Regular readers might remember Nathan’s guest follow up post about Jennifer Knapp titled True Repentance Always Comes With Provision To Live It Out.
Last night he sent me another post that I thought would be an encouragement today. Parts of it are really funny too (Emphasis Nathan … linkage mine.)
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Still debating whether to attend the Exodus Freedom Conference next week? My advice is to go.
If my past experience at three previous conferences holds true for this conference, God has some divine appointments He wants me—and you—to keep.
I remember my first conference in Wheaton several years ago. I was excited to go, but very apprehensive. The few people I knew who would be there were involved in leading the conference and I knew I would have very little interaction with them. So I simply prayed. I asked God to send someone to me who would be just the right person for some needed fellowship. The way it happened was really miraculous. I had just gone through the food line and was carrying my tray into the large dining hall filled with two or three hundred other people. I found a seat and began to eat, wishing I had someone to talk to. And at just that moment, a man took a seat at the same table and fifteen minutes later, that man—Bob Ragan—had become the answer to my prayer. He was full of wisdom and—out of all those people in that room—was the exact right person I needed. I still treasure knowing Bob these several years later. I’m so glad God set up that divine appointment.
There were other surprises for me at that conference too. The first night sitting in the huge auditorium with several hundred others dealing with SSA was an experience in itself. These people understood. They knew. I felt so at home. And then the emcee introduced a dramatic group called Acts of Renewal. Oh my. The concept of laughing at the humor inherent in our same-sex attractions was new to me. And laugh I did. Eventually, I cried when their skits took a more serious turn. (I still have the DVD of those performances and they still evoke all the right emotions). Speaking of humor, I still laugh at the time emcee Christine Sneeringer tossed T-shirts into the full auditorium and said, “I know that all the women out there are thinking, Come on, Christine, you can do better than that, and all the men are thinking, wow, I wish I had her arm.”
Another funny thing about that first conference–I was so out of the loop that I couldn’t quite guess what was meant by the scheduled “Special Interest Groups.” What on earth? All I could imagine was “Barbra Streisand fans meet in Room 1A. Diana Ross fans are in 2A and Bette Midler groupies are in 3A.”
It turned out I was a bit off the mark. These special interest groups tackle subjects a bit more relevant: whether or not to consider marriage, how to overcome porn, and, one year, there was one on conquering “the Big M.” There again, I was so clueless. I had to go to the workshop just to satisfy my curiosity.
Oh, that big M.
That first year was great, but the following years were just as good. Every year some new event or person touches me deeply. One year Sheila Walsh sang a rendition of “Over the Rainbow” that was pure ministry itself. Another year it was talking to a man I had unknowingly influenced to turn back to Christ after several years of living with a lover. I was amazed—and thankful. That same year I met a woman waiting in line with me for a meal. Almost reluctantly she asked, “Do you deal with homosexual attractions?” When I said yes, she teared up and said, “It’s so hard, isn’t it?” I hope I see her again this year. I want to know how she’s doing. Yes, it can be hard….but not as hard as the alternative. And God gives us grace to live the wonderful life to which He’s called us. With a faithful God and sympathetic companions along the way, it’s really not that hard, after all.
Meeting new people really is one of the greatest joys of the Freedom Conferences. I can’t think of a place where you’ll meet so many wonderfully broken people. I say “wonderfully” because when you’re there, you sense God breaking up some ground in your life. Miracles do happen. But don’t take that to mean you’ll leave as a heterosexual. You won’t. But you’ll leave knowing that you aren’t alone in your desire to pursue God, no matter what He calls you to leave behind.
I hope I see you in Irvine next week. Maybe you’ll be my divine appointment this year.
About Randy Thomas
I’ve never been to an Exodus Conf, cos I live in the UK. But we have our do’s over here. Ok, maybe not as flashy and huge as yours, but we have ours, and we treasure them. I was hesitant for a couple of years of going. I didn’t know what it would be like, basically. Now, I’ve been almost every year since my first year, and loved every single one.
