Watch the conference videos here as well as worship services:
Report from Pastor Troy
An earlier arrival for Jen and me was required due to my participation in the Standing Theological Committee (STC) and our denominations seminary, the Flourish Institute of Theology (FTC). The earlier arrival was a blessing as Jen and I were able to spend the latter half of Sunday with the Ralston’s - and more importantly - Rory, the long suffering service dog of Brian.
Monday was a full day in which I spent the morning at a FIT faculty gathering meeting. The afternoon was spent participating in an STC presentation on our new book “Gender, Sex and the Kingdom,” for which I contributed two chapters and helped edit. (You can read more about that here: New ECO Book). Monday evening was a treat in that pastors from our Presbytery were blessed with tickets to the Dallas Mavericks game in downtown Dallas (by the generosity of Jon Hathorn at Lincoln Presbyterian Church). Literally my first NBA game.
Tuesday I arrived at the first full day of the conference (Monday was the pre-conference day) without my voice. Mr. Brian Ralston enjoyed that very much and teased me mercilessly. Morning and afternoon sessions took place, and I joined the Ralston’s and Jen for one breakout session in the morning and participated in the STC for an additional breakout session on our book. This session was well attended and filled the chapel. Thankfully, I was only asked a few confessional questions and hoarsely responded with the aid of a microphone.
Wednesday once again proceeded with morning and evening sessions - though with me fighting an illness. Our Presbytery met for lunch and I made a few presentations there, and then our STC team presented on the basic theology of ECO in our final breakout session for churches considering our denomination, once again to a packed chapel. Theology and how it applies to our lives is a deeply important aspect to life in ECO - as it should be. Wednesday evening was a celebratory meal with a number of folks for Brian Ralston’s birthday, an annual nauseating ECO National Gathering tradition.
It was a joy to connect with friends and colleagues and catch up on their lives and ministries. It was a joy as well to meet up with Jim and Janie Edwards, friends and mentors from my college days. Jim is now ordained in ministry to ECO, as he continues to write and publish in retirement.