by Ryan Strydom

As someone who has been going to EQUIP in the last few years and the Bloem LTT conferences before that, I have to say that this EQUIP time (last week) was the best I’ve ever had. Here are a few things that really stood out for me:

1. A focus on Jesus

While last year’s EQUIP also had a focus on Jesus, it’s great that this continued and remains to be a central focus for us. This is what the opening night was all about and I couldn’t imagine a better way of starting our EQUIP time.

2. An inheritance together

Tyrone’s talk on Friday morning called “Partnering for Purpose” was particularly good for me as he focused on doing this thing – the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus – together as partners. While friendship is great, when we move from friendship into partnership we start really seeing the Kingdom advance.

Recently I’ve started realising that God does not just have a call and inheritance for me as an individual, but my inheritance is intrinsically tied up to the inheritance God has for His Church. And it’s intrinsically tied to the inheritance God has for my local church (Cornerstone) and our trans-local partnerships (NCMI). Tyrone’s talk hit home as I realised we have lots to do together and that actually doing things for the Jesus and the Gospel – going into regions, ministering to our city and region – rather than just talking about it is paramount. There’s a lot of theory going around, but God is a God that ‘does stuff’, he doesn’t just talk about it! And he does it together.

3. Signs and Wonders are like Preaching

Mike Hanchett’s talk on the Thursday night called “What is Your Expectation?” was great in that it struck home in my thinking about miracles. Here’s how: in general, I’ve always felt that miracles and signs and wonders are something God should do without our help. This is true but at the same time not entirely true. Just as much as God doesn’t audibly speak to all to tell them the Gospel but commissions me to go to the nations and my city and my friends and my family to tell them the Gospel, so he doesn’t heal people (in general) without some kind of partnering from me.

I don’t mean that he NEVER heals people without us being involved, but in general His commissioning is that we would bring the miracles and healings and signs and wonders to the world, just like His commissioning is that we would be the ones to preach to others. Preaching and healing are effectively the same thing in a sense; one is about talking, the other about showing, but in both God wants to partner with us that we would bring His goodness to others. We do play a paramount part and it’s in a way lazy for us to expect God to bring healing without us stepping out and taking risks.

That doesn’t mean we do the healing. This is God’s Gospel – it’s just that it’s us that bring this Gospel into the nations, with God’s empowering and God’s word. Still, it’s us that must go, with God going before us and with us.

4. Humility

In line with the above, my (often) reluctancy to pray for peoples healing and so forth is often an issue of both lazyness and pride. Bruce Benge’s talk on humility in session 3 (Thursday morning) was particulary good for me in this respect.

All in all, the worship times were great and all the talks and interviews were brilliant. They all helped to sow seed into my life that’s been paramount in lifting my faith and placing my eyes on Jesus. Download the talks here.