The Ultimate Conference Post

So.

Been a while.

Instead of posting multiple times during conference, I'm going to cover the highlights in one post. I do this as both a report and as an encouragement to entice you to join us at the next OMS conference. We had amazing opportunities, and it saddens me that more people weren't there to take advantage of them and to really rejoice in what God is doing around the world.

Nous le faisons.

I actually went up to conference, held at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, earlier than most. As I was part of the planning team, stage dec team, Illuminate Experience team, etc., I went up on Wednesday to help get things set up.

People really have no idea how much work goes into conference. They can guess, but I guarantee they won't even come close. No matter how much prep you do before the event, at least 20 things will change when you actually get there, so you also have to be prepared to deviate from the original plan. I don't know how many times I ended up saying, "At this point, I'll take what I can get." Not to imply that the conference services staff at IWU were not prepared - there's just no way to keep track of everything.

Anyway.

The first job is always to unload the big moving truck. We packed it up on Tuesday. We have to hire a moving truck because we have a lot of rooms and events with a lot of stuff populating them. All of our stage decoration, the flags for the ceremony, nursery items, prayer room items, the IR items, signs - you name it, it ends up on the truck. 

For pretty much all of the rest of Wednesday, we worked on the stage. Foster had a really great idea to use furnace filters to make pillars. They were incredibly awesome. We've been painting them for the last three months, and then we had to tape them, and then we had to assemble them. Then place them. Then put lights in them. Then mirrors on top. Then take the mirrors off because they were too heavy. We changed our original idea slightly, but the whole stage presentation was incredibly awesome. And when I say all of the rest of Wednesday, I mean we got to our rooms around 11:30.

 

 And then we had to turn around and use most of Thursday to set up the Illuminate Experience. This was something brand new for OMS. Typically, we do a display room, so each region has a display with what is happening in their countries, or we highlight the funding project for conference, or something similar. But it always ends up being a pretty static room. This year, we wanted something more interactive. Thus, the Illuminate Experience was born.

We divided the room into three sections. The first section had our book tables and our photo opportunities. I was in charge of the photo ops with Lori. We came up with some pretty fun ideas, if I do say so myself. We had the SHNE letters so that people could be the 'I' and let everyone know that they were letting their light shine. We had a group option with the posterboard messages. And we had an Instagram sign. I was quite pleased.

The second room was also a lot of fun. Well, fun in the sense that it was meant to convey the reality that is the darkness in the world around us. I didn't get good pictures of everything, but you'll get the idea. On one side, we had a wall of news articles and photographs that reminded people of everything evil happening in the world today. Interspersed were Scripture verses about overcoming darkness. In the opposite corner, we had a station set up for people to write notes to missionaries, Christians, students, and others living in situations where they confront darkness every day. Then we had a light bright-esque board set up for people to light up places they were praying for, countries they served in or visited, and various other questions we asked. The effect was very cool.

In the very middle of the room, however, was the piece de resistance. Our maintenance guys built a maze of darkness. It was literally a dark maze that then took you to photographs of people still living in darkness, without the knowledge of a Savior. The quote at the end of the maze really hit home for me the urgency of the Great Commission and the dedication of missionaries to penetrate the darkness with the light of the Gospel.

Around the outside of the maze, we asked questions about how people could shine the light in their own lives. It was a very cool effect. 

The last section of the room gave people a chance to really understand how OMS is shining a light. Our Mobi team had a place to talk about opportunities to serve. We had a 'multiplication cage' of sorts. 

The first night, people put a paper in to symbolize themselves. 

The next night, they put in five more pieces of paper to symbolize the five people they would reach. 

The final night, we put in 25 pieces of paper to symbolize each person those five people would reach. It was a great word picture for multiplication.

We also had a place to talk about Train & Multiply, since multiplication is what we're all about. 

There was also food. Food is important.

Conference officially kicked off Thursday night. 

                      

    

First up was the flag ceremony, of which I was in charge. 

I was very proud of my flag bearers!

The Hunter Smith Band led worship throughout conference. Hunter Smith was a pro football player, but he also leads worship at his church, and he has a band. And their song "Indiana Moon" was chosen as the bicentennial anthem for Indiana. 

OMS President Bob Fetherlin gave the keynote address about the one billion vision. This is truly a God-sized goal, and we need all the help we can get from you and other partners in order to see this happen. 

I'll just give a few highlights from the rest of conference as there really was too much to cover completely. Dr. David Garrison joined us to talk about Muslim movements to Christ. The numbers are awe-inspiring. God is really on the move in the house of Islam. 

  We had a 5k to raise funds for our literacy program. I'm proud to say I completed all 3.1 miles!

 

 I also participated in the Great Adventure, which was a bit like 'Amazing Race' on TV. We didn't win, but we had fun! Turns out I have excellent rhythm. I was able to figure out a traditional Filipino dance. Ask me about it sometime.

On the last day, I got to help out with the children's program. Somehow, that was the day we had to sing on stage. Did I know the songs? No. Did I know the motions? No. But I can fake it with the best of them! #watermelonwatermelon

And that was pretty much it for conference. Like I said, there are so many other things that happened, it's hard to list them all here. Again, you should really consider joining us in 2018. 

