GES conducted a regional conference April 5-7, at the First Baptist Church of Portland, OR. The theme was “Christ, the Righteous Rewarder.” As the title indicates, we discussed what the NT has to say about rewards for the faithful believer.
There were three speakers at the conference: Dave Janssen, Kathryn Wright, and me (Ken Yates). All three of us made clear the distinction between being a believer and being a disciple. A believer receives eternal life when, at the moment of faith, they believe in Jesus for it. It is free. The disciple is the believer who follows Christ in discipleship. Discipleship is costly and results in rewards. Eternal life cannot be lost. Rewards can.
During the various sessions, we covered a few of the parables as well as some NT passages that deal with rewards, such as Heb 12:1-2 and the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2–3. One session dealt with 2 Pet 1:5-11. This allowed us to plug the national conference in May, which will focus on 1 and 2 Peter.
After each session, there was a time for questions and answers. There were some outstanding questions, which was a clear indication that people were following what was being taught. We had a book table, giving attendees the opportunity to obtain some Free Grace literature from authors such as Bob Wilkin and Zane Hodges. A number of people also signed up to receive Grace in Focus, the magazine GES publishes every two months. It includes articles from various authors dealing with various Free Grace topics. If you are not receiving it and would like to, all you have to do is sign up at www.faithalone.org.
Some attendees expressed interest in coming to the national conference. Others said that they would like to take some classes at the GES seminary online.
Kathryn and I stayed over for the Sunday service. I was asked to speak and chose as my text John 8:1-12–the passage about the woman caught in adultery. In keeping with the theme of the conference, I tried to discuss what the account of that woman has to say about both the free gift of eternal life and the importance of following Christ after becoming a believer.
Matt Toupin is the pastor of First Baptist Church. He and everybody at the church were great and did all the necessary work to make the conference a success. Thanks goes out to him as well as to Trudi and Steve Bils. They’ve been associated with GES from its very inception. They, along with their granddaughter Italia, hosted Kathryn and me and made us feel completely at home. In fact, they even made it possible for us to see some of the gorgeous sights around Portland, such as Multnomah Falls. We really appreciated it because we’d never been to Oregon. It has some great parks.
GES is constantly looking for opportunities to hold regional conferences. Our next one is planned for Italy, near Milan, during the first week of May. If you’re interested in having one in your church and area, contact GES, and we’ll see if we can make it happen.
