On Mar 9-10, GES conducted a regional conference in Boise, ID at Lake Hazel Bible Church. The topic was Jesus’ parables. We tried to pick parables that are either difficult to interpret or that are often misunderstood. In addition, I did a session on the basics of Free Grace Theology in case there were some people present who were not familiar with the issues.
This conference was a little different from most of our regionals. We usually hold these conferences on Friday and Saturday. This one was held on Saturday and Sunday. It was a great example of the flexibility available to any church that sponsors a conference.
We had two main speakers, Dave Janssen and myself. While it was my first time in Idaho, it was a reunion for Dave because some people in the church were impacted by his ministry when he worked with high school students there many years ago. The conference went very well. We held seven sessions, averaging around forty people per session. After each session we had a time for questions.
On Sunday morning Dave spoke on one of the parables to a much larger crowd. Dave is a very popular speaker at GES conferences, and his sermon in Boise showed why. Afterwards, the church put on a great lunch. (Yes, there were Idaho potatoes!) This prepared the folks for the last sessions of the conference; people didn’t have to leave the church for lunch, then return.
Another thing we did a little differently was having a session for women and a separate session for men at the same time and on the same topic. Kathryn Wright discussed the Parable of the Prodigal Son with the ladies, while I discussed the parable with the men. The church leadership thought this might make the women more open to bringing up questions and comments during the discussion.
Evidently, it was a big hit. A few of the women brought up the possibility of Kathryn’s returning in the future to lead a conference for women. Again, this shows the possibilities for GES conferences that churches might want to sponsor. GES obviously promotes the Free Grace message. We want to promote that message in a way that best fits the needs of each church.
These conferences also give GES, and the churches involved, the opportunity to introduce folks to Free Grace materials. We brought books by various Free Grace authors and made the books available at bargain prices. Some people signed up to receive the Grace in Focus magazine. We were also able to let them know about the coming national conference in May. Hopefully, some of the people in Idaho who have never been to the national conference will be able to come this year. That will be a blessing for GES and will hopefully help those who attend. This, in turn, helps the local church.
A special thanks goes out to Brian and Jen Ritchie, old friends of GES who hosted Kathryn and me in their home. This summer their daughters are scheduled to go to Uganda with Kathryn in order to promote the Free Grace message at an orphanage there, with teaching focused on the numerous workers.
Maybe our experiences in Idaho will cause somebody reading this blog to consider doing something similar in your church. If so, let us know!
