Many respond to Mission Days 2010 with humility, sincerity and zeal

by Chuck Kelley

    With 250 people, 100 volunteers, and several incredible speakers in attendance, Mission Days 2010 was fabulous! Despite frigid average temperatures of -30 degrees, attendees were blessed with a combination of deep worship, great teaching, wonderfully creative artistic and musical expressions, lots of laughter, and sincere prayers.

    At the same time, the event was filled with awe, joy, freedom and holiness. The keynote speaker, Lindsay Brown, International Director of the Lausanne Commit- tee, left participants with a strong desire for commitment to Christ and a willingness to get involved growing God's Kingdom. In short, the Lord revealed Himself in a special way.

    Many participants have let us know how Mission Days impacted their hearts. Here are a few.   

    "All the stories, testimonies and historical things which were shared by Lindsay Brown at Mission Days touched my heart. I heard stories where I saw that people followed God wherever He asked them to go; some of them even gave their lives for that. It touched me deeply. I have always wanted to find my own security. My love for God has been conditional: 'Yes, I will follow, IF...' During the last prayer where you invited to come forward those who want to repent of something, or have made some new decisions in their lives, I thought that things are quite OK,

but then in my heart I heard God asking me, 'Are you willing to follow me 100 percent?' So, I decided, 'YES, I want to follow you.’

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    "Thank God, thank you and your team for wonderful Mission Days! I learned a lot, mostly the arguments the mission is for everybody, because our God is a missionary God. Lindsey Brown spoke clearly but deeply. The day after Mission Days, I was preaching in Karosta (former Soviet naval port in Liepaja) about this topic from Mark 4. Right after the service, a lady and several kids with whom she works, and said, 'We want to go to other kids and tell them about God.' And then another young man, approached me and asked, 'Can I go with you and do evangelization?' It surprises me.

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    "But the main thing, on the last evening I made a choice to follow Christ in His way, and wherever He wants, but only by His strength, because I understand that I can’t just do it on my own. I just know that in my strength and my way it would be disaster. And I made the decision to share the Gospel with my father. My parents aren’t Christian and are divorced. My father is an alcoholic, but he loves me very much, and despite all the bad things in his life, I love him, too. He knows I am a Christian and all the things I do in church, but we never have talked about Jesus Christ and that God has grace for him, grace to stop drinking and to forget all the bad things my dad has done and all the experiences he has had during war, where he served in the Soviet army, in Afghanistan. Sharing the Gospel with him to me is like moving a mountain, but God put it my heart, and I believe He will, by His grace, enable me to do that. This is a really big decision for me! And I would not have made it on my own."

    I want to thank all who labored, prayed for and supported Mission Days. I especially want to thank our Lord Jesus.