This past week was a very full time both of being fed nourishing spiritual food from the Word and feeding others with the same. I was down in Los Angeles area for much of the week attending the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church with about 4000 other men. It was a blessed time of worship, fellowship and especially hearing good expository preaching of the Word. John MacArthur, Steve Lawson, Al Mohler and others delivered excellent messages on passages such as John 3 (regeneration – being “born again” – happens entirely by the Spirit, not by our works) and Luke 16 (the reality of hell and heaven must empower and impassion our preaching, for eternities hang in the balance). We were treated very well with free breakfasts, lunches and snacks, several free books, and even free shoeshining (the man who shined my shoes was an LA judge who took a week off work to serve the pastors!) Worship was inspiring as the many voices joined together in singing praises through the tried and true hymns. All in all, my soul was filled and deeply encouraged.

Following this conference, I went straight into a time of training pastors and church leaders from the area (in some cases from Arizona and Mexico City) in the Pathway curriculum to equip them to be global trainers. There were 13 men present, and all received the training very well, and show great promise toward equipping other pastors globally. The times of interaction and discussion, spurring each other on to dive deeper into the Scriptures and wrestle with the author’s original meaning, were at the heart of the training.

Following this, I went quickly up to the central valley and preached at the Orchard Bible Fellowship on Sunday morning. It was good to reconnect with many dear friends during this time, although the busy schedule was catching up with me. For the next couple days I was down with the flu, but by God’s grace I’m coming out of it today as I prepare to preach at Richvale Church this coming Sunday.

God is good, and continues to give opportunities for us to be fed, and in turn to feed others as we follow Him. Pressing on, Eric