Being amongst Christians where everyone can be totally open and honest is fab. It’s not a case of ‘I’m with a load of gay people’. It’s a case of ‘I’m with a load of Christians’. There is definately that feel. And a feel of family.
Most of my friends now are people I’ve met at conferences, and some of the best teaching I’ve heard in the last few years has been from these conferences. We get teaching both on SSA etc and on ‘normal’ Bible teaching. I know Exodus has conferences like ours, albeit on a grander scale.
I would urge and recommend anyone to try a conference, just once, and see what they think. It’s not for everyone, especially with all them SSA people everywhere, attraction issues can be an issue, so some people prefer other Christian conferences, but for me, I love it and wish I’d started going to conferences earlier.
I loved going to the conference over there with TFT. Thanks for the encouragement. This will be my 15th conference! I have enjoyed each and every one of them for different reasons.
“Being amongst Christians where everyone can be totally open and honest is fab. It’s not a case of ‘I’m with a load of gay people’. It’s a case of ‘I’m with a load of Christians’. There is definately that feel. And a feel of family. ”
And it’s not a feeling of “I’m with a load of Christians who don’t seem to deal with what I’m dealing with, whose focus can be converting other people to the church, instead of mending our own brokenness”
I’ve never been to an Exodus Conf, cos I live in the UK. But we have our do’s over here. Ok, maybe not as flashy and huge as yours, but we have ours, and we treasure them. I was hesitant for a couple of years of going. I didn’t know what it would be like, basically. Now, I’ve been almost every year since my first year, and loved every single one.
Being amongst Christians where everyone can be totally open and honest is fab. It’s not a case of ‘I’m with a load of gay people’. It’s a case of ‘I’m with a load of Christians’. There is definately that feel. And a feel of family.
Most of my friends now are people I’ve met at conferences, and some of the best teaching I’ve heard in the last few years has been from these conferences. We get teaching both on SSA etc and on ‘normal’ Bible teaching. I know Exodus has conferences like ours, albeit on a grander scale.
I would urge and recommend anyone to try a conference, just once, and see what they think. It’s not for everyone, especially with all them SSA people everywhere, attraction issues can be an issue, so some people prefer other Christian conferences, but for me, I love it and wish I’d started going to conferences earlier.
I loved going to the conference over there with TFT. Thanks for the encouragement. This will be my 15th conference! I have enjoyed each and every one of them for different reasons.
“Being amongst Christians where everyone can be totally open and honest is fab. It’s not a case of ‘I’m with a load of gay people’. It’s a case of ‘I’m with a load of Christians’. There is definately that feel. And a feel of family. ”
And it’s not a feeling of “I’m with a load of Christians who don’t seem to deal with what I’m dealing with, whose focus can be converting other people to the church, instead of mending our own brokenness”
Go.
Stop thinking and go.
Go.
Stop thinking and go.
We have been to five of these conferences – San Diego 2000, Ridgecrest 2001, Wheaton 2002, Azuza 2004, and Ridgecrest 2005. You will be glad you went! The worship, the testimonies, the teaching, the fellowship are all worth it! But be sure to get enough rest while you are there though, it is too easy to get caught up in long late evening conversations and prayers out on the patios or dessert snack rooms with other attendees. So leave yourself time to reflect and digest and process what you have heard, especially if you have to return to your workplace immediately after the conference.
We have been to five of these conferences – San Diego 2000, Ridgecrest 2001, Wheaton 2002, Azuza 2004, and Ridgecrest 2005. You will be glad you went! The worship, the testimonies, the teaching, the fellowship are all worth it! But be sure to get enough rest while you are there though, it is too easy to get caught up in long late evening conversations and prayers out on the patios or dessert snack rooms with other attendees. So leave yourself time to reflect and digest and process what you have heard, especially if you have to return to your workplace immediately after the conference.