LONG BEACH, Calif.—What does it look like to redefine your life?
“I’m not a risk-taker,” Caroline McGibbon, daughter of Canadian church planters, Jason and Kimberley McGibbon, said. “I like to stay in my comfort zone. This is my first conference ever, so I guess that’s a start!”
Redefine was the charge and challenge at the Send Conference—a joint event of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the International Mission Board (IMB). The sold-out conference drew attendees from all sorts of backgrounds. Church planters, college students, pastors, missionaries, moms and dads, sons and daughters, California natives, world travelers, road-trippers and frequent flyers came together to redefine their lives for Christ.
Thirty-two speakers shared biblical insights and first-person experiences around the theme, Redefine. They encouraged attendees to discover and decide what needs to be redefined in their lives, so every part of their lives could reflect God’s glory.
Tony Giordano brought 50 members of his church, The Way Family Church in Murrietta, Ca., 80 miles to see Phil Wickham—a Christian singer and songwriter from San Diego, California. Austin Stone Band and Rend Collective also led worship.
“The speakers were great,” Tony Giordano said. “And the music? It was sick!”
Renaissance Baptist Church members Sam Ernst, Eva Arias and Cynthia Lopez—who traveled from Las Vegas, more than 300 miles to attend—wanted to hear how “redefining” their lives allowed them to live on mission.
“Redefine … I thought it meant improving,” said Ernst as he looked at his fellow church members. “I learned that it really means understanding we are not slaves to sin but to God. It’s Him we serve.”
“Yes, what Sam said,” Arias added. “It’s doing something because you know it’s not for you, it’s for your Father—God.”
“And when you do it for Him, it’s not about being ‘right’ but about being righteous in motivation,” Lopez chimed in. “Is this for Him? Then you’ve just taken one thing you did for yourself and redefined it for Him.”
Church planters Steven and Lauren Kimbrell of Grace City Church in Irvine, Ca., redefined their lives when they left their friends and family and moved across the country to plant Grace City Church.
“The biggest redefining moment of our lives was planting our church,” Steven said. “We uprooted from North Carolina to California. God just put Southern California on our hearts, and we chose to obey—to go. We’re five months old now, and it’s been the scariest, best adventure.”
The couple attended the Send Conference to dig deeper into life on mission through breakout sessions addressing tough topics like how to reach Muslims and how to break out of Christian subculture.
NAMB president Kevin Ezell expressed special thanks to pastors who brought groups to the event.
“I am grateful for the pastors who worked so hard to bring people to the Southern California Send Conference. Thanks to their efforts this was the largest SBC event in California in 36 years,” Ezell said. “It was even more incredible to see such a diversity of ethnicity and age. Ultimately, we hope many will hear and respond to God’s call to leave the familiar and serve Him on mission across North America and around the world.”
IMB president David Platt, a mainstage speaker at the event, said his hope is that momentum from the conference will have a long-lasting impace for God’s Kingdom.
“God is opening Southern Baptists’ eyes to the reality that each of us has been sent by Him to proclaim His gospel wherever we live right now and wherever He leads us in the future,” Platt said. “I’m praying that the ripple effects of these two days will reach far and wide as God uses the men and women sent out from this conference to lead people and people groups to Christ in the days ahead. I’m deeply grateful for this coalition of churches we have in the SBC that makes a conference like this possible.”
As the conference came to a close Saturday night, John Bilti, who brought a group to the Send Conference in Nashville, Tn., in 2015, said the group he brought to this year’s Send Conference in California “had a great time.”
Since the 2015 Send Conference, Bilti has taken on more ministry and missional roles at his church and in his life.
“I tell you, it’s been good,” Bilti said. “Our young folks are having the best time. The Send Conference definitely helped mobilize and motivate me to be used for God more in my life, you know? I can’t wait for what’s next.”
The Send Conference comes to the Dallas-area May 19-20 and to Orlando July 25-26. For more information or to register, visit https://sendconference.com
Josie Rabbitt is a writer for the North American Mission Board.