Portraits of Love - Scriptural Stories of Hospitality

Rich Mendola

2 Kings 4:8-17

Hospitality is a major way of showing love to outsiders or strangers, something that God calls us to do. Not only is hospitality commanded but it is also illustrated throughout Scripture, especially through two passages examined in this workshop. Abraham offered hospitality to the messengers who were sent by God as did the Shunammite woman toward the prophet Elisha. Through these examples, we see practical ways of showing hospitality which can be applied to our hospitable efforts in our own cities.

How to Keep Loving in Difficult Relationships

Bev DeLashmutt

2 Timothy 2:24-26

Christ's call for us to love another as he has loved us is not exclusive. He calls us to love even very difficult people, and to do that effectively, we need to bear several things in mind. First we need to gain insight into the lies and sins of difficult people to avoid getting hooked into their relational patterns. We must ensure our motive in responding to people is in line with Christ's love. And finally, we must implement strategies to effectively give both compassion and discipline simultaneously. With these things and the abundant help of the Spirit, we can love in a way that, even if it does not change the other person, it will change us.

Fighting for Friendship - Practical Wisdom for Building and Maintaining Friendships

Conrad Hilario

Proverbs 18:24

Due to the superficial level of friendship in our culture today, we are seeing drastic levels of loneliness. People don't put an emphasis on friendships because of many modern challenges, including technology. There are many qualities that we find in scripture that help guide us to successful friendships. We find that good friends speak honestly, give wise counsel, have relational awareness, and don't influence others to sin. We can look to David and Jonathan's relationship as an example on how to strive towards close friendships.

Humility and Love

Lee Campbell

Matthew 11:28-30

One of the most common and greatest sins is pride, something that hinders our love for both God and people. As we seek to become more humble believers in Christ, we must first understand the biblical definition of humility, that it is to see ourselves as we are and to think less often about ourselves. It is the freedom from self that inclines us to love others and to love God. Thus, we should seek to humble ourselves before the Lord, cultivating both a hunger for the glory of God and a hunger from God. This, combined with meekness, can truly change the way we love others.

Loving Real People - Lessons from 1 & 2 Corinthians

Kelsey Shannan

2 Corinthians 1-13

We need God's wisdom when it comes to loving other people. Paul instructs the Corinthians to open wide their hearts to one another and shows that he is willing to sacrifice for them and be completely vulnerable with them. He is also unafraid to bring up real issues in their lives, being realistic about the power of sin but confident in the power of God to change them. This kind of patient endurance with people requires prayerful discernment and dependence on God.

Love Can be Polarizing

Chris Risley

1 Kings 1:5

In any given body of Christ, there often are believers in a variety of different places in their maturity with Christ. When people become stagnant in their faith and possibly heading in the wrong direction, we are called to lovingly step into their lives. This workshop defines polarization, addresses some key considerations, obstacles, issues to address, steps, and how to strike the right tone. With these things in mind, we can be better equipped for the ongoing conversations needed to polarize people.

Guard the Truth

Larry Crabb

1 Kings 1:5

The farther we grow with Christ, the more we understand the depths of the Gospel, at the center of which is love. It is a truth that we must guard fiercely. First, we should seek a vision of divine love the way it is practiced among the Trinity. Second, brokenness over failure to love is the opportunity to learn what love and grace are. And third, we should avert our focus from our smaller story to the larger story that God is telling. As we move toward and experience these truths, we come to understand the truth of grace more deeply. \r\n

Help for the Hurting - Lessons from Job

Lee Campbell

Galatians 6:2

Jobs friends often get a reputation for being bad comforters, but when we look carefully, we see that they did many things right. We can learn a lot about how to help the broken-hearted through the book of Job, both things we should do and things we should not. We see that we should draw near with compassion to those who are hurting. This includes many components such as being inclusive, sensitive patient, and available. Alongside practicing these things, we should nudge our hurting brother or sister toward hope, because in the end, it is only God who can offer genuine hope.

Information Technology - Using it or Being Used by it

Gary DeLashmutt

Galatians 6:2

Despite information technologies' many advantages and opportunities, excessive use can inhibit or erode many key aspects of spiritual development. Christian workers must think critically about the issue of technology in order to keep themselves growing, discipling effectively, and building genuine Christian community.