4/30/16 Conference Overview
While conferences or gatherings like this are common in larger metro areas like the Twin Cities, they are rare for a small rural community like Zumbrota and may raise some eyebrows as to what is going on. What is this all about? In May it will be one year since the PRAY Zumbrota prayer initative was started. Since then, dozens of people, representing seven different churches in Zumbrota, have been coming together monthly to pray for Zumbrota. So the basic answer to the questions above is, God is beginning to move in Zumbrota!
Whether you are a mature Christian who has been walking with the Lord all your life or whether you are someone who has never been to church or who has backsliden in your walk with God, God wants to take EVERYONE a major step forward in their faith and walk with God. This will not be a conference with deep teachings that many may feel overwhelmed with, but one that uses testimonies to bring some scripture verses to life that many of us have overlooked. We believe you will be INSPIRED, ENLIGHTENED and MOVED!
NOTE: The conference will be progressive in nature, each session building off the previous one. To get the most out of the conference it will be critical to be there especially for the morning session.
Inspiration Behind the Conference
The Zumbrota Awakening Conference was birthed out of several months of prayer. The scripture verse that inspired the calling together of an assembly like this is Joel 2:15-16, "Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes". God is speaking through Joel calling the people to repent and turn back to Him "with all their heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning". Most would agree that the Church as a whole has become complacent and virtually ineffective in the world around us. After God releases this word through Joel to turn back to Him, He begins to basically say, IF you turn back to me with all your heart, THEN... "Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people. The Lord will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations." Joel 2:18-19. The promises go on and on from there.
When praying into the theme for this conference, scripture verses with the words awake, awaken, and rise and shine kept coming up, thus leading to the name "Awakening Conference". It is interesting to note that after the name was chosen, we became aware that the theme for the 2016 National Day of Prayer this year is "Wake Up America". Any coincidence?
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14
