily is normally afraid of loud mechanical noises, and we were a little worried about how she'd react to being inside an airplane.  On both flights, she giggled during take-off and made everyone around her smile.  Praise the Lord for her brave little spirit!

Not to be missed, Christmas happened since our last post.  We had a great season of Advent and time with family!  I'll post a few more Christmas pics on facebook.

This is such a great picture of our little princess.  She loves princesses.  She love to pretend.  She loves Frozen.  And she loves "jammie days!"

At Christmas, the ladies went digging through old pictures at mom and dad's house.  When Meredith showed me this picture, even I was surprised! This is Hosea (left) and I (right) both at 12 months.

Hosea is developing so fast.  He's walking everywhere (and into everything).  This week he learned to give "high five", play "peek-a-boo", shake his head and say "no no no" when he's been told not to do something, say "uh-oh" when he drops something, and throw a ball back and forth (play catch).

Things you can be praying for this week...
1.  Pray for good health in the midst of this incredibly sick season.  We're live near the epicenter of the flu epidemic.  It's so bad here that Hosea's pediatrician called this week and rescheduled his 15 month well-child visit so he wouldn't have to come into the office with all the sick children. Also, pray for all those sick kiddos and their families.

2.  Our time in Texas was re-energizing and gave us some new ideas for moving the leadership training ministry forward.  Please pray for wisdom and guidance as I process through those ideas and translate ideas into concrete plans and ministry next steps.

3. Our biggest ministry news is that the Lord has opened the door for us to relocate our Storehouse ministry from its current location outside of town into the lower level of a church downtown sometime this summer. We're so excited about the move, it'll get its own post with more details. Until then, please be praying that the Lord would continue to guide this process, that it will be well received by our clients and local church partners, and that the new location will enable us to be an even brighter gospel light in our community.

Just because you made it to the bottom. Witness Hosea singing "Let it go." I hope it makes you smile!


Hosea "Let it go" from Daniel Shrader on Vimeo.