Conference

I’ve just come back from conference (where I receive all my lectures etc) and as I don’t have time to write a whole post yet about that and Quinta, I thought I’d post my conference evaluation below.

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Ceri Townsend

Conference Evaluation October 2007 (Stepping up in Integrity)

 

What I’ve learned this week spiritually and practically, and the challenges I’m taking away from it.

 

What I’ve learned Spiritually: It would probably take a lot longer to list everything I’ve learned that I’ve got time for, but here are a few of the things I learned this week.

1. One of the first things Grace Turner did in her lectures on the Cost of Discipleship was to turn our attention again to the phrase to ‘take up your cross.’ She pointed out how, in those days ‘taking up your cross’ basically meant to carry your cross, enduring shame, suffering, sometimes torture, to, ultimately, a painful death. Somehow, I’d never looked at the verse in that way… I vaguely knew somehow from teaching that to ‘take up your cross’ meant to shoulder burdens of some kind, but it really hit home to me what God was saying in this verse, and somehow has fuelled my desire to do so.
2. “The secret of spiritual success is hunger that persists” – Smith Wigglesworth We need to be spiritually hungry, even during the dry times in our spiritual life. It also occurred to me that those dry times aren’t wrong, and don’t make your spiritual hunger any less valid simply because you’re not on a mountain top. Actually, it makes that hunger far more sincere.
3. One of Grace’s lectures was entitled ‘Getting Clean and Staying That Way.’ This was actually a life-changing lecture for me, in which God dealt with an incredible amount of stuff. But a few basic things I learned out of it were a) getting clean requires not only facing up to what you’ve done wrong, but also to where you’re holding on to things such as bitterness, or a feeling of being wronged. b) After you have come clean, you really are clean. God really hit this home to me in this seminar, and totally cleared up my head far more than I’ve felt for months. I truly learned the power of actually knowing your forgiveness. c) The third thing was also the power in a clean heart, and how that releases God to truly work through you in power for others to see.
4. We also discussed spiritual warfare, and one phrase of Grace’s really stuck out to me; ‘Make no agreements with the enemy.’ How often, when we’re feeling low, we allow ourselves to be drawn in by the enemy’s lies of hopelessness, which make us feel so much worse.
5. Generosity is much more than just money – generosity starts in simple things like your words. It’s freeing your heart to be vulnerable to be generous in all areas of your life.
6. The last area Grace spoke on was global mission, which affected me powerfully. Global mission has been very much on my mind recently, but I’ve almost been trying to push it to the background so that I can focus on what I’m doing at the minute. Grace’s talk rekindled my passion, and reminded me again that God gives us a heart for certain places… she had three suggestions: pray, give and go. The first two, at least, I can do for now.
7. The theme of the week was ‘Stepping up in Integrity’ and the worship sessions and devotionals were encouraging us to align our words with our actions, and get stuff dealt with, with God. They probably mostly encouraged me to just keep being passionate in prayer, and to continue to get a heart for prayer, and to learn to pray continually, not just in ‘quiet times.’

 

What I learned practically: Chris Curtis Came in on the last day to give us a talk on school’s work.

1. How to communicate through jokes and stories.
2. How to write an assembly… we spent quite a lot of time on this! I have to say, it’s calmed a few of my fears of going into school’s, at least I know basically how assemblies work now!
3. How to transform a vague idea into a manageable question for the students to take home and think about.

 

Challenges:

1. I’ve been really challenged about generosity, both in my words, actions and money. God has teaching me not to get legalistic about my money, but to ask Him to prompt me every time I should give.
2. To live as someone who is forgiven, to take captive my thoughts on a daily basis, and not allow negativity to creep in. Not to make agreements with the enemy!
3. To continue to clothe myself in the armour of God and to know that I am in a spiritual battle, and although I can’t see it, it affects my life; and to live as someone who has power in that battle through Jesus.
4. To stay hungry! Even during the tough times.

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Thank you so much for your prayers and support everyone. Please continue to pray, especially as we’re all starting to go into schools now to do schools’ work… I’d especially value prayer for bravery, as the thought of going into schools scares me!

 

Write more later!

 

Ceri