If you were to look around the room you would see young and old, urban and rural, hands raised and hands at their sides, pastors, homemakers, dentists and farmers. This wide range of diversity can make the teaching times more challenging, however the bond of our common faith has brought a very special sense of unity to brothers and sister who rarely, if ever, see each other but are greatly enjoying the oneness we have in Jesus Christ. That’s a special value that they appreciate about Shepherds’ Support.
Unlike the events and philosophies of the day that continue to tear us apart by what makes us unique, when God is at the center of our fellowship, our faith in Jesus Christ, the grace we have received and God’s mission to seek and save the lost brings us together as one despite our diversity. God’s Kingdom always seems to be upside down from this world. The Georgian conference has been a refreshing example of how in God’s kingdom a + b + c + d can all be whole numbers and still = 1.
Unity is one of themes we hear people talk about at meal time. They also share how much they enjoy meeting other pastors and spouses and hearing how God is at work in their lives. They love this unique time together as couples and have been greatly enjoying the time they have to focus on each other, laugh, learn and play.
Read some of the comments from the participants of these two conferences:
“Dear friends, First of all we want to thank you for these wonderful days. It was really wonderful to have spiritual food, relationships and relaxation, all together. We liked the topic “spiritual warfare in the marriage and ministry.“. We have learned a lot of new things, we remembered also the old things we had already forgotten and it became alive in our marriage and ministry.
These days gave us the motivation and we remembered that years before God had called us to serve couples. Now we are leaving this conference with the firm decision to start this ministry. We don’t remember any other organization who is organizing conferences about such an actual question like marriage. I think you have much more materials about this topic, so we’d like to ask you to continue this great work give opportunity to more couples to attend such conferences.” Spartak and Lia
“Dear brothers and sisters thank you for your ministry in which God has called you.
We want to thank you for these wonderful days, which we have spent together. thank you for the topics and the words which help our families to stay firm and effective in the ministry.
We also want to thank you for the given opportunity to share this conference with the leaders from different denominations to share our experiences and learn from one another. Thank you for giving us time to relax with our spouses. We also want to tell the special thank to Valeri for organizing this conference, for the team who served us. Everything is wonderful. May God bless you in His ministry. Thanks God for you.” With great love, Moris and Ineza
“We are attending this seminar for the first time and we thank God for it. We liked every session. We have already known something and we learned a lot as well. We will use some points in our ministry and in the relationship between wives and husbands. As a mother who has many children I would like to listen the seminar about raising children with personal examples.
I also want to mention the work of staff, how warmly they met us and of course we thank them for this. Thank you also for delicious food and for the smiling faces. May our God bless you in your ministries and open your doors to share your experiences with others as well.” Vadim and Margo
One highlight of this final week was gathering around Steve and Connie and thanking God for these past ten years of faithful and frutiful ministry. Several of the pastors prayed for them as they start a new season of ministry in their own lives. Well done, good and faithful servants. You have stayed the course. You have finished well. You have blessed us all!
We want to especially thank all of our team members, those who have traveled with us and those who have so graciously supported and prayed for us over the years. God has used you in a very special way to impart the love of Jesus Christ on thousands around the world.
Over these past ten years, Shepherds’ Support teams have held 36 conferences serving over 12,000 ministry leaders in 22 different nations. By God’s grace and with the help and support that you have supplied, these brothers and sisters in Christ are standing strong in their marriages, families, ministries and communities. We can’t thank you enough!
We praise the Lord for these past tens years and are excited about the future as the Lord continues to bless this ministry. We are grateful for the ways that God is adding to the Shepherds’ Support team and look forward to His leading into new areas around the world. To Him be the glory!