The morning began with inspirational singing followed by a “welcome to the land flowing with milk and honey” address from Tom and Sydney Caswell, evangelist and women’s ministry leaders in Worcester. Pioneer Valley’s Bo Cummings’ opening prayer was heard throughout western Mass and the day was powerfully under way.
A time of introductions and good news brought amazing stories of “a miracle baby,” church plantings, teen & preteen camp sagas, baptisms and much more. Douglas Arthur from Boston took us through the business of the day. That too was a cool combination of missions contribution plans, delegate selection, retreat times ahead (with New York church’s staff and elders on November 7-9), etc.
On this yearly scheduled event, it has become customary to let “the new guys” preach. This time around, Cash McHargue (North Region in Boston) and Steve Shoff (South Region in Boston) did the teaching. Several lines will stick with us all from this round of sharing. Some of them were: “My worst day in the kingdom was better than my best day in the world.” “If we only dream about as much as we have done in the past, that is unbiblical!” “We must have bigger, badder and bolder faith.” “We get the privilege of following Jesus!”As the speeches ended, lunch broke loose and games began. Under the pavilion, a multitude of conversations broke out. Bean bag toss was popular nearby. A football was thrown around for quite a while. But finally, ultimate Frisbee won out as the most popular game with the exercise crowd.
Nearing late afternoon, the crew began to give goodbye hugs and scatter to our corners of the world. One of the joys of New England is the unity and connectedness we share. Attitudes, isolation and reasons not to travel are tools of the devil to keep us aloof and show the world little. August 22, 2013, will stand out as a day when we sacrificed time, gas money and more for the sake of one another, God’s kingdom and the world (John 13:35). And it didn’t even feel like sacrifice.