April 13, 2018
Today was the final day of the Tororo pastors conference. I have to be honest, I’m glad that’s over. Don’t get me wrong, this has been an incredible privilege, but I’m tired!
Today was a day of worship like I have rarely seen in my life. I couldn’t understand most of what they were singing or praying, but my spirit bore witness with it. It was really good for me to be in such an environment. I am acutely aware, now, of just how desensitized I have become. I would even say I’ve become jaded in many ways. Today, I was thrust into the presence of God and broken before Him. I don’t know if the people were moved as I was, but I needed some brokenness! I needed some worship without reservations! I needed today!
The last session I spoke today was an unexpected session. Honestly, I had exhausted all of the material that I had prepared for the conferences. After finishing the previous session, I assumed that I was finished. Steve, the director of the ministry in Nakalanda, has been teaching during the pastor’s conferences along with me. He took the platform and began teaching. I expected his session to be the last session of the conference. I was completely exhausted. I literally did not feel that I could teach anymore. I didn’t even want to stand up again.
Once Steve completed his session, Pastor Butch took the microphone. As he spoke to the assembly I suddenly had this feeling in my gut that he was setting up for another session. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I just had that impression. The truth is, I began to pray and ask God to have Pastor Butch close out the conference. I didn’t think I could do anymore. As I suspected, Pastor Butch enthusiastically calls my name, turns to me, and holds out the microphone for me to take once again.
As I walked to the platform, I was praying “God what am I going to share? Please, give me some direction!”. All at once, a message that I had preached some years earlier from the book of Nehemiah chapter 2 combined with Ezra chapter 3 came to mind. I could see my notes in my mind as if they were physically in front of me. I began to preach. I didn’t teach. I couldn’t help but preach. God’s Spirit filled my heart, my mind, my mouth and what he did was incredible to a part of. I was instantly filled with energy and clarity of thought. I can honestly say, today’s closing session had nothing to do with me. We had an incredible moving of God’s spirit. As soon as I finished, I immediately fell back into my state of exhaustion. I barely made it back to my seat. It must have been 15 minutes before the shouting and worshipping calmed down enough for Pastor Butch to close out the conference. I have been blessed in my ministry to have preached in some extraordinary worship services and witness God do incredible things. I have been blessed to see God’s people respond to the preaching of His word with passion. I’ve been blessed to see altars filled with God’s people broken before Him in prayer. I’ve been blessed to see great harvests of souls from the preaching of the gospel. I have been blessed beyond my imagination that God would have chosen me to be a part of these incredible moments. Today is definitely part of that list of moments!