Impressions

Church of God in Christ, Mennonite 

Conference 2022 - Tupelo, MS

The People:

- Some you see multiple times in a day, others you never see at all!

- Walking in to the arena and seeing home folks is a nice feeling.

- Interesting how many people you see that you know. I thought most would be strangers, but it's pretty easy to glimpse familiar faces in every direction. 

- Meeting friends from youth days, how did we get so old??! Extra pounds and a few well-earned wrinkles testify that life takes its toll on us all.

Fashion:

Short, wrinkly linen dresses and old-fashioned patterns. One positive of this fad is that the rumpled look is not generally tight. Cream is the color that pops out the most in the youth girls section. Black and rust are also popular. Most people are very ordinarily dressed; more of them than the outstanding ones. Tie downs go on and off, tied and untied. Would be so nice to do away with that tradition although I see how it makes everyone look more uniform than the cap.

The Leaders:

- Sea of suits and white or bald heads on the floor. Looks like the majority are above 50, kind of a scary thought! Where are the young ones to take their places? I spot some who have labored faithfully and led bygone conferences now sitting near the back and participating quietly. Gladwin Koehn, Melvin Penner, Sam Unruh, Orie Koehn... 

- The ratio of leaders to lay brethren seems disproportionate. 

The Logistics:

- All I know is, the people who planned and organized this event know what they're doing.

Arena ushers in white shirts and black vests work together to find seating for all. Car ushers tell pedestrians where to walk and wave vehicles out in sync with traffic lights. There is no gridlock at dismissal time. At meal time, we go through the line, pick up our bagged lunch, and are back at our seats in under 5 minutes. I observed that sometimes it's difficult to get people to go where they should and asked one of the ushers if he ever got frustrated with them. His reply was, "They sure like to talk!" 

- The guys at the sound booth are fascinating to watch. On the spot at all times, they control the big screens and messages that flash across. They focus the camera on the area of the crowd where a speaker is taking his turn and make sure the correct mic is on. Someone is in communication with the men on the podium writing resolutions and putting them on the screen at the right time. Another guy takes care of streaming the open services across the conference. Watching all this order and precision, I am awed by the God-given talent among us! 

The Lectures & Discussion:

- On the first day, the chairman outlines procedure for those who voluntarily speak to keep it at 10 minutes or less. A timer sounds when someone is nearing the end of their allotted time. A few times I wished the speakers giving lectures had a timer too! The human brain can only take in so much. For the most part, the speakers stick to the point without too many introductory "glad to be here's" and "feeling small in front of this crowd's" after the admonishment on the first day. If everyone said such unnecessary words, it would take up hours of the already packed schedule.

- Most of the thoughts from the floor are sound and spoken gently and lovingly. There are a few who seem to carry their own agenda, speaking boldly and strongly. It's amazing to see how that spirit does not settle into the hearts of the listeners.

- Silence when a new resolution is posted. The men writing these must be divinely led! How terrifying to think of writing something so serious in a few minutes that can't be changed unless brought before another assembly like this!

The Food:

Jimmy John's cold subs, chicken caesar wraps, followed by chicken caesar wraps, Jimmy John's cold subs, and cold sandwiches on croissants. Included in the bagged lunch are sides of chips and fruit and a packaged sweet, with a moist towelette to clean up afterwards. Really decent food, just repetitious. Water by the pallet was always available, but no sweet beverages or coffee unless you knew where to find them in hidden nooks. Supposedly there was different food at each serving station, and if you went to the same one every time, you'd eventually get Chick-fil-A. We rarely went to the same food line though, and never got it.

General Thoughts:

We heard a lot about spirits. I wonder if these spirits could also be called demons? I get a clearer picture when thinking of it that way. I imagine Satan sending out his demons to infect us with these spirits of division, worldliness, and self-gratification.

Conference was much more inspiring than I expected it to be. I assumed I'd be tired of all the "church" and exhausted by the people long before it was over. To my surprise, I didn't want to leave early or skip a day! We'd thought of leaving Thursday, but decided we didn't want to miss the third day after being there for the first two. It turned out that the discussion on photography and recording Thursday morning was one of the better ones.

It makes a difference what you focus on. Sure, some of the youth seemed to be at conference for the purpose of being with friends and meeting new people, didn't sit in the arena during sessions, or held their own conversations during a lecture they should've been listening to. But they were by far the minority. Hundreds of youth listened intently and behaved admirably, served in food lines, and dressed nicely. Yes, some of those who spoke might be called "liberal" and others labeled "hard-liner" but the resolutions that were made found the solid ground.

At one point I felt discouraged because I realized nothing new was being said and we discuss worldliness and drifting away from God at every conference. The resolutions are all about turning back and reaffirming prior resolutions. But then I thought - Isn't that the way God works? Gently reminding, giving small course corrections along the way? 

It's fascinating to observe the cycle of life. I wonder if the youth that are here today have realized that THEY will be the ones holding babies and toddlers by the hand at the next conference, carrying a few extra pounds and looking like parents!