I recently had the privilege and opportunity to plan a conference for Christian creatives, and it was fantastic, emotionally tasking, and a moment of teaching from the Lord to me.
I had the honor of being one of the major planners, and in the days leading up to the conference, I began to definitely see and feel how much of a mistake volunteering for the conference was.
Mind you, it’s the role of a volunteer. I’m always happy to volunteer and help out another person’s ministry, but in this case it felt like one of those I shouldn’t have said yes to.
Coming from a church that really reiterates the importance of excellence a lot, my view going into this conference was really a carnal one, as the Lord revealed to me.
And to be very clear, my local church is fantastic and is a biblical church. It just happens that as much as the church equips us, repeating and repeating the Word, the Holy Spirit eventually does the work of opening our eyes to see the truth of what is being said, and this happens when we surrender to the work of God in us.
To cut a long story short, as the hours closed in on the day of the conference, and even on the day itself, there were many things I didn’t like. It made me want to not plan the conference anymore or even be known as part of the team putting it together.
I had so many reasons. The venue wasn’t excellent enough. The food we were planning to serve was not diverse enough. The chairs were not it, as they had stains on almost all of them. There was so much I was thinking about, and most of all, I kept thinking about what the people attending the conference would think.
For the first time, we had a diverse group join. To give small context, the host is nigerian, last year, we had nigerians in the room, this year, there were people from different backgrounds, including some from a large church. In my mind, that raised the stakes. I felt like everything had to look impressive. I started thinking we needed to “perform” to meet expectations.
And this was the second time putting this conference together. It felt worse this year because we were charging people, and in my now “previous view of things“, you need to give people their money’s worth.
All of this ran through my head.
In my mind, that meant we needed to be extra. We needed to perform. Things needed to look good. The food setup needed to look nice. First impressions mattered.
My head was spinning, worrying about what these people would think of us and the team. My pride felt ashamed to be part of something that, in my eyes, wasn’t excellent enough.
At one point, when serving food, I felt my anger rise when an attendee had dietary restrictions we hadn’t prepared for because we had decided to stick to Nigerian food. My response was rude, almost like “why can’t you just eat this LOL” but I thank God the Holy Spirit corrected me immediately and as a matter of fact, made me go out of my way to purchase their meals.
Even earlier that day, when I had seen these people from the mega church arrive, I whispered to a co-volunteer, “That’s the mega church,” almost as if to say we needed to give them special treatment.
I do not even think these people realized they were from a mega church. This was purely my mindset.
Even writing this, I know how messy that mindset sounds especially as a christian trying to reach you.
Before the event, the Lord had already been speaking to me, about friends, about the chairs. Yes, they were not ideal, but there are people who don’t even have a place to gather or sit to worship God. Having a building at all is a privilege.
And when it came to friends in ministry, endurance is key because you know that these friends have also given their lives to Christ and have in Faith, Received the Love of God though their believe and trust in Jesus Christ, The Son of God, who is God, just like I have done
Then the Holy Spirit brought something even deeper to my attention.
The people I was so concerned about impressing are believers. They are the body of Christ. They are in Christ, just like me.
This conference was for church creatives, people already serving in their churches. These are not outsiders. These are believers.
And yet, I was thinking about them from a carnal perspective.
It was as if the Lord was saying, why are you viewing my people this way? Why are you thinking about race, status, or background? Why are you assuming their thoughts? Why are you bringing a worldly perspective into my house?
This brought me to the book Of 2 Corinthians 5: 11-17,
Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
If I believe I have received God’s love in faith and have been made new in Christ, then I must also believe that other believers have received that same love in faith. The same Holy Spirit that is transforming me is at work in them.
That meant my assumptions about them were rooted in my old way of thinking, not in truth.
These people were not coming for appearances. They were coming for growth, for fellowship, for what they could receive, The knowledge of stewardship.
Yes, the venue may not have been the best or my number 11th pick and Yes, the food may not have been diverse and Yes, the ambiance may not have matched the price people paid.
But they are the body of Christ. They are children of God. They are coming with hearts ready to learn, be in fellowship and receive in faith.
I had made outward things the priority.
And that’s where the Lord corrected me about excellence.
Excellence is not primarily about how things look outwardly, It is a matter of the heart.
You can have a beautiful setup with no heart of worship to God, and it means nothing. And you can have something simple, even imperfect, but with hearts aligned to God, and that is true excellence.
I am reminded of the story of the samaritan woman at the well with Jesus and when she spoke about the temple in jerusalem, the response was, and I paraphrase ” not the location of worship but that true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth”
I realized how carnal my thinking was. I assumed people were there to judge the venue, the food, the setup, ME (very selfish) when in reality, that wasn’t the main reason.
Our worldview as believers matters.
We cannot bring a worldly lens into how we see the church, the body of Christ, or God’s work.
And although we all were destined to perish before we came to Know and Receive Christ, In Faith, we now live a new life. Society has shaped many of our perspectives before our lives in Christ, but as believers, our view must be shaped by the Word of God. By what He has said concerning us.
So it says that ” Therefore, anyone who belongs to Christ is a new creature, old things are passed away behold, all things, have become new” 2 corinthians 5:17 ( read in context from verse 1 if you can)
We are one in Christ. Not divided by race, background, or status.
I NEED JESUS EVERYDAY, EVERY MILLISECOND OF MY LIFE.
It also led me to true repentance. I saw how prideful, entitled, and carnal my mindset had been.
Everything flows from the heart.
You can attend church, serve, and do all the outward things, but if your heart is not aligned with God in true worship, then what are you doing?
We are new creations in Christ. The old ways of thinking are gone. The Old life is gone.
But we cannot live this out in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit to continually correct and convict us, humble us, and open our eyes.
That is the work of God in us and daily we need to surrender.
That They May Receive True Light 
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