#EN2010 Day 3: Back to the Basics

If you’ve been around Facebook and Twitter this last few days, all the update you probably got from Victory people in your network were their experiences (and lots of photos) at the #EN2010 World Conference. Everyone’s been raving about its huge impact in their personal lives and how the record breaking singing of Amazing Grace in sixty languages brought them to tears. It was like a foretaste of heaven.

Some of the conference highlights that are worth writing about include Darlene Zschech’s teaching about worship, the communion of the nations, and Pastor Steve Murrell’s message about honoring God.

Darlene’s most quoted statement for the week, “if you can’t sing well, just sing louder” became a fodder for Facebook and Twitter updates since Friday. It was funny and revealing at the same time. Worship has never been so much about music. When you really think it through, God is actually more interested with what’s going on in your heart than the tune you carry. As Darlene said, we seek to raise up disciples who submit to the Lordship of Christ, not celebrities with rock star complex. This word is especially powerful coming from the mouth of someone who is so well known around the world. It gives us a bit of an idea of how the Hillsong team operates behind the curtains.

The communion of the nations, in my opinion, was one of the most significant events in the conference. It was not a very moving part of the program, in fact, it just felt like any Sunday communion that I’ve ever had. What made it different (and special) was the physical presence of different nationalities inside one building. When you think of the diversity and unity in the body of Christ, there’s no better way to picture it than when you see different skin colors, hairstyles, heights and accents put together in a single room, saying Amen in unison and partaking of the communion elements all at the same time. It was so powerful and symbolic for me.

The last part of the conference that I consider to be a highlight was Pastor Steve Murrell’s message about honoring God. I was laughing half the time when he was preaching but when he was done, I almost cried at the simplicity of the message that he so consistently carried in the last 26 years. From the early beginnings of Victory, it has always been about honoring God and reaching the future leaders of the nations. As he walked us through the history of this great movement, I could plainly see how our leaders stuck with the basics to accomplish what God has placed in their hearts. The methods may have changed, church fads come and go, but not the mandate, not the call, not the specific assignment God has commissioned us for.

As I pushed my way out of SMX yesterday after the conference, I couldn’t help but think of how much this Every Nation spiritual family has greatly blessed my life. I looked around and saw friends from U-Belt and Caloocan, the people I am now going to church with. I saw some people from my own victory group wearing those big, glorious smiles. I saw my pastors who looked haggard and happy. I saw the volunteers who looked like they needed a week worth of sleep. I saw before my eyes around twenty thousand happy faces.

Lord Jesus, thank you that I am part of this.