This was
my first CEF Conference and it was wonderful.
I met Senior Pastors, students, and lay leaders from all over the
country. I even met two people who know
people from my current church. One has
been a long time friend of my current pastor.
The other is the niece of a long time member of my current church. I also met a student leader from Minneapolis
who took the MegaBus down to the conference. I met a Lay leader from
Connecticut who did virtually everything in her church and we talked about the
need to delegate. This was her tenth
straight conference.
The
prayer kits were a nice touch and something that can easily be implemented in a
church if not already available.
The workshops either emphasized the importance of things
that we are currently doing at my church or gave new ideas for providing
Christian Education. For example:
The
pre-conference workshop on Christian Educator Preparation reaffirmed the need
for curriculum review and offering an introductory course on the Bible for
adults each year.
The
Techno Savvy Educator provided a myriad of free resources for incorporating technology
and the internet into church Bible study course offerings. This is an area that we need to develop in my
church in order to reach young adults and techno-savvy middle-age and older
adults.
Teaching
the Way Jesus Taught talked about how the time in which Jesus lived and taught
influences the way we teach today.
Adaptive
Leadership provided new insights into how Moses and Aaron changed their
leadership styles as necessary during the Exodus. This showed leaders today that your
leadership style needs to change to match the situation at hand, to achieve new
goals.
Professional
Certification provided information on how leadership can be obtained
simultaneously with certification courses.
Certification provides Biblical and theological training, knowledge of
the structure of the United Methodist Church and its resources, skill
development, among other information, such as why be certified.
The
Lord’s Prayer with movement was new and different. Movement can be used to enhance your worship
experience.
Violence: A Christian Perspective centered on bullying,
a situation that affects the church and that the church needs to take steps to
address.
In his
opening Conference address, keynote speaker Rev. Dr. James Harnish talked
about, among other things, what it looks like to be a Methodist. He encouraged attendees to re-kindle, stir up
the gift that God gave you, wake up the fire-breathing beast within you, to
think about Methodist doctrine versus discipline and try versus train for
something according to the words of the founder of Methodism.
Rev.
Rosemary kept you interested in her talks.
During one talk she gave the Characteristics of a Christian. One characteristic was love. She encouraged us to never miss an
opportunity to say “I love you,” not to make someone uncomfortable, but to show
genuine, real love.
Rev.
Jessica LaGrone gave new insight about doing devotionals. Stop using a middle
man for your devotionals and go straight to God’s Word. She encouraged us to study the Word not to be
an expert but to share it with others.
Rev. Dr.
Mai-Anh Le Tran was an academician who could relate to a broad-based
audience. She talked about violence in
today’s world, in particular the Michael Brown case in St. Louis. She asked and answered the question “What
does it mean to have faith in a violent world?”
The
closing night entertainment was off the chain.
The light display and the coordination of Sheltered Reality were
phenomenal. It was good to have youth involved in the Conference. Musicians Jeff Wood and Richland Creek were
also excellent choices for musical entertainment.
Bobbie West
