I was reminded of what Pastor Ferdie and all the other pastors have been telling us months before: what brought us here may not bring us there- or at least something along those lines. The idea is that the commitment, hard work and sacrifices that brought us to where we are now may no longer work this time. A new approach might be necessary to sustain our present productivity. Who knows what the Lord will demand of us so we can soar to new heights?

To me, this is quite a sobering idea. I came from a religious background where people have an aversion to change. We’d often do something because it proved to be successful in the seventies. I know that’s hardcore backward thinking but somehow I could understand why some people try to hold on to past glories, if only to feel a sense of accomplishment and success. Forward thinking is always risky. It makes everyone nervous. It slaps us with the fact that our minds are finite and limited and we could not see all ends but it forces us to admit that we need the wisdom of God every step of the way.

One of the most fiery (read: harshest) sermons ever preached in the Bible came from the mouth of John the Baptist. In Luke 3, he called the crowd who followed him a “brood of vipers” without even batting an eyelash. I may not be a preacher but one thing I’m sure of is that John’s sermon style was definitely not the normal way to attract a following. Church growth gurus and Toast Masters trained speakers today would cringe at the thought of using such offensive language when speaking in front of a crowd you are trying to reach.

But John the Baptist was no speakers’ club member. He didn’t seek to build a religion either. He was simply a man who was sent to announce the coming of the Messiah and he had to do it within a limited time frame. Remember that he and Jesus were born just a few months apart? That means that his message was time sensitive. The Messiah he was to announce was just around the corner. He didn’t have the time to play religious games with the Jews.

We all know the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10: 38- 42. Jesus came into their home to have fellowship with them but the moment He stepped inside their house, Martha was running around doing a thousand chores that she didn’t even have time to sit and spend time with her guest.

Bless her heart. Whenever preachers look for example of people who are too busy to commune with the Lord, Martha is the first name to come up on the list. And for good reason. If anything, Martha embodies the typical Christian who loves to do more for God to the point of forgetting the reason why she’s doing those things in the first place.

One of the many things I noticed during the EN2010 World Conference was the age group of the people who preached. I was especially struck with Jackie, the guy from the restricted country that I mentioned in my previous post. He was 19 when he met Jesus. When he came up the stage and the camera zoomed into a close up, I quipped to my victory group leader who was sitting next to me, “looks like he’s just in his early thirties!”

Jackie is indeed in his early thirties. And when I think about it, I can’t help but think of my own age and how many of my years were spent for personal pursuits in relation to the number of years I spent pursuing the things of God for my life. I also thought of the general idea among Filipino youth about not getting too serious about God in this age bracket. For many people, college years and the first few years at work are the time to get wild and be irresponsible. It’s the time to explore the world, experiment with lots of stuff and get crazy.

Something about speaking the language of God was also mentioned in Darlene’s teaching. I think that was the highlight of her entire message that night. She recounted how the European settlement in Australia almost phased out the native speech of the Aboriginal Australians when the new foreign settlers forced the natives to speak English. There’s complicated history behind all these but the point Darlene made was if the enemy can silence your language, he can definitely silence your tribe. Christians ought to speak out the language of God or run the risk of getting silenced by the enemy.

She mentioned that in church, we seek to raise disciples, not celebrities. I love this part of her teaching simply because I’ve seen how the music team of some churches that I’ve been to are acting like celebrities in the local congregations. They don’t get into discipleship because they’re busy with their music. Some of them don’t even listen to the preaching of the word of God because they feel too important to be bothered with all that talks. In one particular church, the musicians were not even Christians. They’re rock stars who didn’t get signed up with a record label.