In June we were invited to be a part of the International Missions Conference and the Worldwide Coordinators Seminar
that were held at Ohio Wesleyan University in Marion, IN. Since not all of our time is spent in Latin America, I wanted to give you an overview of what we accomplish in these other activities, both as an organization and as individuals and share some of my experience {Gary}.
The Missions Conference was primarily focused on sharing the
vision of Bob Fetherlin, President of One Mission Society. Bob explained his desire since being named
president to cast a vision for the next decade.
He said he kept coming up with goals, but kept feeling God saying
“bigger!” Bob spent long
prayerful negotiation with God and came up with what he said was a GOD SIZED GOAL.
“One Billion
– One Opportunity Vision”
“We’re asking God, by
his power and grace and for his glory alone, to enable OMS and our partners to
give one billion people the opportunity to hear, understand, and
believe the Good News of Jesus Christ over
the next 10 years.”
Robert Fetherlin – President One
Mission Society
This first half of the conference was to share the vision
and discuss how this God Sized Goal could reasonably be achieved. Not by OMS or other organizations, but by
God. After all - with God all things are possible.
We heard outstanding speakers share how their placement in worldwide mission gave them a critical position to see that the people are primed for receiving the
good news. Attending the conference were
prayer supporters, financial supporters, missionaries and ministry partners
from approximately 60 countries where OMS has an ongoing ministry
presence. This first half was the inspirational
part of the meeting and everyone got tremendously excited for the opportunities that
God is opening for us and Christians around the world to spread the Gospel.
The second half dealt with the mechanics of the
implementation of the vision - the “feet on the ground” aspect of what God was
calling us to do. This was attended by
ministry leaders from all over the world: Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe,
South and Central America, the Caribbean, and from North America as well. Here each group and ministry provided a short
update on their activities, successes, setbacks and their plans for the future.
There were seminars
and workshops presented that discussed methods and practical steps to more
effectively spread God’s word. They pressed us to be looking at the challenges and the creative
methods each group had found to overcome and share those with others that may
currently be encountering similar obstacles.
The first three days of this portion of the Symposium
were packed with good practices that have worked in other areas and how to
avoid pitfalls and errors and follow Biblical principles in the spread of the
Gospel.
On the last day, each national
group met individually with others from their respective countries and together
they worked to determine what portion of the One Billion – One Opportunity goal they could be responsible for.
During the final session, the results of the tally were presented to the
assembly. Now remember this is just what
OMS ministries feel they can be reasonably held accountable, ...….. The number came to approximately 400
million, forty percent of the stated goal, without allowance for the
contributions that come from other agencies, organizations and
evangelistic-missionary groups. That is
an impressive goal in and of itself, if combined with other partners are able
to do, the One Billion – One Vision concept appears reachable. Indeed, with God, all
things are possible.
The Conference ended on a very positive note and we all
headed home inspired, encouraged and challenged. When we look at the big picture, we can all
see that it has to begin with each and every one of us sharing our faith on a
daily basis and letting the power of multiplication work to give the
opportunity to billions to know Jesus.
