World Assembly 07, post 1

Greetings from Ancaster, Canada!

I am currently sitting in an auditorium at World Assembly 2007, an IFES international conference where missionaries from 150 nations have come to gather. While my role here is to be the conference photographer, I am being awed by things other than my job. I never realized the people I would be interacting with here!

Just walking around I’ve had simple conversations with individuals working around the world. We chat about ministry, compare stories and laugh at our similar failures. Later I find that I was chatting with the founder of campus ministry in Africa, or chatting with the General Secretary from Cuba, or talking to an author form somewhere in francophone Africa. Becky Pippert (author of "Out of the Salt Shaker" and founder of Salt Shaker ministries) spoke last night, Stella Kasirye spoke the day before about AIDS in Africa, and Peter Kuzmic has spoken today. It is amazing to hear all the things that God is doing through these people alone, and there are more stories to come!!!

For example, Peter was talking about his ministry in Sarajevo, Bosnia. (yes, that is the place that Sarah and I have gone on Global Projects) He spoke of the church that he was preaching at during the war. Near the end of the service, they heard the air sirens go off and minutes later the shelling began. Outside, the Croatian Army was systematically bombing the city. Sarajevo is still a very diverse city, and even during this time, there were Croatians in the city. Peter know that if he sent his church out to run for cover, they would surly be picked off by a sniper, instead he called them to pray. Over the sound of bombs and explosions, he heard the church surrounding the Croatian families in prayer, welcoming them and comforting them, in effect saying, “we are not judging you like the rest of the city is.” Peter then walked through today’s talk about community in the Christian context and how different we can and should be from the world.

One of my favorite conversations was with a woman from the Caribbean. We talked about what ministry is like there, and how very important it is to minister to the youth. Not just for the obvious reasons of protecting them from the world and talking to them about Jesus, but because these are the future leaders of the country, these are the future doctors, lawyers and politicians, what a great place to have a Christian influence! They are striving to reach every student in High School, before the temptations of the world attract their innocent minds.
In all I think I am experiencing something that my mind cannot wrap itself around. There are 600-700 people here from all around the world, starting and continuing student ministries all over the world, one even said that IFES is the most diverse, and influential non-profit in the world. I think I am hearing all that is going on around me, but not really grasping the full impact that God is making through His people.

Please pray for this conference, pray for the delegates, pray for the countries, pray for perseverance through troubled (and dangerous) times; pray for simple things like fatigue, conversation issues (many, many languages are spoken here) and safety (many people are risking their lives by associating with us here.)