Jesus Is Lord – A General Assembly Recap
Last week I had the privilege of attending the 30th annual Nazarene General Assembly. This is a quadrennial gathering of Nazarenes from across the globe. Our denomination is split into 6 world regions – Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, MesoAmerica, South America, USA/Canada, and Africa. Within those regions are hundreds of districts. Each district elects representatives from four ministries to attend General Assembly and represent their interests and passions.
These four ministry areas are:
NDI – Nazarene Discipleship International
NYI – Nazarene Youth International
NMI – Nazarene Missions International
Assembly – Legislative committee
Menda and I were district delegates to NDI. We were blessed to get to partner with discipleship leaders from around the world. We engaged in encouraging plenary sessions, inspiring worship, and deeply challenging and profound workshops regarding our Wesleyan theology, heritage, and discipleship methods.
We also had the opportunity to take our girls. They have traveled with us to every General Assembly since they were born. It moved me to tears to recognize their connection with the global church and understand a little better the worldwide story that’s being told. We’re so glad they are a part of it!
Each day we gathered as a whole assembly for worship. The largest service was Sunday morning, when nearly 17,000 Nazarenes were on site! Each of our General Superintendents, the highest office held in our denomination, preached one service. A worship team was assembled from leaders around the world, capable of leading in multiple languages and calling us to lift our voices as one to declare Jesus is Lord. A new song was written for the occasion. You can listen to it here.
One of the primary roles of our Assembly (legislative) gathering was to elect two new General Superintendents. Two are retiring this summer. Significant work was done to consider who might be well-equipped, but more importantly, the Holy Spirit was earnestly sought to lead us to the right leaders for this time.
Ultimately, two new leaders were chosen to join the ranks of our other four generals. From left to right:
Christian Sarmiento (previously the Regional Director for South America)
T. Scott Daniels (previously the Senior Pastor at Nampa, ID College Church)
Carla Sunberg (previously Nazarene Theological Seminary president)
Fili Chambo (previously the Regional Director of Africa)
Gustavo Crocker (previously the Regional Director of Eurasia)
David Busic (previously the Nazarene Theological Seminary president)
We’re thankful for these good and faithful leaders. They are humble in spirit and they care deeply about the call of the church to go and make disciples.
Ultimately, our seven days in Indianapolis was lifegiving. It’s good for a global church to make time and space to gather under one roof to be reminded of their unity and common mission. If you have any more questions for me concerning this gathering, I’m happy to answer them! I’m thankful for General Assembly.
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