I just returned from Orlando, Florida. I was there to work at the Sunday School & Discipleship Ministries International (SDMI) General Convention, which preceded the Church of the Nazarene's 27th General Assembly.Here's how I spent the first week:
Monday 6/22 Left Kansas City. Arrived in Orlando. Got to my hotel.
Tuesday 6/23
This was the day when the delegates from outside the United States arrived and registered. It was very significant to see the international membership of the Church of the Nazarene, as over half of our membership is outside the USA. There were hundreds of duly-elected delegates from outside the US who were not able to attend because they were either unable to obtain a visa to the USA, or their district did not have the finances to send them.
Wednesday 6/24 After the USA/Canada SDMI representatives registered in the morning, our focus turned to the first-ever SDMI regional forums. SDMI representatives met with others from their region to discuss the best discipleship practices at work on their region. I joined the Eurasia Region's forum, and found some ways to connect with discipleship ministry leaders from the U.K. all the way to India.
Thursday 6/25 On Thursday morning was the Global Celebration service led by SDMI. For the first time, the NMI, NYI, and SDMI services combined services, allowing delegates from different conventions to worship together and hear about the other ministries. It was a big step forward to communicate that these are inter-connected ministries with the same mission, not separate entities.
Friday 6/26
For the first time, NYI made their General Convention truly global by having 7 conventions around the world at the same time as the main site convention in Orlando. This allowed NYI delegates who were unable to travel to Orlando to vote, discuss items, and worship together with those in Orlando. In the NYI Global Celebration service, we worshiped together, aided by video and audio feeds from the other 7 convention sites. It was a truly global convention!
Saturday 6/27
I spent a majority of my day in the Exhibit Hall. To tie many of the exhibits together, guests had the option of playing a "Connecting Adventure." Tied to the Church of the Nazarene's Connecting a New Generation emphasis on children and youth, this adventure allowed guests to adopt a child from one of the 7 regions, and then go from one exhibit to another, seeing how each ministry benefits the life of a child or teenager and helps them grow into Christlike disciples. Once they accomplished their task at each exhibit, they would receive a stamp in their Connecting Passport, which they would need to fill to complete the Adventure.
Sunday 6/28 The beginning of my week-long vacation in Orlando. I'll post more updates and pictures soon from the extra week I spent in Orlando.
With ENC friends Angie Carr, Joe Heath, and Beth Restrick at General Assembly:
For more about General Assembly...
- Check out my friend Dave Young's "My General Assembly Top 10 Moments" here.
- Check out NCN News Daily Summaries here.
- Click here to read my post about Romania Representation at General Assembly.
- Click here to view my pictures from Week 1.
3 comments:
Hey Jonathan,
Looks like you had a great time at Gen Assembly. You said Duarte was the first GS from outside the US - but I think George Coulter (Canadian) was also from outside the US.
Anyway, enjoy Romania!
Hey Jonathan,
Sorry - my name got got off from the above comment.
o zi buna
Scott Meador
Thanks for pointing that out. I did some research and found that George Coulter was from Canada, but he had served for nearly 30 years in the US as pastor and DS before being elected GS. Duarte is the first to come "directly" from a country other than the US, but I'll change my wording above. Thanks.
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