The Missouri Convention, Part IV

File Under: Extended Series

Previously, I went to Springfield, Missouri, on the RYS national convention. I met people, and listened to them.

As always, the classes weren't so random and sporadic in the points. Just my notes.

Wednesday
9:40 am CT - Waiting for the next workshop. It dropped about 20, 30 degrees overnight, and the humidity is completely gone. It's kinda cold! (yeah, an estimated 70 degree's is cold. We had the 100's the past 2 days with extremely high humidity. So an estimated 70 degrees IS cool.) Lot's of sweaters are being sold today. Overnight, I didn't get too much sleep, so as a result, all I want to do right now is curl up and sleep!

Workshop 4: What's Your Calling?
Teacher: Rev. Mike Brown
Scripture References: II Tim. 1:9, Gen. 2:15, Gen. 3:17-19, I Thess. 4:11-12, Eph. 4:28, James 1:5, Psalm 145

9:46 - Begin! He's kinda young looking.
- How do you know what God has called you to do?
- If you believe in Christ, it is not because of you, but because of God. He planned it along time ago. We couldn't open our hearts on our own. We are a Christian because of God's effectual grace.
- We are now to live a life that is constitant with our calling.
- We need to pray for wisdom, so we make good decisions concerning our future, our jobs.
- There is more to work than just money. Man was made to work. Adam was called to be a gardener, even before the fall. It was after the fall that work became dangerous. It is now frustrating.
- But work is NOT evil. We, as Christians, are to labor.
- Work, literally, is a calling. (editor's note: so don't try using that as an excuse!)
- It was Luther who said that ALL vocations are legitimate callings. He frowned upon the roman catholic church, which looked down at people such as shoemakers as 2nd-rate Christians.
- Our "daily bread" ultimately comes from providence. Btu manna will not directly fall down upon us! God provides for us, using all sorts of different callings and vocations to give us what we need to live.
- God uses hospitals and doctors to heal, uses the police and legal system to protect us, preaches his word through pastors, ecetera.
- You don't have to steal company time to witness to every single employee, putting up Jesus fish everywhere, to be a witness. Work hard and honest, and you'll be a living testimony.
- How do we know what our calling is? Pray for wisdom to know. We need to figure out, what am I interested in? What would make me get up on Mondya morning? What would inspire me?
- Whatever the vocation, there will be difficulties and frustrations.
- God has given us different desires in our heart.
- What skills do we have that we could use in a calling?
- We also need to be respectful of ALL vocations. Even custodians deserve our utmost respect.
- God's loving hand and providence shapes us for our main vocation. But that may change throughout life. Even in retirement, there is a new calling. Whether it's being a full-time Grandpa, or getting a new job, we always have a vocation.
- But we should also be careful against constant job swapping.
- If we dread going our job, dread going to work to do it, can we really serve the Lord doing it?
(hey! I enjoyed that alot more the second time around! And I like it the first time too!)
END OF SESSION.

Workshop 5: Excited About Church
Teacher: Rev. Jeff Doll
Scripture References: Hebrews 12:18-24, 10:19-22, Isaiah 6:1-7, 1 Tim 2:12-13, Gal. 5:22-23, John 4:23-24, John 17:17, Heb. 12:28-29, Psalm 139, Heb. 10:25

11:14 - Hehe. Instead of asking people for their names at the door, and checking them off the checklist that way, they're doing a open roll call, calling out names. There are some really funny last names!
11:18 - Introductions. Idol worshipping has MANY negative, destructive effects.
- Worship is VERY serious, and will have serious or negative effects on our lives.
- Reformers are from a very rich heritage (buzz word!), and should not be taken for granted.
- He was a Roman Catholic! He talked about their communion, and how it is equal to idolatry.
- There's is a "horizontal focus", not a vertical focus. (that is, focused on what THEY can see, rather than focused on God.)
- When we gather to worship, WE are ALL called to worship. We are at Mount Zion, at the sanctuary of heaven. We are in God's house, where even the Seraphs cover themselves in the presence of God's holiness.
- The God of Isaiah 6 is the one we worship on Sunday. He is ALL might, ALL powerful. He is just, and will punish those outside of Christ. He is perfect, just, and holy. If you are a believer, you don't have to worry about his judgement, for it will not be there for you.
- We should all be excited about worshipping God, who has thousands of angels worshipping him always.
- Our worship should be focused vertically.
- He then played a clip from a charasmatic church, where a woman pastor/prophetess (with a man by her side) started preaching the good word. And then she started to shake violently about. She claimed it was the holy spirit. But what I've seen from Hollywood clip shows, I know the Exorcist when I see it! Out, evil spirit!
- We get instructions on HOW to worship through the Bible. We MUST worship in spirit AND in truth.
- For the Christian, there is a spirit of gratitude. We need to be the spiritual children of God, worshipping him, rendernig him homage, in harmony with his word, in our heart.
- We should desire to worship God on Sunday with our entire heart.
- In a church, the preaching of the word, the truth, should be center.
- It affects our conscience when we do NOT worship properly. Worship should NOT be horizontal!
- He then talked about saving yourself for marriage, and how important that is, speaking from experiance. He got very emotional, and honestly? You could have heard a pin drop in that room when he started to choke up. It was very powerful, very moving.
- Worship is something that we SHOULD be VERY excited for.
- We either worship in spirit and in truth, or by man and satan.
- Lots of churches have gimmicks and other features to lure you in, to get you to have a horizontal focus. Such a focus is NOT guided by the Holy Spirit.
- We talked briefly about the Dialogical Principle of Worship, that we gather together as individuals, but worship is not individualistic. (we also touched on the regulative principle of worship lightly)
- God calls each one personally. We, as a body, respond to him.
- We should look to the scriptures to certify what the pastor said. That's what the elders do, to hold the pastor accountable. They're still human, and they make mistakes.
- Talked a bit about false teachers, and used Harold Kamping as an example.
- There is corruptions in visible churches. Together, a church can hold each other accountable. We NEED to be assembling with our congregations.
- Be faithful in assembly.
END OF SESSION.

