Last weekend The Voice of the Martyrs had a conference out here in Southern California, and unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, but a dear friend of mine was. So I asked Kathi Macias, to share with us her experience at the VOM conference. Click here to visit Kathi's website and to learn more about her, she's a great writer.
For Southern California, it was a cool morning...sun shining with the temperature hovering just above sixty. Anyone who flew in for the “Bound with Them” conference from anywhere east of Murrieta no doubt thought they had landed in the tropics.
Registration began at eight, though the conference itself wasn’t scheduled to start until nine, so when I drove into the Calvary Chapel parking lot at 8:10, I thought I’d be the first one there. Not so. The main parking lot was already filling up…and still they kept coming. Before long people were parking in the lower parking lots and hiking up the street to the beautiful campus, making their way inside to register and mingle, to have a free cup of coffee and a breakfast snack, to pray and wait expectantly.
By nine o’clock, the large auditorium was filling quickly…but still they kept coming. Parents brought their children, couples came arm-in-arm, the elderly and infirm came on walkers and in wheelchairs. Those of us already seated squeezed together and made room, as the number of attendees grew and the level of expectancy continued to rise.
Melodious harp music filled the air as we came together for a brief time of worship…and then the speakers began to present their testimonies, their stories, their calls to action. And people responded, as passion for the lost and compassion for the suffering flowed from hearts afire with love for the Savior.
“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Heb. 13:3) was the rallying cry…and still they kept coming, some who had been unable to break away from prior commitments to arrive in time for the opening sessions but who came as soon as they were able. All were of one accord, as we discovered while talking and sharing during breaks and lunchtime, or just visiting at the resource tables.
Everyone agreed that it was a joy and a privilege to gather together with so many who shared in their love and support of the persecuted Church around the world. What an honor to hear speakers who had actually been a part of that persecution and who now love Jesus more than ever!
I for one will never be the same. Though I have long supported VOM, this was my first opportunity to attend one of their conferences; I pray it won’t be my last. I encourage anyone who has a chance to do so in the future to be sure you are numbered among those who “kept coming.” It is an experience you won’t soon forget.
