Peacemaker Conference

Sandy and I went to the Peacemaker Conference almost 3 months ago! This post has been a long time coming. I've been meaning to post my thoughts about this conference but alas, good intentions. We had never been to any event sponsored by Peacemaker Ministries but have read The Peacemaker by Ken Sande and loved it. Really, if you have not read that book, YOU MUST! The book and the whole ministry is geared toward helping Christians resolve conflict biblically.

I was a little hesitant about the conference as I had never been and didn't really know anyone who had. Although it was a wee bit outside of my very conservative (and small) theological circles, I must say that it was a very positive experience. I took away 3 things from the conference:

1. Many people there really seemed to genuinely love Jesus and the fact that He bore their sin. They seemed so grateful and thankful and happy about it. I loved it. I try to cultivate that in my own heart and love to be around people who seem to have such a genuine personal response to the gospel of Christ.

2. Keeping God's love for me at the forefront of my thoughts and identity, really puts everything else in perspective. I just don't think enough about this infinite, unconditional, supernatural, glorious love for a sinner like me. We sang a David Crowder song during one of the praise sessions. I knew the song already but had never studied the words before. They really hit home. No matter what is going on in my life, how can I lose sight of such awesome love?

And He is jealous from me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

And oh, how He loves us, oh Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us all

And He is jealous from me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

Oh, how He loves, yeah, He loves us Oh, how He loves us, oh, how He loves usO h, how He loves

And we are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way

Oh, how He loves us, oh Oh, how He loves us, how He loves
3. My identity in Christ needs to grow more. Every year, I feel like I make a lot of progress in this area - truly seeing myself as in Christ / united with Christ as my primary identity. That being in Christ is more important than anything else that happens to me in my life. But even though I know this and keep trying to apply it to my heart every day and every year, it seems like I still surprise myself with how poorly I am doing with it.

In the challenges of life and pastoral ministry, I still want to feel discouraged or melancholy about challenges, trials and unrealized plans. I still keep putting my hopes and dreams, my identity, my happiness in what I can accomplish for God or what God is doing through me, emphasis me. First and foremost, I am a redeemed sinner, a forgiven child of God. I just happened to be a husband, father and pastor right now. It doesn't seem that hard a concept to apply yet I do have such a strong willed heart to fight against the relentless overpowering waves of God's ocean of grace.

If you ever get a chance to go to a Peacemaker Conference, I'd recommend it. The workshops especially were very good.