Off to Miami

Posted By Brek Cockrell on Oct 23, 2008 | 0 comments

Got up at 4:00 AM this morning to catch a 6:15 flight to Miami. Can’t believe how crowded it is at the airport at 5:30 in the morning!

I am taking Josh Dean and Scott Stockton with me and will be hooking up with Mark Cerbone and some of the Pace of the City staff.We had a delay flying out of Atlanta so we missed our afternoon pre-conference sessions but we got a chance to get some great Cuban food!!

We had our first opening session tonight and it was awesome! The worship was great and the following conversation about what it means to bring Shalom to the City (the theme).

A.R. Bernard was one of the speakers and he was off the hook good. Here are some things that I jotted down from tonight.

Understanding and Embracing Shalom

What is Shalom?

Jeremiah 29

• ·      It is a process
  
• ·      A conspiracy to make this world a better place -through grace, mercy, justice, love
  
• ·      Transformation is a process
  
• ·      Societies brokenness begins with personal brokenness
  
• ·      Great analogy Christ followers are in the culture like fish are in the ocean. Fish can live in saltwater          but not be salty
  
• ·      Shalom is NOT absence of conflict but when conflict arises you deal with it appropriately
  
• ·      Relationship PRECEDES ministry
  
• ·      Programs are venues where Christ love can be seen and felt!
  
• ·      Spend less time in the office and more time being good neighbors
  
• ·      The Church is to be the prophetic voice of God to and for the people of the city.
  
• ·      ‘If you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together’
  
• ·      You will not grow to your full capacity alone only in community will you find more of who you are!
  
• ·      How do we engage the political process
  
• ·      We cannot isolate ourselves (Christians) or we will become irrelevant
  
• ·      We must engage politics because it is the process that helps guide our city
  
• ·      Politics is power – we must hold the system accountable so that we can live a peaceful life
  
• ·      We are commanded to pray for our leadership in politics
  
• ·      Justice is not just serving but more importantly EMPOWERING people so they can be made whole.