On Friday we held our final Hand in Hand conference of the year with more than 80 church leaders in attendance. Our theme has been “Being Salt and Light” and we’ve learned so much together!
At this final conference, Pastor Abram taught us how being unified as a church body helps us to be Godly examples and effective witnesses to others. Next we spent time in worship and prayer, and sharing amazing testimonies of how God has worked in and through us this year. The goal was to not only learn from and encourage each other, but also to celebrate!
Amy Riep ended the conference with a powerful teaching from The Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12. This passage just precedes Christ’s calling to be Salt and Light, and teaches us the attitude we need to carry it out.
Humbleness. Godly sorrow over sin. Repentance. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Mercy. Peacemaking. Endurance.
She also gave an interesting fact about salt – that the Roman armies would pour salt out on their conquered lands to basically render them unusable and prevent them from being taken back by their enemies. As salt, not only do we season the earth with the hope of Christ, but we also claim territory for His kingdom that Satan cannot take back.
What a great day! I’m so thankful for the opportunity to equip and strengthen local leaders, and to also be strengthened and encouraged myself.
