First Report

I'm back from my conference, the Global Health Missions Conference (GHMC). If asked to sum it up in a word, I think I'd have to use "overwhelming."  I've never seen such a church, such a great group of people, or met so many people serving in health missions.  I have a lot of "digesting" of information to do, as well as thinking and preparing.  I fully expect to write more on that later.

For now, here are some photos I took of the event.  One reason I was overwhelmed was the sheer hugeness of the church that held the conference.  These first two pictures are of the Atrium in the church; the first is from the third floor balcony overlooking the gathering space.

This next picture is a view of the opposite end of the atrium; the elevators are in the vertical spans, to each side of the banner, with the escalators next to the stairs and between the pillars.  The photo above was taken from the upper left, where the brightest light is.   

Below is the worship center.  Yes, that is a "jumbotron" with screens all around.  The ground level held many more than the reported 2500 participants at this conference....and then there were two balcony levels above that, which were reached by the elevators or escalators to the second and third floors.  (In this shot, a wonderful African woman who is a surgical resident with the final plenary speaker's program in Kenya tells her story.)

Below is the Worship Center end of the Southeast Christian Church (the hosts of the conference.)  The massive space with the jumbotron is at the center of this building, with halls and classrooms around the perimeter.

And next is the fellowship hall end of the church....in here, there were two whole floors full of exhibitors...about 70 per floor.  The center section (by the pillars, if you can see them) is the three story Atrium (indoor views above.)

Finally,  below is a big cork board map of the world.  Throughout the conference, there were push pins right next to it, with an invitation to add your color coded pin to the places you were going to learn about, pray for, support, and go to.  It was really wonderful to see all of the push pins all over the world by the end of the conference. This photo was taken following the final session, and I think the young people in the picture were headed out to the field in the near future. I put my pins in on Guatemala.

So that's the initial report.  I have a lot to read, a lot to learn, and some choices to make, but I am very glad to have gone to such an intense and educational conference!

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