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From April 3 to 5, LA UBF had its annual Spring Bible Conference. The theme of the conference was “He Has Risen”. The opening message, entitled, “His Father Saw Him And Was Filled With Compassion For Him” was delivered by Frank Holman. In this message we learned about God’s truly unconditional acceptance for repentant sinners and were encouraged to be like our Father in Heaven by forgiving as we have been forgiven.

The second message, delivered by Greg Cocco was entitled, “They Crucified Him”. In his message, Greg proclaimed that “the cross is the solution to our greatest enemy—sin!” and that “God gave the maximum, in the form of his son, to love us and restore us. A testimony shared by Troy Segal afterwards revealed that “often we don’t know what we are doing” but Jesus prays for us to be forgiven and to become enlightened. Through several examples of his own “not knowing what he was doing”, Troy made a clear case that we should be merciful and loving to our brothers and sisters who don’t know what they are doing.

The third message was the principle message of the conference: He Has Risen. Delivered by Terry Lopez this message began with a reminder that this conference was exactly what we needed. According to Terry, we came to this conference for one reason, to listen to the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus’ resurrection solved the final problem/enemy of man…death.

The final message delivered by Robert Fishman was entitled, “You are Witnesses of These Things”. Being a witness often means that we must digest the Word of God deeply so that we can share the good news with others. Jesus wanted his disciples to overcome their doubt and helped them by showing his hands and feet. The body of Jesus gives us hope and proof of the coming resurrection, for "after death there is resurrection!"

Besides the wonderful messages, the drama (based on Luke 15 and Luke 23) was a great conference highlight. In this drama, nearly every growing disciple in LA UBF was involved in one way or another. Beyond that, many precious coworkers who don’t always have a spotlight were able to sing, dance and act for the glory of God. It had been several years since our last drama but it’s clear once again that although the coordination overhead is daunting, dramas are a great means to bring large amounts of church members together with wonderful results.

At the end of the conference, there was appreciation of newcomers, drama cast members, and about 12 people shared their testimony during the conference reflections. The conference ended with two by two prayer giving thanks to God.

One Word: “He Has Risen” is not just for us but for the entire world! It is for everyone who will listen and believe! 

Written by William Larsen on behalf of Pastor John Kwon