What to Expect at Triennial
Since I am involved in the detailed planning of the Triennial conference, I get an inside track on what everyone is going to experience, which means I get to anticipate these things with a higher level of excitement. So today I want to invite you to share in the anticipation – from my perspective.
We have over 30 international missionaries and guests coming. This in itself is going be a great experience, and there will be plenty of chances for people to catch up with these friends. On Thursday morning we have our six international guests, plus NAB missionaries from those fields, hosting six Breakfast and Breakout sessions. You can’t be in all six at once, so unfortunately you are going to have to choose which one you will attend. However, the discussion topic for each country will be the same.
International Missions is changing, and the global changes affect not only NAB, but they affect our participation in each of these six countries. We are going to talk with our guests about how our NAB presence has already changed, and how we can work together to continue shaping our NAB presence in each country. So this is more than reporting. With your participation, this can become a discussion that sharpens our missiology, and you will be invited to consider how your church can participate in this new day of international missions.
We are also going to honor some of our international missionaries that have retired. Ron and Joan Stoller and Carol Potratz have retired from missionary service in Japan. We have invited Rev. Mineo Taniguchi of the Japan Baptist Convention to participate in honoring these servants.
I also have the privilege of leading one of the equipping sessions on Friday morning.
As we look to the scriptures at how God is actively involved in reaching the lost of this world, we want to articulate some practices of how we discern God at work and how we join Him. I get to share some examples of how a heightened awareness of God at work is leading NAB international missions into new countries, and even new models of international missions.
At the end of the week, I hope you will leave with a deep appreciation for how God has worked in NAB international missions in the past, a new anticipation for the things He is initiating among us, and a renewed resolve that we will walk with Him together. Not the international office on our own, and not our NAB churches on their own, but our churches and our international missions leadership stepping together into this new era of global missions.
**If you have not signed up for the NAB Triennial Conference 2015, we have extended the deadline to June 10th. Registration will close and hotel room rates will increase significantly after June 10, 2015. Click HERE for registration details! **