Camp Barakel hosted our first-ever Pastors’ Conference September 12-14. The singing was outstanding, and the 70 men who gathered were clearly challenged to think and preach Biblically.

A gentle man with clear eyes spoke prophetically from the front of the West Side Chapel: “The church has lost eschatological urgency as her life is framed in the normalcy of the present age and not the kingdom to come.” What did he mean? Well... have we lost the sense of anticipation and urgency about the return of our King? Have we started to measure our success by the culture around us—by how large we are and how much political influence we have? Do we remember that Christ calls us to faithfulness first—and that our allegiance is to Him alone? In other words, do we as a church believe that obedience and faithfulness to Christ is the only standard for us?

I was personally grateful for the challenge that the conference speakers brought, and I’m glad for the reminder that faithfulness to the Bible and to our Lord is the only way to measure our “success.” We are hoping that the Pastors’ Conference becomes an annual event, and that other men will be encouraged as I was.