This weekend Marc and I attended a conference on the Multi-Ethnic Church. The host church was New Life Providence here in Virginia Beach. Marc and I have gained a deep respect for Pastor Dan Backens who is the senior leader at NLP (its one of the reasons I feel very comfortable sending my son there). I think in part because he reminds us of our pastor. This was the 2nd conference of this kind held at New Life Providence and it was the 2nd year that Marc and I attended. I think in many ways Marc and I have known for some time that we wanted to lead within a multi ethnic environment. I really enjoyed the presentations, the break out sessions and the speakers. We originally heard about Pastor Mark DeYMaz two years ago while attending the conference at NLP. And I felt blessed to be able to hear from him again this year. I have read his book Building a Healthy Multi Ethnic Church and have followed him on his blog for a few years. Today was the first time I have heard Dr. David Anderson speak, but I so related to what he was saying. I think many people hear Multi Ethnic and think its just a fad, or a new way of reaching people so that you can increase the numbers at your church. But these three men lay out a pretty good biblical background for why we should be teaching multi-culturalism. I highly suggest that you check out their writings for yourself. It's been said that Sundays are the most segregated day of the week (in our churches mind you). I don't know about you but that bothers me and I feel its time that we stop just talking about it and actually start addressing it so that we can change it. Keeping in mind its not always related to race but also along economic or social lines. I know it's a hot button topic, but if we never discuss it then we as the church may have to answer for it when it's too late to change it!
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