Jesus to the Nations

This past weekend was the 10th annual Atlantic mission festival Jesus to the Nations. It is hard to describe all that happened. Every moment was crammed full of talking, walking, laughing, learning, worshipping, praying, growing, discovering, listening, reading, and very little sleep. I am glad because I have been anticipating the conference since last year when Joseph D’souza was announced as one of the speakers. If you ever listened to Caedmon’s Call’s album Share the Well, it is Joseph speaking about the plight of the Dalits India. This is how the weekend went:

Friday Night I…
* Visited mission organization booths.
* Checked out what missions books were being sold.
* Reconnected with friends. It is amazing the bonds that can grow year to year chatting at a booth over a shared love.

Saturday…
* For the first time ever I had people from the church with me, three students and Becca, another youth leader. All four are going on the short term mission trip to Toronto in August. It was exciting watching them discover what God is doing and the rich history of the church around the world. I helped two of the teens complete a three page scavenger hunt. Super neat thing was one won a t-shirt. I really enjoyed the meal time. The just sitting together. Sometimes we talked about what was happening sometimes just joked and teased each other. It was good.
* For the two small group session I sat in on Joseph’s talk on “India at the Crossroads.” With each moment I felt my burden for the Dalit people and the desire to see India someday grew.

Sunday…
* We, Jason, Becca, and I, drove back up to Halifax after lunch for the final service. I am so glad we did.
* I stopped at the Open Doors table and only bough three books (this is a new Jesus to the Nations record for me, less the five books.)
*The closing service was indescribable, the worship, a flag parade, dancing, testimonies of how God changed lives on mission trips all shone glory on God. The most amazing of all was the final moments. The message was the passion of Christ followers, true bond-servants around the world. With each new account of sacrifice and willingness to live fully for Jesus, God was waking something deep with in me. I was having a crisis of faith, which I would even dare to say was ES. It wasn’t emotional but the tears just streamed down my face. Ron Pearce gave ten seconds to decide if we were willing to be Christ’s bond servants and I was on my feet before he was finished speaking. Things have been different in a beautiful, full, satisfying, joyful, whole, clear way ever since. I am so grateful for God’s goodness.

Jesus to the Nations –worth visiting.