Tuesday’s rainy weather could not dampen the spirits of convention goers in New York. The convention theme, “Out of the Overflow,” raised expectations that it would be God’s Spirit, not rain gutters, that would overflow this week.
Associate Pastor Daniel Johnson (Gracepoint Gospel Fellowship, New City, NY), welcomed ministers, missionaries, spouses, and their families to the opening banquet. Noting the “changing face” of the FCA, Pastor Bob Forseth (Philadelphia Church, Seattle), recognized national leaders attending from lands around the world: Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, Argentina, and others.
The evening’s speaker, Brett Hollis (Washington), is a pastor/comedian. He reminded us that, “If you have the Holy Spirit, you have joy! Because the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, and all the rest.”
He spoke of “overflowing joy” for believers (2 Cor. 8:2; Phil. 1:25-26) and challenged pastors who have allowed the constraints and pressures of ministry to put boundaries on their joy. “Paul said his joy knew no bounds,” said Hollis, citing 2 Corinthians 7:3.
“When Jesus died on the cross,” he reminded them, “it wasn’t just so we could get to heaven. It was so we could have joy on the way to heaven.”
If you buy your kids a happy meal that’s missing the toy, your kids aren’t going to be happy, Hollis told the ministers. Then the zinger: “Some of you are a toy short of a happy meal.” Everyone laughed even as they recognized the truth of what he was saying.
He had everyone laughing. It was a great start to what is anticipated to be a great week of meetings!