So on Sunday afternoon, I went home and...

Wait, what?

I didn't go home?

Nope! Because after the OMS conference, I attended the Every Community for Christ WorldWide Coordinator's Seminar. Also at IWU in Marion. 

I had less to do for this one. Mostly behind the scenes stuff, taking photos and video, whatever needed to be done. I was there for another 4.5 days. 

Again, David Garrison was there to give us more information about the church planting movements happening around the world. He gave us a lot of encouragement and a lot of things to think about. Yes, the Church is moving forward in a lot of places. But it's being wiped out in others. 

We had participants from more than 30 countries and ministries partnering with ECC. Many of them are using Train & Multiply. A few are in security risk countries. Many more couldn't join us because they couldn't get visas. 

At the end of the conference, each ministry team created an action plan for the next ten years. They included a number that was their best estimate for how many people they thought they could give one significant opportunity to hear, understand, and respond to the Gospel in the next ten years. I counted them all up. That number is below. 

We have a lot of work ahead of us. 

State of the Company

Once a month, the staff at OMS HQ gathers to hear what other departments have been doing and be informed of the health of the organization. I suppose it could be likened to a State of the Union address, except much shorter and without the breaks for obligatory applause.

We had one this morning, and I'm pleased to report that the state of our union is relatively healthy. Deficits are down, particularly in homeland support accounts. This is always a huge concern for our staff, as many of us are underfunded. Many missionaries are at or below the poverty line. But December donations always help.

There was an Islamic Symposium last week, exploring the possibility of intentional evangelism among Muslim populations. We already do that to some extent, but much of it is on the periphery of the Muslim world. Muslims comprise 23% of the world's population, so of course we'd connect somewhere. But the vast majority of Muslims have no contact with the Gospel. Can we do a better job of reaching them? Of course we can.

ECC shared their four Wildly Important Goals for 2015-2016, one of which is near and dear to my heart. We hope to have the production process documented and learned entirely by year's end, so that we can translate 6 new languages and re-translate 8 languages by the end of 2016. It will fall largely on my shoulders to learn the process from Veronica, our partner in London, who is the only person in the world who knows the entire process right now. That is a scary thought. Your prayers, donations, and support are vital in helping us achieve this goal.

The development folks are hard at work finding foundations and donors to assist in funding major projects. There was a dedication in Haiti of one such project, the new radio towers. These towers help Radio 4VEH reach all of Haiti with the Gospel, health advice, and weather notifications.

36 people went through the application process last year to serve in various capacities. They are now funding and training for their new roles. If you received the last issue of Outreach, you saw that we have 134 personnel openings around the world of OMS. Think of how much we could do if each role was filled!

But it's not just work that we talk about. We also talk about personal accountability. Satan likes to attack us any way he can, and often, he attacks through what we see. Covenant Eyes is a new software we're considering to help members be accountable in their internet habits. It is an unfortunate reality with which we must contend. But it makes me feel better knowing OMS cares about our personal walk.

Most of what we talk about, though, is just company stuff. Probably the same sort of stuff your company talks about. Because missionaries are people, too. 

Turkey

Okay, here's the deal.

Constantinople is my city. It was one of my primary research fields when I was in college, first when I took a class on Venice (because of the Fourth Crusade) and continuing when I took a class on Eastern Orthodox Christianity and then even more when I wrote a screenplay about Richard III and Saladin (which I still have and which is available anytime you'd like to read it and promote it to your agent friends).

I love Constantinople.

And yes, I'm fully aware that Constantinople is now Istanbul, and I know that Istanbul is in Turkey, and I know that until a few months ago, I had slightly less than zero chance of getting there.

But now I have a chance.

Global Ministries, my other peeps, is sponsoring a trip to Turkey. The purpose of the trip is two-fold: first, to see the seven churches and travel with Paul in spirit; second, to explore the possibilities for ministry.

I want to go.

Words cannot express how much I want to go.

But there's a problem.

The trip cost is $3500 from JFK to Istanbul and back - including in-country costs minus a few lunches. And since this isn't explicitly related to my own ministry, I wouldn't use my support account to pay for it. Thus, it behooves me to appeal to you, my beloved and faithful readers.

I don't know how I'm going to do this, yet. I looked into Kickstarter, but they don't really support fundraising like this. But somehow, I will be raising funds to go on this trip.

You know how much this trip would mean to me?


That's right.

The world.

If I ever get back into history research, this trip would provide prime resource materials. As I explore the possibilities of Muslim ministry, this trip would be a valuable touch point. And there's nothing like reading the Bible and knowing that you've actually been to the places they mention.

So I'm asking. I'm asking for ideas, I'm asking for help - I'm appealing to the part of each and every one of you that remembers that one dream that you were able to achieve, that one moment that changed your life forever.

This is my moment.



EDIT: Okay, I've added a donation widget over on the right. I made it an even $4000 so I can pay for travel to JFK. Join the revolution!

Also, if you would like your donation to be tax deductible, send a check to:

Global Ministries
302 Lake St.
Huntington, IN 46750

Make sure you put "Jessica Hollopeter - Turkey" in the memo line.