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USA
September 3, 2014

The title of this conference was “More than Conquerors.” It was a time to reflect on the many things God has done for those who are truly his children in Christ.

We took a bus to and from the retreat center. We arrived there a few hours before dinner, so after settling in, the kids enjoyed some ice-breaker games led by Grace Choi, including a team chant, a competition called chubby bunny where you see how many marshmallows you can stuff in your mouth, and a jelly bean toss and catch in your mouth game.

Everyone I spoke to said that the meals were good there. I didn’t here any complaints. After dinner we began the program. I shared a 5 minute introduction on what conquering is all about, including what kinds of things people try to conquer and yet what important things we will learn to conquer during the conference time.

Then we listened to a message from Moses Lim entitled, “Where are you?” from Genesis 3. Mainly what he spoke about was what sin is and what problems sin has caused that prevent fallen sinners from living up to God’s potential and design, so that we have trouble living as more than conquerors. He ended his message asking a question: Are you being conquered by sin or are you conquering sin? He briefly pointed to the hope that there is in Jesus for us to conquer sin.

We then had a group Bible study on Luke 23, “Father, Forgive Them” studying the events and dialogue between Jesus, the soldiers, and two criminals on the crosses next to Jesus. It covered from the time Jesus was led away to the cross until his last breath. We had some time of Praise and Worship. The night finished with some playing basketball, volleyball, or ping-pong while others just hung out in the rooms.

Saturday morning after breakfast we listened to the message “Father Forgive Them” spoken by M. Gideon Im. He spoke about the tremendous struggle and real cost Jesus paid with real pain in order to win a victory over sin and death for God’s children. He told us that Jesus died as a conqueror, a winner who successfully completed what he came to do, saving sinners who trust in him such as the thief who died on the cross next to him. M. Gideon shared some of his life testimony as well. Some of our youth leaders arm wrestling, demonstrating what conquering is all about. As the most scholarly part of the conference, we then had a two-part group Bible study on Romans chapter 8. I had a lot of fun teaching my group the details of all the great things the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have done for God's children.

After lunch was the big gap of time for fun recreational activities. Of course, among the guys paintball was the highlight. The girls did some archery and spent a lot of time swimming I believe. Then there was dinner, and after dinner the evening program. I was the speaker for the evening, delivering a message on Romans 8, "More than Conquerors". I emphasized that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So if you are in Christ Jesus we should claim this victory fully. We should not condemn ourselves or let others condemn us but live by the reality that we are not condemned. I also spoke of the blessed life and peace available to us as we live by the Holy Spirit and also the glorious future hope we have of sanctification when we as God’s children conform to the image of God’s Son Jesus and when we live in complete obedience to him as we his children want to do. My last point was about the security of God's children. Although the world run by Satan can do things that hurt us, they cannot actually defeat us because in all things God is working for the good of his children. And in all the things, persecution, famines, death, and more we are more than conquerors (meaning we can't be defeated) because of God's love which works for us and guarantees a super victory. So we should not live in any fear.

We heard two life testimonies: one from Martha Kwon and one from Hope Lim, both revealing what they’ve been through, who they are, and who God has become to them. God’s grace known to them was obvious in both.

After this we walked over for an evening campfire with Marshmallow roasting and S’mores. Here’s the coolest group (or so they think). We then watched all of the Revelation Group project videos that the JBF and HBF worked hard on for several weeks. Each group’s assignment was to pick one of the seven Revelation churches and show what the church was doing right and what they needed to overcome and be victorious over. The videos were good and are worth watching. If you want to see them just contact any of the youth leaders because we all have copies in our emails.

Moses and Co. led praise which included dancing and shouting for the Lord to finish off the night. The next morning after breakfast we listened to the final message from Jennelle Cocco, speaking from the first portion of Revelation 21 with the title “New Heaven and New Earth”. Her main content included speaking of the reality of something really good in store for those who are victorious by faith in Jesus. She described and showed pictures to help everyone get some idea of what it might be like to be in the New Heaven and New Earth – how blessed both inwardly and outwardly, and what similarities and differences there might be compared to what we live in now. And she pointed out that although it’s hard to imagine with real precision we can be assured that it is much better than just floating on clouds with harps as we see in many movies.We concluded the conference with conference reflection writing time which were both written and shared in groups.