General Conference Sessions

CGGC General Conference sessions for 2016 just wrapped up.  I wasn't present.

I found some images of it on Facebook and saw what I expected to see, i.e., lots of the same old--and, sadly, I do mean old--faces.  Ed Rosenberry,  Bill Reist, Phil Scott and others who have been gathering every three years since the disastrously failed 35,000 X 2000 program was launched.

Generally, they were smiling and appeared to be content and in their element.   This is a profoundly bad sign, since the body is in decline and it is godly sorrow that brings a repentance that leads to salvation--according to the Word,  at least.

To be fair,  there were some new prominent faces in the crowd, most conspicuous among them were Lance Finley and Brent Sleasman.

As far as I can tell, the major push, as advertised, was on discipleship.  I truly hope that a new day has come in the CGGC.   Time will tell.

---------------

As I was looking at the images, I  remembered past General Conference sessions for which I was present.

And, I  remembered that it was during one of those times that I had an important Ah Ha moment about the CGGC.   It was the year that Rick Rusaw was the featured speaker, talking about the content of the the book he'd just coauthored, THE EXTERNALLY FOCUSED CHURCH.

The CGGC people in the audience paid rapt attention.  I myself was inspired and convinced to do the sort of thing Rusaw was advocating.   (And, I did.)

 Then there was a moment when I understood that what Rusaw was teaching, to which we were listening with such interest, would come to nothing in the CGGC.   And, of course, I  was correct.

Beginning at that moment,  I saw our people's resemblance to the people Paul spoke to in Athens in Acts 17, who always loved to hear something new. We do love to hear new stuff,  but, until now at least, we never do anything about it.

So our Atheniens gathered and heard new things about discipleship this week.  Here's to hoping that, this time, they actually do something about it.

What Rick Rusaw said was good stuff.   The fact that it failed to transform us had nothing to do with his failure.  It had to do with failings in who we are.

All that the gang heard this week about discipleship, no doubt, was worth hearing.  The question now is if we are prepared to repent and become different people--people who actually put true ideas into action.

The smiling, content faces I saw in the images from General Conference suggest that we are still happy to be who we have been.   I hope later images, which I have not seen,  revealed faces tracked with tears caused by the godly sorrow that leads to repentance and brings salvation.

I had prayed, from time to time, that this year's Conference would be the beginning of a season of repentance.

We must repent.