This year’s North American Annual Conference was held for the first
time in Chicago. The 2016 NAAC was hosted by Hope Chicago Church, with
many attendees from around the continent visiting for the very first
time. This year’s theme was Journey to Spiritual Maturity in Christ, and
people truly did journey, physically and spiritually. We had pastors
come from Australia, Singapore, Canada, and North America, all in order
to share the word of God and help grow the attendants. People came from
L.A., Seattle, Ontario, Toronto, and all around to celebrate the Love of
the Lord. Members of Hope Chicago Church, volunteers from L.A.,
Seattle, and Toronto, and pastors from all over the world dedicated
themselves to make the 2016 NAAC the best ever.
The conference
was held on the beautiful lakefront campus of Loyola University.
Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Lord provided great weather
and glorious views. The visuals provided in the meeting room were
artfully decorated to illustrate the theme of the conference. Worship
teams from Chicago, Seattle, Toronto, and L.A. provided inspiration for
each of the sessions. Opening night provided a special performance that
highlighted the Journey theme of the conference. It told the story of
Mr. Christian, a young man embarking on his journey through the world;
having to deal with the many trials and tribulations that besiege every
one of us.
Pastor’s Wilson Lim, Lai Ling Lim, Ben Lee, Dina
Lee, and Dr. Eric Herbert provided the preaching in keeping with the
Journey theme with subjects such as, “I will follow Christ,” “The
maturing process,” “Convictions matter,” “Whole life approach,” and “ I
will cross over with Christ.”
Every morning was jumpstarted with
a post-breakfast Devotional. Workshops gave the attendees the chance to
really delve deep into the subjects of Nurturing Faith at Home, Ups and
Downs of Being a Jesus Follower, Mentoring, Going to the Next Level for
Longer-term Believers, Christian Apologetics, and Core Team Leaders.
Friday night brought a special Free-flow worship session where Pastor
Lai Ling also gave the prophetic Word to many of the attendees. The
Baptism sessions were blessed to be performed at the adjoining beach in
the waters of the Great Lake Michigan. A break in the teachings was
provided by Arnut Paothong, with bible trivia concerning the Life of
Peter.
The conference held special significance in that it was
the final one with Pastor Ben Lee as the North American Regional Pastor;
passing the torch to Pastor Youngyuth Wiraponsawan to oversee the
churches in North America. Special performances and a final lesson by
Pastor Ben made for a very emotional farewell.
The closing
ceremonies brought a conclusion to the Journey for Mr. Christian. Having
grown in Spiritual Maturity during the conference, he was better
equipped to deal with the challenges that faced him. As a special
reminder of a truly wonderful conference, attendees were given a
postcard to write down their Journey, which would great them in the mail
when they returned home, in order to once again be inspired and blessed
by what they learned in growing closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
By : Tyler V.