FINISH Forum Concludes in Orlando
State/regional overseers and their spouses wrapped up a three-day leadership conference in Orlando. Florida last Thursday. Entitled the FINISH Forum, the gathering covered vital topics of interest specific to state and regional overseers and featured a number of speakers, both inside and outside the Church of God.
Several members of the International Executive Council also attended to participate in sub-committee meetings for the initiative entitled “Harvest Transformation Task Force.” The five committees met twice over the three-day period and discussed a set of topics as assigned by General overseer Tim Hill.
Keynote speaker for the opening session was Dave Martin of Dave Martin International. Other special guests who addressed the leaders were Dr. Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism, Leadership “architect” Dr. Sam Chand, and Rosalba Perez, director of Safe House Provision de Amor.
The FINISH Forum also included four “Empower Hour” sessions, led by members of the International Executive Committee. The sessions addressed critical topics, including credentialing, a report on the progress of church planting in the Church of God, legal issues, and evaluation processes. General Overseer Hill moderated the final session where he introduced the “Priorities, Paradigms, and Purpose,” an initiative tied with the Harvest Transformation Task Forces.
On Wednesday the overseers met at various locations around the city for luncheons with their Covenant Ministry Teams. The noon gatherings were followed by a tour of the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) West Concourse, site of next year’s 77th International General Assembly, which will occur on July 31 – August 3, 2018. The General Assembly Cabinet, the planning body for the General Assembly, also met this week, and with officials at the OCCC to further discuss details for next year’s event.
On Thursday morning, delegates of the FINISH Forum heard from three Church of God ministers who addressed the topic of the “Jeremiah Project,” as Hill affectionately refers to the Millennial Generation. Delivering powerful 15 minute snippets on working and empowering the Millennials was Joe Dobbins, pastor of Twin Rivers Church in St. Louis, who spoke on Millennials Embraced by the Church, Angel Marcial Jr., youth director for the Southeast Hispanic Region who delivered a speech on Millennials and missions, and Scott Sheppard, lead pastor of Cornerstone Church in Athens, Ga. His topic was Millennials Empowered Through Pentecost.
