The Conference is Over and I’m already missing many people

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The Melbourne, Australia’s conference is officially over.

I had a wonderful time. Let me tell you something. This conference is one of a kind! It is exceptional in many ways! I have that sense of accomplishment which is a rare feeling I get after a conference. This is a ten-day conference. So, I felt fulfilled. Praise God!

The last day of the conference was last Sunday and I spoke for more than six hours and in the evening, I had my last session with the young men, 18 to 30 year olds. (The young men you see in this video are not all of them because some of them left.)

My opening statement or I will say, question was, “Is there anyone here who doesn’t struggle with porn?”

That question itself shuttered the silence and after that moment, we had lots of fun time together. Their pastor, Pastor Zelalem and the youth minister, Jonathan, are the most radical, genuine and humble ministers I so far met in my life. They sat down with everyone and said, “We all are exposed to porn, none of us are immune to its influence and we all are battling to keep our sexual integrity on a daily basis. We all are in the same boat. We all men are vulnerable. We don’t need to go anywhere to look for porn; it comes to our home, via our TV sets, laptops and phones. We constantly get bombarded by sexual images almost every minute. So, we are not here to judge and condemn anyone but to come up with a workable strategy that helps us all to fight it. we need to lock our hands and fight together. So, let’s talk about it.”

My heart literally melted. “Playing church” was thrown out of the window; and authenticity and transparency took the stage. Don’t you love that! I do!

We closed the session laughing, hugging and remembering this passage of the Bible:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? – – – No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-40) Hallelujah! ///