Through GFA native missionaries, Christ is building His kingdom all over South Asia.
International (MNN) ― Over 1,000 people attended Gospel for Asia's Renewing Your Passion conference on July 11-13, according to Assist News Service. GFA leaders from all over South Asia, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom, challenged them to serve God selflessly by faith and through prayer.
"God is going to prove that He is faithful," said
Narayan Sharma, Gospel for Asia's Nepal
Country Leader. "We just need to open our eyes. We just need to open our
ears, and we can see the wonders of the Lord."
The Renewing Your Passion conference is a gathering of Christians from around the world who support the work of Gospel for Asia's 16,500 native missionaries in 11 South Asian countries. This year it was held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas.
GFA Founder and President K.P. Yohannan kicked off the conference by urging believers to be more Christ-centered and to turn their backs on the shallow Christian teachings that pervade the Western culture.
"The passion that motivates me is not what others see in me, or what I can get out of it," Yohannan said. "My one concern is for His name and for His glory."
Yohannan's son, GFA Vice President Daniel Punnose, opened Saturday's sessions with a discussion of prayer.
"GFA started with prayer; it continues with prayer, and it will die without prayer," said Punnose. He agreed that God is looking for people who are humble and faithful, "not great big miracle workers."
"God is not looking for huge things. He is looking for faithfulness in small things," he said.
Gayle Erwin, author of the best-selling book, The Jesus Style, explained that Jesus looked not for spectacular people but for humble when he chose His disciples.
"A servant is someone who makes life better for someone else. A servant is someone who is a freedom agent. A servant is someone who is others-centered," Erwin explained. "The natural me doesn't want to be a servant. Something supernatural has to happen first."
The Saturday sessions concluded with a late-night prayer meeting where attendees were able to pray for specific needs shared at the conference. In the final session on Sunday morning, Yohannan taught on how to stay encouraged in times of difficulty.
"The enticement we have from the world is constantly calling us to walk away from Him and put our focus on something else," he said. Pray that those who attended Renewing Your Passion will leave the conference with a renewed focus on Christ and His kingdom.
