Friday, March 17, 2017

NA Camp 2016

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.

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