Conference On Care Underway In Jakarta, Indonesia
The Global Conference on Care began with an outstanding and festive day of activities on the grounds of the Sentul International Convention Center in Bobor, Indonesia just outside of Jakarta. The activities began at 2:30 p.m. with a dedication of the Convention Center (SICC) and Prayer Tower, which houses 12 floors of office space with the top floor dedicated to the purpose of prayer. The dedication concluded with a gathering of delegates in the prayer room for a time of prayer and worship.
Activities then turned to the opening session of the conference at 4:00 p.m., taking place in the main hall of the SICC with more than 8,000 delegates in attendance. Pastors and church leaders from all the Indonesian islands, along with other leaders from around the world, converged to make up the international conference delegation. After a brief video presentation about Indonesia, an unprecedented highlight of the conference surfaced as a Muslim cleric of the largest following of Muslims in Indonesia (40,000,000) greeted the audience and stated that this was the best conference ever held in Indonesia and that he was in agreement with the purpose and mission of the conference.
Dr. Donnie Smith, director of Church of God Care Ministries, spoke of the over-all purpose of the conference and the journey during the past 18 months leading up to its present reality. He stressed the urgency and biblical mandate to reach the poor and hurting of this world, not only in Indonesia but everywhere the need presents itself.
The evening session, boasting of more than 10,000 participants, began with an electric presentation of the native people of the various islands making up Indonesia. From the bright native costumes and their worship customs and music to the to the cutting edge multimedia presentation, the worship service was an outstanding praise and adoration to our Savior which excelled in genuine praise and worship.
The evening speaker was Dr. Niko Njotorahardjo, pastor of the largest church of God in Indonesia. He spoke of his journey with God in the vision and development of the SICC and Prayer Tower and the burden to feed the poor of Indonesia.
The conference concludes on Wednesday, March 17.
