An Experience in Worship

Another great time at the Zoe Conference! I think this makes for 4 years I've gone, and it never ceases to amaze me how powerful a worship experience it can be. Unfortunately, I think that probably sounds weird to a lot of Christians, but it's true. The main reason is you got about a thousand of some of the best Church of Christ singers all singing at the top of their lungs. Most of it is Acapella, of course- the guest speakers (that aren't from the Church of Christ tribe) are always amazed. I also really enjoy getting to know some of the elders and other leaders from churches around the country.





Usually, the most useful take away is a bunch of new songs that I can try to teach my church. Their latest CD, Closer, I think will provide quite a few decent possibilities. Current candidates are Rising; Closer; No Other Gods; The Power of The Cross, To God Be the Glory ( an updated version of the classic). mmmm... Can't wait! (If you're one of my family at my church, you can listen to them here.)


Perhaps the most amazing part of the conference was a"Plenary Session" with Dan McVey of ACU's Halbert Institute for Missions. Mostly this was an hour long missions report in which he blew us all away with the amazing statistics of how many people worldwide are becoming followers of Christ. I kind of had an inkling in a couple of places, like much of Africa and South Korea, but I had no idea of the millions being converted around the world. In particular I had no idea of how many Muslims are becoming followers of Christ. Dan told story after story of country after country where God is working powerfully. This includes places like Lebanon, Iran, and Uzbekistan. Part of his speech can be found here, but the breadth and shear numbers were simply staggering. Many, if not most, of this is due to non-American mission efforts. Indeed, South Korea and China and Singapore, and so on are sending out missionaries in numbers greater than the U.S. (at least by percentages). They aren't waiting on us! Praise be to God!