With the theme, "Faith of Our Fathers," 515 leaders from the International Churches of Christ gathered in Dallas, Texas from October 3 through the 5th. They included evangelists, elders, teachers, deacons, ministry leaders, women's ministry leaders, board members, administrators, and small group leaders, both full-time and non full-time.  They came because they wanted to be there -- from 16 countries, 31 states and 99 different congregations.  Not a decision making meeting, this conference was a time of inspiration and renewal.

Though at the outset of the first night, the feelings were tenuous, the fellowship, the worship and the Scriptural lessons soon renewed the deep bonds of love among people who had not seen each other for some time.  Numerous humble acknowledgements of the crisis in our churches were met with three clear messages:

1)  A deep love for the Father and learning from his discipline
2)  A desire for brotherhood and unity
3)  A renewed commitment to world evangelism

Sasha Kostenko, Lead Evangelist of the Moscow Church, exemplified the tone of honesty in his sharing, "Russia is the country between Korea and Europe.  We don't have much good news this year.  We had a great meeting of the Eurasian leaders last month.We came to two decisions: to love God and to baptize.  There are 11,000 disciples in Eurasia. Next year we will have good news to share."  Many speakers openly spoke of profound and humble lessons God had taught them through his discipline.  There was an obvious commitment to deeply love God first and to love each other and the lost.

Mike Taliaferro, Lead Evangelist for the San Antonio Church and Gregg Marutzky, Lead Evangelist for the Dallas/Ft. Worth Church were the two primary organizers for this event.  Mike said, "I just saw that so many of our leaders were becoming disheartened and I wanted a way to encourage them."  Gregg commented, "This weekend showed me that we are not going to let our unity and God's dream to evangelize the world die. I felt all the people who came were committed to passing on a church they could be proud of to the next generation."  Here are some other responses:

"God is with us regardless of the battles we endure.  It is encouraging to know that your brothers and sisters are fighting with you and not against you.  And the musical 'Esther' was wonderful -- very inspiring and an excellent production."  Hong Ngu, Bible Talk Leader, Los Angeles

"There was no edge on the relationships of those attending.  The fellowship hugs were more real."  Steve Staten, Elder, Chicago

"I came not knowing what to expect, concerned about what the messages would be.  Now I am so refreshed to see the humility, love and zeal of the leaders.  So many people still want to be unified to evangelize the world."  Josue Ortega, Lead Evangelist, Mexico City Church