June 23-26, 2006, were the dates for the Bibleway Bible Church missions emphasis. I was appointed to head up the missions committee. It was interesting trying to align everybody's schedules so that we could plan our conference but by God's grace we did it. Our theme was "We've a Story to Tell the Nations."
Friday was an evening of international cuisine. Church members volunteered to bring foods from Africa, Asia, Pacific, Europe, USA, and South America. If you think preparing the food was fun, you should have seen the wonderful decorations in the room. You could say the décor idea started with upholstery samples. Earlier this year I was perusing at the Wycliffe missionary boutique fabric center. I entered a small room that had stacks of approximately 30"x30" squares of fabric. There were so many beautiful designs that I succumbed and left the building with bags of the stuff. What was I going to do with it all? I didn't know but God did. I came home from the office one evening and started to play around with the squares. Some of it looked tropical with palm trees, monkeys and all sorts of tropical fruit. Other pieces looked European or Asian. So it happened that an entire room was decorated with these pieces of upholstery. Each table represented a part of the world. There was a quilted appliqué to mark each table naming a location (Asia, Pacific, etc.). This international motif set the atmosphere for the entire three day conference. Even upholstery samples can become something special in the Master's hands.
People loved the food, the international décor, and a guest speaker from Sudan on Friday night. On Saturday, Dr. Eddie Lane gave a simple challenge to about 12 pastors and church leaders from other churches. The challenge was this: Commit to disciple and commission a missionary to go into Bible translation.
Then on Sunday morning, Rev. Charles Leslie built upon that challenge giving a relevant message that all could identify with. His message was especially relevant for our youth to plan on setting themselves apart for God's service. It was fun, it was challenging and it was timely. Praise God.
Created on October 17, 2006..................................