Convention Arena

We left home on November 20th, a chilly Thursday morning. Getting to the Baltimore Washington International Airport was a bit of an adventure in and of itself. After getting stuck at a railroad crossing waiting for a train, and then getting lost for a while after taking a detour, we very nearly missed our flight. We were running full speed through terminal B of BWI and made it to the gate just before they closed the door.

The National Missionary Convention has three main features: The main sessions, the workshops, and the exhibits. The theme this year was “Getting Your Hands Dirty”. The primary text was from Luke 4, especially verses 17 – 30, where Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah in a synagog in Nazareth. We really enjoyed hearing Mark Moore speak on this text during the main sessions Friday and Saturday. Other main session speakers included missionaries from all over the world with inspiring testimonies and stories.

We attended a number of workshops which included ideas on how to reach muslims, animists, and hindus for Christ, how one man’s water purification system is helping to bring the gospel to impoverished people groups, and how Bible translation and literacy work hand in hand to deliver God’s word to many people who are desperately in need of it.

There was a strong focus this year on reaching those who are suffering in physical poverty. One speaker pointed out that there are over 2,000 references to poverty in the Bible, and Jesus often spoke and dealt with those who were in these types of situations. Too often, we try to spiritualize these concepts, losing sight of their true meaning: We cannot truly show the compassion of Christ to people if we are not doing what we can to meet their physical needs.

The exhibit hall at the NMC is always a great place to meet up with old friends and learn about ministries that are happening all over the world. Walking through the exhibits we found many people we knew, which was both exciting and exhausting after a few hours.

Emily and the girls

A large group of students from Central Christian College of the Bible came to the convention, including my sister Sarah, Emily’s brother Daniel, and a friend of ours from Delaware, Bethany. It was great spending time with them, not having seen them for several months. We visited several great restaurants in Tulsa, and found a peculiar footbridge that the locals call the Center of the Universe. Who knew, the center of the universe was in Tulsa, Oklahoma?

Probably the most encouraging part of our trip was spending time with our PBT family. We hadn’t seen them since PMI in June, and although we are still getting to know everyone, we already feel a strong connection with them. It was great to know that so many people are praying for us and are looking forward to us selling our house and moving to Dallas for our training.

Overall, the convention was enlightening, encouraging, and exhausting. We are very glad that we were able to attend this year, and are more convinced than ever about the great need for people to go and bring the good news of the gospel of Christ to those who are in spiritual darkness, and about our decision to pursue full time ministry in his service and his kingdom!

Update: Check out our NMC 2008 video!

We are attending the National Missionary Convention again this year and are looking forward to the opportunity to meet up with missionaries from around the world and with many fellow PBTers who we haven’t seen since we were in Dallas earlier this summer. This year the convention is being held in Tulsa, OK, November 20th – 23rd. The theme is “Get Your Hands Dirty!”. The worship, sermons, and workshops are always a huge encouragement at the NMC, but probably the greatest part of all is the chance we have to fellowship with hundreds of Christians who have dedicated their lives to Christ’s service.

We’ll be posting the details of our trip, along with photos and hopefully some video, after we return.