Joe Dallas - Freedom Conference 2010/LWO "Moving Forward"
Thom Hunter has a very inspiring post concerning his experience at the Exodus Freedom Conference a couple of weeks ago. Here is an excerpt from his blog post (linkage mine.):
I wish every pastor in the country — make that the world — could hear Joe Dallas explain the differences between homosexual orientation . . . identity . . . and behavior. Orientation being involuntary, discovered. Behavior being what we do with that discovery via our free will. Identity sometimes foisted on us, sometimes embraced, but not who we really are. Not in God’s created intent, but only in our fallen nature.
Say it’s so Joe: ”To be loved by God and approved by God are two different things.” How many times have I felt God’s love even in an unapproved state? And, if I had not felt that love when I could find none of my own for myself, and found it in scant supply in the community, how could I have yearned to turn?
Thematically, speaker after speaker spoke of the enduring love of God to brace those who are in ever-danger of falling. The personal thread of endurance ran through the conference, but it ran alongside the reality of the strong chord of God’s grace.
I loved the speakers and I could go on and on. Kathy Koch, founder of Celebrate Kids, Inc, can put more comfort and hope into truth than anyone I know, for instance. Mike Haley, from Focus on the Family and Mike Goeke, from Cross Power Ministries, shared testimonies that touched me because I can trace their victories in an alignment with my past and wrap myself in the fabric of realistic encouragement. Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, can map a battlefield with more clarity than a four-star general.
But . . . what did I really take home from the Exodus Freedom Conference that was most valuable to me? The resolve of those with whom I sat and shared a meal, or a conversation in a workshop or small group, or a brief exchange in a registration line. These open hearts and exposed souls who had come from all over the country and the world to seek . . . the holiness of which we speak. They are the ones who provide fuel for my own endurance because they are on the painful road to freedom for themselves or those they love.
The above is just a portion of a longer post so please read the whole thing.
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