Preach the Word Recap!

The Preach the Word Conference was a "game changer" in my young walk with Christ last week. I learned a lot about being a preacher of God's word. James McDonald said and I quote, "If your failing at preaching the word of God, your failing Jesus Christ." It doesn't get anymore cut and dry than that! The whole conference was focused on how to be an "expositor of God's word." That means to be someone who teaches and explains each book, each verse, each word in the totality of Scripture. John MacArthur said it best when he said, "As a preacher you are to teach the people and bring them to the mind of Christ so they can fulfill the word of God." This was great insight into being a better expositor of God's word. However, the main event had to be the "charge" by Chuck Swindoll with his last few words as he stood strong and declared to all of us, "I am 74 years old, and in this tragic but marvelous era in which we live, there is no substitute for the prepared man of God to deliver the Word of God, so STAND AND DELIVER! I'm counting on you." After Chuck said this, it birthed a deep conviction and excitement to learn and teach the whole counsel of God's word! It the most profound exhortation i have ever received. He initially was saying "here is the baton, its your time to run the race and I'm counting on you not to drop it."

The Lord showed me many new things, things to grow in and things not to do. I got a chance to meet a lot of great people from all over the nation. One of the funniest things about this conference last week was that at the conference there were three guys named RJ! It was comedy! There was an RJ that was on the security team who went to Harvest, another RJ who goes and serves at Harvest NY, and then me. I have never met more than one other RJ in my life. It was hilarious! We talked about how we have been persecuted and punished with people messing up our names and making fun of our initials. We had a few too many good laughs. If you go by your initials, then your feeling my pain. So we got a few pictures of us together that i will be posting soon. I have not been writing that much this month because i have been roaming all over Riverside. It has been a really busy month. God bless guys and thanks for your prayers!