With Jesus at Pasadena Conference

It says in Mark Ch. 6
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.
31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

Chris here… we just returned from Pasadena and the 4-day conference marathon. Lori and I arrived Wed afternoon and immediately ‘jumped in the fray’... and it was a wild ride until we drove away Sat evening.

Amazing conference… the LORD showed up… a Mark 6 encounter…

The West Coast Healthcare Missions and Ministry Conference 2011 in Pasadena is the annual west-coast gathering of Christian missionaries and workers involved in health-care ministry. It’s a 4-day intensive gathering hosted by Fuller Seminary to present reports, research and innovative ideas, as well as ‘share good practices’ from the field. Relentlessly pulled together by the good Dr Peter Yorgin and his wonderful wife Lisa, this year it was 120 folks ‘from the trenches’ of healthcare work with the poor and marginalized.

Yes, I gave a lecture on best practices in nursing missions. That talk will result in a lot of work over the next year; a group of fellow nurse-mission people want to work together in ‘pounding out’ what we want to say from our ‘tribe’ related to such practices.

But way more than that happened. The best thing is to be WITH our fellow health-care missionaries and ministers. Healthcare ministry and working with the poor is hard. The conference is the rare opportunity for us to come together and be in the restorative Presence of the Lord together.

There were many God-Present moments. There were many words of encouragement from others working in the field. There were great and illuminating discussions about ‘how to do ministry better’. I could regularly see people with their heads bowed, praying together or for each other.

I could faintly see Jesus walking among us… He was the One speaking to us through it all.

We are better missionaries in the Lord’s fields for having come together. We are strengthened by ‘going aside with Jesus’ for a weekend.