In 2016, The Urban Ministry Institute's Siafu Ministry had various Men’s and Women’s Leadership Retreats throughout the country. Some were in Spanish and others in English. It’s exciting to see this ministry grow with more conferences, chapters, and people participating to come together to serve one another to take our cities for the Lord!
This year’s Men’s Conference was themed, “No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets.” The powerful teachings throughout the conference by Rev. Dr. Don Davis challenged the men in attendance to “Surrender all to Christ, without condition” (No Reserves); “Stand your ground for Christ, no matter what” (No Retreats); and to “Lose everything for what really counts, without disappointment” (No Regrets). The teaching was certainly inspiring and challenging. It was apparent to me that so many brothers in ministry at the conference were living out some of those teachings, evident by how the Lord is doing powerful things in their community by their “no quit” attitude.
I reconnected with a brother in Christ ministering in Brooklyn, NY. He shared his story of how the Lord brought him to the ministry that he is doing and he said, “The gangs and gang leaders don’t scare me. I saw demons before the Lord brought me out of that place.” This brother is gifted as a DJ and as an MC so he uses those talents to reach his community, planting churches in apartments in his community.
I also met with a pastor from Liberia who happened to also be attending my church. As I was talking to him, he shared about the terrible Civil War in Liberia and surrounding countries in Africa where so many Christians were being killed left and right for no reason other than proclaiming Jesus Christ as their Lord. I asked him about the theme of our conference and how it applied to his ministry and he shared how important it was for Christians to stand up against evil and to “fight” with prayer. He shared many amazing stories of how the Lord is doing powerful, miraculous things in that part of the world, in the midst of war. During one of the teachings, Dr. Davis alluded to the idea that when men fight wars, lives are destroyed, families are torn apart, and there is much pain. But when God fights, lives are restored, families are brought together, and people are healed. What a mighty God we serve!
