Hello, from Detroit, MI at the Student Global Impact conference. I'm sitting in a classroom at Inter-City Christian School that has been converted into a makeshift dormatory/barracks for those male attendees who aren't connected enough to have a house to stay in while here in Detroit. But I'm fine, I am surrounded by friends and have a wireless AP nearby which will be switched on at any moment for free Internet access.
On to the conference... SGI is for
those who are interested, to whatever degree, in missionary work. I personally have alluded in the
past to an interest in teaching English in China, at least for a summer. Luckily for me,
Chinese missions will be featured in a few workshops over the two-day period of the conference.
Other workshops include language learning challenges, overcoming cultural hurdles, personal
preparation checklists, campaigning for support funds ("deputation"), and overviews
of several mission fields from the real-life missionaries of those fields. Should be a rewarding time, as
always.
The attitude of those in attendance is
expectation and anticipation, excitement over what may take place; a generally positive
atmosphere. Nothing spectacular usually happens; we don't typically see visions of Mary or
anything. But we desire to see God glorified and doing a work among us generally and in the hearts of
those who need special prodding/poking specifically. (Those seem like misplaced modifiers,
but i don't care.)
The first session featured evangelist Steve Pettit speaking from 1 Cor. 3:18. He pointed out,in a very direct way, that in order to be changed one must behold God's Glory. He then went on to explain, or attempt to begin at possibly coming close to explaining, what God's glory actually is. Here it is, in basic form: God's intrinsic awesomeness. (There it is, my catchphrase. But Pettit's exact words.) Or, as I like to put it: God oozes "wow" from his spiritual pores. He finished by asking a very simple question: do you read your Bible daily, therein exposing yourself to God's Glory? It was just the question I needed to be asked. At the beginning of the message, I asked myself "How often do you behold it, zach?" It is too easy to complicate what God designed to be so simple. Read your Bible, exposing God to those dull spiritual sensors and you will eventually be changed more into his likeness.
So, good start. Time to sleep now. More later, I promise.
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