Weekend Getaway

Every year my husband and I look forward to a conference in the Fall. This year it was from Friday, October 26 through Sunday, October 28, in Grapevine, Texas, in the Dallas area. It is a weekend getaway that we plan and save for every year. But it's not just any weekend getaway...it's a Messianic Conference. What's that? Well, it's an entire weekend of learning more about and praising the Lord. It's bonding with like-minded believers in Yeshua from all over the region. It's a time of coming together and feeling part of a whole. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. First let me tell you who runs the conference.

Our boys having fun in the children's class.

The Messianic Jewish Alliance of America is a group that brings together messianic congregations and synagogues from all over the nation. They have an annual national conference in Pennsylvania every year in July and then about 4 regional conferences throughout the year. The conference is full of events like, praise and worship concerts, Torah service, Shabbat service, singles mixers, youth groups, nursery and children's programs, adult classes on specific teachings by Rabbis and Messianic instructors, dance symposiums where you learn Davidic dancing, and so much more.
We always have a great time and we come back so relaxed and renewed.
It is a blessing to be in a room of 200, 300, sometimes 400 people who have like-minded views and call themselves Messianic. Sometimes, being a Messianic can be lonely. Most Messianic congregations and synagogues are relatively small compared to Christian churches who are not only more numerous, but will always have the mega-churches in their mix. I have yet to visit a Messianic mega-synagogue. But I am hopeful!
I am just grateful to be able to attend a conference and feel like I'm part of a bigger mishpacha (family) than I see every week at my home congregation. I am blessed to share talents and discussions and praise time with believers who have the same goal in mind, and that is: To serve Yeshua and reach the unsaved Jewish people.
If you have never been to a Messianic conference before, I encourage you to seek one out! We have been going for 7 years and have always been blessed. The conference we attend are the ones hosted by the MJAA, for more information about those go to their website http://www.MJAA.org.
Following is a short video I recorded during the last concert of the conference. Paul Wilbur was singing. More people came that night than had been for the entire conference, since he is such a famous praise & worship singer. I wanted to capture the feeling of warmth I felt. There were people of all ages, races, and backgrounds worshiping together. No one had to be told to stand to worship. Some people were even kneeling and laying prostrate, some were dancing. Some were blowing shofars. Some were weeping. And it was all so beautiful. Forgive me for my amateur video, I didn't do so well, but it was hard to stay still while praising and recording the video.

 

You don't have to be Jewish to attend a Messianic conference. You don't even have to be a Messianic to attend a Messianic conference. My prayer is that if you've never been to one before, you make a goal to attend the next one in your area and get fed by people who have a love for the Lord, His people and serve His Son, Yeshua. You will blessed beyond measure!