12:43 pm - Pizza for lunch! Woot! There were breadsticks too, but they were kinda hard. Thank goodness for ranch dressing!

You know how I mentioned that our air doesn't work? We're also on the 4th floor, the highest floor in the Burgess Hall. That doesn't really help either. It's warmed up against outside, but nowhere near 100. So far, we've had uber-hot, really cold, sun, cloudy, rain, and storms. We just need gusty winds, hail, snow, and sleet, and we're all set!

12:49 pm - Weird. It's 1:49 back home. Normally, I'd be at work. But instead, I'm walking around in Springfield, Missouri! Weird. Between lunch and dinner, it's all free time. There are a few sports tournaments going on, but not too much. And Team Bethany isn't in anything, and I don't think Team Zion is either.

I think the guys wear more product in their hair than the girls do. I'm pretty certian. And only a few guys DON'T seem to be going out of their way to dress like an Abercrombie & Fitch model or something. The loooow jeans, the tight shirts, the odd hairdo's... Nowdays, you'd kinda expect that all from the ladies. But the guys? *sigh* Reformed Metrosexual Christians. Great!

Oh, the sessions for Rev. Anderson and Rev. Doll? I taped those. ^_^ Thumbs up for responsibility!

3 pm - There was a water balloon fight on the soccer field. I took pictures, of course, and barely got any drops of water at all! Granted, I was constantly dodging water balloons... I think some kids were targeting the photographers.

3:38 - My 512 MB SD card is *somewhere*... The RYS techies are sorting through, seeing what pictures they can use for a slideshow on Friday morning. Dan Deppe graciously lent me his cell phone, and I called home. Apparently, there was some action happening on Set It Off. Something about hundreds and hundreds of comments being posted. Dunno.

OK, there is TOOO much free time this afternoon!

Dinner was BBQ Ribs. I opted for a salad and sandwhich instead.

Jason Berkanpas sprained his ankle while playing soccer. It 'twas a very silly thing to do. There were other sports injuries as well.

We're near a small airport. Everynow and then, you'll see a small plane or helicopter go flying on by.

6:43 - Waiting for session 3 to start. The organist is playing a prelude. It's nice, but over-glorified.

6:47 - It starts. More announcements, singing happy birthday to those who have/had birthdays this week, thanking the RYS PC whiz, then talking about the sports injuries. Also, apparently a Rev. Ron (Im-pa-ma?) was sent to the hospital with injuries. (SPOILERS: He was in a wheelchair later, but doing alright.)
- Some people lost their lanyards. And to get them back, they have to sing on stage. Hehe.
- More announcements.
7:11 - Time to sing! We actually sang, like, 95% songs written during the reformation. Woohoo!
7:27 - Rev. Grotenhuis speaks again. We started off my looking at Psalm 78:1-8. Apparently. It's at the top of my notes for this class.
- It is an extreme privilidge to be born and raised in a Christian home. It is a RICH HERITAGE (buzz word!).
- Those who weren't raised in a Christian home see us as amazingly privilidged.
- He then talked about how his family, and his wife's family, come from a RICH HERITAGE of christianity.
- It's covenant succession, passing on the faith from generation to generation.
- We are to tell others of his guidance, and we have to pass down the privilidges.
- Time to talk about a bad guy! Dimitri Shostakovich was a Stalin-era composer, and a brilliant one at that. Apparently. He composed a symphony DURING the battle of Leningrad, ignoring the bloodshed around him. He was an athiests, and loved his self-rule and independance. His memoirs are filled with darkness, and she said that there were no great moments in his life. He called it "grey and dull".
- Contrast Shostakovich with Paul, who even with his longsuffering, told others to REJOICE!
- (gggrr... it's COLD in here. You can't win anywhere!)
- Time for a video clip, of various people talking about their backgrounds, and their conversion to the reformed faith. They liked how deeply rooted it is, and how much background there is. It is a - guess the buzz word - RICH HERITAGE.
- The reformed theological system is VERY complete, and we get it through grace. But we should not be boastful and full of pride.
- In the age of terrorism, in the "information age" (like it never existed before...), in the entertainment age (ditto), young people are apparently looking for tradition, for something STABLE.
- The babyboomers apparently divided the church. The old folk want traditional, and the younger want contemporary.
- Younger people are apparently looking for smaller churches. They want a sense of community, for people to be held accountable to. Also, churches that are mission-minded. Most young people think about these things? I guess I don't give 'em enough credit.
- If you don't get your act together in the early years, it will be tough to straighten