"God's Word is Truth" 2013 District Convention

“But what about us? Do we have the same faith (as that of Abraham)? You know sometimes we are presented with opportunities to expand our service to Jehovah. And sometimes it challenges our comfort zone doesn’t it? We’re settled in our easy chair and we can come up with reasons why we can’t move. Or we can tell others reasons why they can’t move. Well let’s not let that happen to us brothers and sisters. Let’s accept the challenge of whatever Theocratic assignment is offered to us. Let’s not get distracted as to the blessings. Let’s walk straight ahead according to the Truth.”

(Bro. Alan Shuster, United States Branch Committee, “God’s Word is Truth” District Convention, St. George, UT, 7/13/13)

Jesse & Shirley at the convention

We just got back from our 2013 “God’s Word is Truth” district convention in St. George, UT, and even though I’ve been to 50 or so  district conventions over the years, the latest always seems to be the best.

Oddly enough, there are no suitable facilities available for us in Las Vegas (a metropolis of 2,000,000) so these past few years we’ve been assigned to St George, which is a drive of about two hours. The facility is actually the gymnasium of Dixie State College, where we also have our circuit assemblies.

In the past we’ve been assigned to much larger facilities in Long Beach, CA or Phoenix, AZ, and it still feels a little strange attending a district convention that is the same size as a circuit assembly (around 3500 in attendance).

But the material is the same, and we were thrilled to have as special guest Alan Shuster from the US Branch Committee out of Patterson. The brothers from the Branch always give outstanding talks.

If you haven’t been to the convention yet, you can get an idea of what’s presented from the downloadable program on the jw.org site. As usual, there was something for everyone, but I focused in on the parts that addressed the goal Shirley and I have of expanding our ministry to serve where the need is greater.

 In the talk on Saturday entitled “Walk ‘Straight According to the Truth’”, Bro. Shuster discussed Abraham as a role model for us. How he essentially got up out of his easy chair in Ur and left his comfort zone to accept his theocratic assignment in a far-off land. Then he made a direct application for us in the quote at the beginning of this post.

Scene from Sunday's "Esther" drama