This exhortation concerns an event that is still a little over four months out, by which I mean our fall conference, entitled The Grace Agenda. We have held many conferences here over the years, but this year, this one is of particular strategic importance. And because of this, we don’t want it to be a conference that we merely “host,” with those of us who live here coming and going, or taking passing notice of it, as it suits us.
We would really encourage your involvement, volunteer work, contributions, and attendance. And if attendance is a financial challenge to you, please let Ben Merkle at the church office know. If it is not, then please budget for it, clear your schedules, and begin praying for this event now. In short, this will not be an event that a handful of organizers and workers will make successful; we would like this to be a body life event.
I said that this conference is of strategic importance. This is true locally, and it is true nationally. Often when we consider the state our nation is in, and we reflect on what men without God are doing to us, our reaction is one of helplessness—“but what can we do?” This conference is one part of our answer to that question. Here is something close, ready to hand, something important, and we invite your active participation. This is something you can do. This is here, and it is important.
We will of course keep you informed as we get closer and closer to the conference. But we wanted you to know at the front end, that this is a big deal.
If it were a football game, we are about to run a significant play. I would like to apply the words of Theodore Roosevelt, who once was speaking to boys about football, and who said, “Don’t foul, don’t flinch. Hit the line hard.”