Day 1 of the SBC Annual Meeting Thoughts and Reflections

I made it to Phoenix and have been deeply encouraged thus far. In case you didn't know, someone graciously paid my way to Phoenix to attend the 2017 annual Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meeting. This is my first annual meeting. Hear my thoughts and Reflections from the first day:

1. Prayer. One of my intentions while attending the annual meeting was to combine it with a personal prayer retreat. My aim is to seek the Lord, enjoy fellowship with him, pray for you, and work to understand his desires for our Church. 

2. Grandeur. I got to Phoenix at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning Phoenix time so I decided to rent a car and drive to the Grand Canyon. What an amazing place! And what an amazing backdrop to fan the flame of faith in a God who can do abundantly more than anything we could ask or imagine. And really, when you think of all of creation, the Grand Canyon is a blip. It's pretty obvious that one of the symptoms of sin and unbelief and fear and a lack of zeal is the smallness of our perception of God and his promises. I'm glad that I was able to start this trip with the breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon. I want the glory of the Lord and the beauties of his salvation to daily take my breath away. One of the features of the Grand Canyon is that when you walk up to it feels like it's going to suck you in because of its depth. I long for the gospel to have this effect on myself and all of you.

3. Philippians. Starting last night, I have been attending a Pastors Conference, which is a pre-Gathering of pastors before the main convention meetings. The focus has been to encourage everyone here from the book of Philippians through 12 expository sermons from 12 different guys. What an amazing letter! I have been reminded of the glory of Jesus and how the glory of Jesus is meant to create a body of Believers united with one another in Christ. My soul has been refreshed by the teaching. It makes me want to go to Philippians after Exodus!

4. Small churches. There is an emphasis in this year's Pastors Conference to encourage churches who have 250 or less in attendance every Sunday. That's us! Believe It or not, churches this size make up about 80% of all of the churches in the Southern Baptist convention. I have fallen into this, but the temptation when you are a small Church is to doubt whether or not you can have a lasting impact for the kingdom. It's amazing that one of the most beautiful examples of godliness and generosity and compassion that is given to us in the Bible is from the churches in Macedonia. They were limited in resources, and they were poor. But, they served as a glorious example to ignite the generosity and compassion the Corinthians. I have been praying that the Lord would help us to overlook our lack of size and money and resources and instead look to His Infinite ability and power and wisdom and majesty so that we can, through faith and obedience, have a Global impact for the glory of Christ that far exceed what abilities we think we have.

Please pray for me when you can. It's really amazing to be part of a convention like the Southern Baptist Convention. I will try to give a report every day so check back here!

Love you all and I thank God for you always in my prayers,

Joey