Last year I received a call informing me I had just been hired as one of the Missions Conference directors. I was blessed and honored to hear that I had been hired, and I was excited to begin the process that would lead to this year’s Missions Conference. As my co-director and I began to plan for the conference, one topic out of the many that we had to discuss was what Thursday night session was going to look like.

CLIMAX OF MISSIONS CONFERENCE

If you are new to Biola or have never been to a Thursday night session, an explanation is in order. Thursday night is usually the climax of Missions Conference, with a time of extended worship after the session. In the past few years this time has also included a time of confession, with the form varying year by year.

To many students, this night is the highlight of the week, a time where they feel the presence of God in a very tangible way, while for others Thursday night has been seen as a time of uncontrolled emotionalism.

POSSIBLE CONTROVERSY

For several months I wrestled through how one of the more controversial times of Missions Conference should go. On one hand I am a Bible major, and I often spend more time in my head than in my emotions. I was born with a highly critical spirit. On the other hand, I have seen God work in miraculous ways both here in the states and across the world.

We cannot deny that God works in powerful ways — often in ways that go past our understanding — but at the same time God has shared with us a way in which we can know what is true about him: Scripture.

FILLING IN THE OUTLINE

An analogy is helpful here to explain how I approach Thursday. Imagine a color-by-number picture. At first the paper is colorless, only containing the outline of the picture that is to be colored in. The outlines dictate what the picture is and what it is not. As we listen to Scripture speak through the people on stage (and those who have taught us before), God is creating an outline of who is for us.
The outline, while sufficient, is not all that God gives us. God not only creates the outline, but also colors in the picture. God brings the outline to life as He meets us and we react in various ways, such as joy, conviction, repentance, love, or confession.

Thursday night is to be a time when the outline and the colors meet. We want people to listen and hear as God speaks through the conference and tells us about Himself, while also opening ourselves up to meet Him and the various emotions that come along. We do not want to exceed what God has revealed about Himself, but at the same time we do not want to deny the emotional response meeting God can produce in us.

So on Thursday night you will see direction and guidance as we try to keep what is happening in the outline of what God has revealed, but at the same time a joy as God colors in the picture He has created for us by meeting with us in various ways.