“In order to proclaim something, you must know it to be true,” said David Nelson, one of Thursday’s Mission Conference speakers.

Our generation is characterized by independence. We revel in the opportunity to rule ourselves. We are so determined to make things happen we sometimes get in the way of the Lord’s work. We disrupt his orchestra. What might seem harmonious to our humanistic thinking is often a disastrous symphony in reality.

David Nelson posed the idea of taking time to simply experience Jesus in a tangible way, the way we first experienced his presence.

As the session went on, Nelson painted a picture of the Millennial fear: capability. The root of fear within young adults is not insecurity, but the possibility of failure. We hear that calling from Jesus, the call to proclaim, but we feel as though we do not possess the right tools or have enough power to serve. In arrogance, we try to place the responsibility of the world on our shoulders, trying to fill the shoes of God when we ultimately can not.

Nelson shared his love for the orphans of Haiti and paralleled it to the relationship Christians experience with Jesus. As an adopted child, we do not have much to offer, except our gratitude and joy. We might not know all the best Bible verses or have all the right things to say, but we know Jesus. We know our adopted parent. Rather than try to conform and relate to all people, we can simply bring others with us as we are. We can introduce them to the One who has given us love and happiness.

“Come and see,” Nelson said.

He further explained how we can see what the Lord can do when we humbly offer ourselves for use in the way he designed, not the way we think.

God has great plans for his children and all he requires only that we submit ourselves ourselves to him. Like Joshua and the Israelites, we must bow down in humility to God’s authority to see his work accomplished. All the shouting and trumpet blowing we can muster on our own will not even cause a stone to overturn. But the power of the Lord, that unites us in spirit, can knock down any wall we face in life.