Men of whom this world is not worthy

Yesterday morning was such a delight.  We had collapsed into bed the night before, spent and exhausted.  When we arrived the nearby parking lot was full and we parked down the street.  A pretty good hike to the conf, but we were very stoked for the day.  Early on we spotted a badge from Hati.  Jason and I struck up a conversation and exchanged contact information with them for possible future help with ministry in Hati.  After some morning bfast snacks Nate and I tred to locate shade to minimize sweating too early in the day.  The first speaker of the day was the assistant to Dr. John M; Nathan.  The topic was how to measure ministry success.  It is from this message when Nathan explored Heb 11:38 that this title is taken from.  The one overwhelming thought from this even so far has been this thought.  There are so many men here that seriously care about holiness and obedience.  In today's world that is an a position that few will tollerate and fewer still will encourage.

After Nathan, we had lunch-In/Out burgers.  They were great and delicious.  In addition one of the founding members of the Church has a hit dog business.  He came in and grilled dogs for everyone.  Some folks had a dog and an In/Out burger, or maybe even two burgers....

After lunch we heard Al Mohler explain when to leave a Church or ministry.  Please listen to it.   The section when Mr. Mohler explains the reason and implications when he advised someone he cares for that 'no, we are not brothers in Christ..'.  It was very powerful.

 The next session was how to minister those obedient to Islam.  The first slide had a photo of Isis.  A man in the audiance could not help himself and shouted out "those are my people, those are my people..".  He went on to explain in a middle East accent that the folks beheaded were part of his Church.  The presentation and message was powerful.  Afterwards there were so many questions the speaker just finally had to dismiss us.

Back to Al Mohler for the closing.  We sat 3 rows back from Dr. John M. and just in front of us was Tony Evans, who knew?  Just before Al a woman sang a sorrowful spiritual that was gripping in it's emotion.  Al then described why the most important qualification of any pastor is a sincere fear of God.  More than anything else, fear is the root of good pastors.

The Countryside group hosted us again for a wonderful time of fellowship and dinner. Not sure that will happen this evening.  Tom wants sushi.  If anyone was worthy of tollerating sushi for their company it would be pastor Tom.  We will see.  We are starting the day with fellowship. Marv came over. Nate is still asleep.  Mark, Jason and Marv are discussion coffee and air line check valves..  it will be a great day.  We are so looking forward to hearing Pastor Tom.  Please be in prayer for him and his message this morning.