Refresh 2008
Oh Come All Ye Faithful!
With the comfortable refrain of the old hymn brought to life by the Robbie Seay band, the 2008 Refresh Conference began on December 15, 2008. The 167 attendees representing various types of Campus and Wesley ministries from across the United States came together to begin their learning experience with worship and communion.
Worship leader JD Walt brought the evening together and introduced the 21st Century Wesley Brothers – Robbie and Chris Seay – to prepare those present for a period of reflection, prayer, refreshment and learning.
Chris challenged those in attendance to:
1. Abandon consumerism – authentic evangelism is not about what you can give, but what Jesus can give.
2. Learn to tell the story of God - You are called as a pastor/leader to this role, learn how to use your gift and your call well, tell the story as only you can. Lean into it and invite others to join you!
Read the Bible with your congregation/students and help them to experience the Word in creative ways. To move from an intellectual understanding of the Word – from the head – to acting upon the meaning of the word – become the hands.
3. Be Real! - Tell the Truth and challenge people to be their best. Let them know the authentic you and come to know the authentic person they are. Ask yourself if your community is confessing sins, coming to know each other at that basic level and offering acceptance of the frailty while going together on the journey. If no – you are teaching religion. If yes – you are teaching them to be Christian.
4. The work of the Christian leader in the world is redeeming and reconciling. (Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11)
Whether an individual serves in a Wesley Foundation, a church-related college or a local church based campus ministry setting, those who travel to Refresh ’08 are from the frontlines of the culture, one of the most challenging fields of mission and ministry. In their ministry, they pour out their hearts and invest their time in meeting the young women and men across our nation’s campuses where they are physically and spiritually. Refresh is four days set aside to seek God’s blessing – to be encouraged, to receive resources for the mission and to be challenged by their peers. Ultimately, the purpose of refresh is that each person present might be refreshed mentally, physically and spiritually to do the kingdom work for which he or she has been called.
Refresh is sponsored by The Foundation for Evangelism. This grant is made possible by the gracious giving and prayerful support of Royce and Jane Reynolds.
[...] attended the Refresh conference last December, where Sean Gladding described what he felt were the dominant worldviews [...]