2006 FFBC Annual Conference - Monday & Tuesday

As I mentioned in my last post, this week is the 67th Annual Conference of the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches at Tri-State Bible Camp and Conference Center in Montague, New Jersey. Last year I had the privilege of writing a series of reports about the conference for SharperIron. They can be accessed both on A Thinking Man's Thoughts by following these links (FFBC - Introduction and History, FFBC 2005 Annual Conference - Monday & Tuesday, FFBC 2005 Annual Conference - Wednesday & Thursday) or by finding the same articles on SharperIron - including resolutions at these links (FFBC - Introduction and History, FFBC 2005 Annual Confeence - Monday & Tuesday, FFBC 2005 Annual Conference - Wednesday & Thursday, FFBC 2005 Resolutions - # 1, FFBC 2005 Resolutions # 2, FFBC 2005 Resolutions # 3, FFBC 2005 Resolutions # 4, FFBC 2005 Resolutions # 5, FFBC 2005 Resolutions # 6).

As I mentioned on a previous post, the speaker for this week is Dr. Ralph Colas of the American Council of Christian Churches. Dr. Colas is a very gracious man whom God has used for a number of years. He has served in a number of different ministries and has preached in hundreds of churches over the years. In addition to his fruitful ministry as a preacher of God's Word, Dr. Colas also serves Christ and the ACCC by visiting (with reporters' credentials) various national and international meetings of a religious nature and producing reports on those meetings. These reports have been helpful in knowing what is going on in ecumenism and evangelicalism over the years. Many of these reports are available at the ACCC website.

As we began our conference on Monday, Pastor Mark Franklin opened up the conference by calling it to order and opening in prayer. After a good time of singing hymns and special music (including "Blessed Assurance" - the hymn that those who were involved in "The Walk-Out" of 1939 sang as they refused to become part of the Methodist merger.

On Monday night, Dr. Ralph Colas preached on Authority. We live in a day in which authority is continually being challenged. In his message, based upon Mark 1:21-28, he dealt with Christ's Authority by looking at the passage where the Bible tells us that Christ taught with authority and that he cast out the demon with authority. For his points, Dr. Colas examined Christ's Authoritative Doctrine (dealing with the manner in which Christ taught), Christ's Authoritative Denunciation (dealing with the manner in which Christ commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man), and Christ's Authoritative Demonstration (dealing with the result and response from the unclean spirit leaving the man). Dr. Colas encouraged us to hold close to the written Word and the living Word.

On Tuesday morning, Pastor Mark Franklin of Hardingville Bible Church preached on Psalm 137 and dealt with singing in a strange land and not hanging up our harps. Tuesday morning also consisted of the routine reports and elections that typically occupy a business meeting.

One of the things that is different at the FFBC Annual Conference is that instead of standing around in coats and ties all day long, it is held in a camp setting, so the attire can be more casual (generally short sleeved collared shirts) and also there are a number of "fun" activities that take place during the week. Every year, part of those activities include the annual Pastors versus Delegates softball game (this year the Delegates - along with some of the camp staff) beat the Pastors rather handily. Other activities include things like swimming, water slide, mini-golf, carpet ball, horseshoes, hikes, and rafting down the Delaware River. This year, my family and I are going to take advantage of the opportunity to go rafting with our children - we have not done so in a number of years, but are looking forward to going again.

Just my thoughts,

Frank