Usually, I consider myself fortunate if I come home with one
“gold nugget” of information from a conference.
Before Wilberforce Weekend 2013 concluded, it was obvious I had discovered
the whole mine! I went back to work that
mine again last week and came home richer than ever.
Wilberforce Weekend, named in honor of WilliamWilberforce, was created by Chuck Colson
in 2007. His desire was to bring Christians
together to educate, equip, and encourage them to live out the Biblical World
View in their communities for real redemption and restoration. Hundreds of people from all walks of life come together to share
their experiences, successes and failures.
With much humility, passion, and transparency, each speaker genuinely desires to help others reach and serve their communities God’s way. The opportunity to dialogue one-on-one
with the speakers is priceless.
It was at this event in 2013 that I learned of the Centurion Program. For years, I had been struggling with what I saw
as the ineffective American church in a dark and devastated land. I knew it shouldn’t be that way. When I read Scripture, it seemed to jump off
the page in bright neon lights that we/I should be doing more than trying to
stay safe and isolated from the world until Jesus returns. But what?
How? Where do I even start? Was
there anyone, anywhere who saw the neon words, too? God began to unveil the
answers a little at a time. But…
Before He could do
anything with me, I had to let Him do
something in me.
The passion to see our culture reached for Christ wasn’t
enough; God gently showed me that I needed a time of preparation and then He graciously
provided it. He took my anxieties and
frustrations and through the most selfless, loving, and brilliant people I'll ever meet at the
Colson Center's Centurion Program, has given me a foundation to begin to answer the “what, how and
where” to serve my community as a steward of my Savior’s creation.
I could tell you about all the “larger-than-life” and “average-joe”
people who spoke and the amazing stories and insights they shared during the
conference this year. As memorable and edifying as
they were-and they were- Wilberforce Weekend is so much more than that to
me.
It’s the anniversary of the time when God
heard my cries for my people and answered my prayers for help.
The parable In Matthew 25:11-38 is frequently viewed from
the perspective that the “talents” are our time, talents and tithe. I see it as that, and much more. If Jesus really is Lord over all, then
everything belongs to Him; we are simply stewards. So doesn’t it reason that the community and
culture He has blessed and entrusted us with is part of that “talent” in which
we are to invest and grow for Him?
Will
Jesus return to see that we have invested in the culture given to us or will He
find that we have buried His treasure only to return and find it just as it was
when He gave it to us?
Do you have a hunger to grow in wisdom and knowledge in
Christ in order to steward that which He has put in your hands? Take the next
step and visit www.colsoncenter.org
or email me at jesussaysmine@gmail.com
for more information.
The fields are ripe for harvest, but the workers are few.
