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By God’s grace, the journey to the conference site located in Puncak was a safe one.  Upon arrival we had lunch, and shortly after that we heard a message from Shepherd Fernandes.  I have heard him give messages before and they were always very good.  This one was by far the best I have heard from him.  When he spoke from Romans 12:1,2, he did so with such sincerity. 

Then it was on to games.  These games were a great way to meet and bond with others from other parts of the Depok chapter.  There was a challenge involving eating a wide assortment of “foods” in a short period of time.  There was also a balloon toss, a potato sack race, and a contest involving arranging the words of certain key verses from the Bible correctly.  These games seemed to encourage teamwork and more than a little laughter, which seemed to help cultivate a healthy environment for God’s word to be planted.

After dinner, we heard a message from Shepherd Ian from John 4.  His message was very clear and heart-moving as he talked about his struggle to grow spiritually.  He is definitely a young and promising “leader candidate” among us in Depok UBF.  The evening time left time for us to write testimonies, and socialize with others.  Mostly, the men housed near where I stayed gathered around whoever had a guitar and sang Indonesian Christian songs.

Friday morning brought a message from Shepherd George on David & Goliath from 1 Samuel 17.  Having no memory of ever hearing him speak, I did not know what to expect.  As was consistently the case throughout the conference, George delivered a powerful message.  He confessed his past sins very sincerely, and expressed hope that God could use him as a shepherd for Indonesian students.

After breakfast, we had our first Group Bible Study from Genesis 39.  Then we had the message from this passage by Shepherd Kefas.  I really liked his message, as he spoke from his heart about the struggle that Joseph surely suffered through.  He made Joseph’s struggle something that we all were able to grasp very practically.

After lunch, it was time to write a reflection.  The one thing that really surprised me at the SBC was that everyone wrote reflections!  It was almost like the men that I was housed near drew strength from one another as they sat down and struggled with God’s word first.  After writing their reflections, then they went to play soccer.  I was able to make an observation about Indonesian students here; Indonesian students really love God’s word!  They consistently demonstrated that they had come to the SBC for the right reasons, that is, to be drenched in God’s word and to be strengthened in Jesus and grow as spiritual leaders.

I should mention that prior to the message, there was a trio drama based on Genesis 39.  All the actors, such as Stefanos, Indeo and Abraham all did a great job with their roles, and it was humorous as well as informative.

The emphasis on raising new young spiritual leaders and messengers continued with Shepherd Billy giving the next message from John 8:1-12.  I had never seen Billy deliver a message before, but he was a very powerful messenger!  In him I saw that God is raising many new leaders and messengers of God’s word among us.

After the message, we had life testimony and reflection sharing.  One by one, each of the sharers spoke of God’s grace to them in a heart-moving way.  The most inspiring life testimony was by Grace Lee.  She tearfully shared how she had struggled to serve God, learning form the amazing influence of her parents.  Perhaps the most beautiful reflection was Iin’s.  She talked about the struggle she has had with her Masters program, and her sorrow over a broken relationship.  But she revealed God’s grace to her, when she spoke of how she realized that God was now using her as a shepherdess and Bible teacher for Forny and Tabita.

I also want to mention the reflection delivered by Netty.  Netty is in the same Masters program as Iin, and she sent Frida an SMS on the Monday before the conference saying that she did not want to go, or have 1 to 1 anymore.  But Frida did not want to accept this, so she made a late night visit to her. 

Through Frida’s visiting and determination to help her, Netty could overcome her emotions and her busy schedule, and share a heart-moving reflection.  Netty has grown before our very eyes, and now struggles to serve 2 sheep.

The next morning, we had a message from Shepherd Ishak on Mark 2:1-12.  Ishak is a very thoughtful and quiet person, who always seemed like someone who would be a great messenger.  His message was one of the highlights of the conference!  Frankly, people were stunned at how beautiful his message was!  I believe that God has been doing His own work in Ishak’s life, and that he has a great future as a messenger of God’s word.

After breakfast, we had GBS II based on Matthew 27:32-66.  This was one of the best group Bible studies that I have ever been a part of.  Everyone contributed, and several members shed tears when we studied what happened to Jesus, when he died for our sins on the cross. 

Then came probably the best message of the conference.  The message on Matthew 27, was given by Shepherd Seto.  I had seen him deliver message before, and appreciated his sincere style.  This time he was so inspired.  As he described what happened to Jesus, he cried many tears.  He became the presider on Sundays at Depok not long ago.  This message was unbelievably heart-moving.  He is clearly one of many leaders that are growing in our midst.

Once again, during the time to write reflections, all the men did what they should do!  I am not sure I have ever been at a conference where all the men wrote reflections!  They even sang some songs and played soccer after doing so!  During the reflection sharing time, I was able to see that God had really worked in the heart of Desterius, one of my sheep from the nursing school Frida and I are pioneering (Akper Setia).  He tearfully confessed his past sins, and said that he wanted to become a shepherd for others.  All in all, I have never been so impressed with the effort made by conference attendees to write reflections and share their hearts with others!

The next message was delivered by Shepherd Martin on Acts 1:4-8.  His message delivery was truly inspired and powerful from beginning to end!  He gave us all such hope to be witnesses of the Gospel, when he clearly spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit.  I am privileged to be in the same fellowship (El Shaddai) as Martin and his hard working wife, they are a great blessing!

Then came the “Festival” time, which featured various kinds of performances by nearly all the conference attendants.  There was an acoustic band from Stipan ( a school being pioneered in Depok) which sung a really nice song entitied; “Thank You Jesus!”  There were several choruses, including Akper Setia men and women in separate songs.  There was also a drama based on Luke 15, The Prodigal Son.  This drama was the one that I struggled the most with, because some of the rehearsals were less than inspiring.  But when given just a little of encouragement, each of the actors were able to dig deep!  The participants were Vifi, Lian, Samuel Nikodemus, Petrus and just about all the women from Akper Setia.  The drama was, by God’s grace……in Msn. Peter’s words…….EXCELLENT!  This happened because all of the participants gave their heart to use this opportunity to show how much they love Jesus!

Prior to the last message, there was a trio drama based on John 13.  Again, this drama had not always gone so well when we rehearsed before the conference.  But at the conference, all the participants, Ephraim, Sabar and Desterius, all gave their heart and it went well.

Then came the last message given by Shepherd Yusuf Anang (my brother-in-law).  Having seen him deliver messages previously and always been impressed, this one was definitely his very best yet!  He spoke from his heart about his message from John 13, and how Jesus has washed his feet.  He also shed many tears when he spoke of his struggle to take care of his sheep with his whole heart.  This seemed like such a sweet and fitting way to end the conference. 

Each and every part of every program ran like clockwork.  The people in charge of every program did an excellent job managing every aspect of every detail.  The music servants were wonderful and spirited, giving the entire conference a prayerful environment of worship and praise.  From Akper Setia, 46 students came to the SBC.  From Stipan, a total of 25 came.  The total for the conference was 160 at last count. We gathered our things, and returned to the mission field, where we pray that God will make Indonesia the HUB (power station) for all M nation pioneering.  Praise God, who is raising many spiritual leaders in Indonesia!  AMEN!