In the hills of northern Thailand, nearly 500 Nazarenes gathered from throughout the Asia-Pacific Region to worship together and equip themselves for making Christlike disciples. The 2019 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, held on October 18-22 near the city of Chiang Mai in Thailand, featured powerful worship, challenging speakers, informative workshops, and fellowship with Nazarenes from every field in the region.
The theme of the conference, “Unleash the Power,” was selected to challenge attendees to leave behind the traditions and habits that have become idols and hindrances to the Holy Spirit. As Asia-Pacific Regional Director Dr. Mark Louw shared in his messages, the goal was for the Asia-Pacific Region to participate in a “movement of God through the people of God.” This call was articulated by the other speakers during the morning devotional, including General Superintendent Dr. Eugenio Duarte and Chapman International College Chancellor Rev. Bill Kwon. The mission of discipleship was further laid out by Dr. Fili Chambo, who shared in the evening services.
These powerful services were accompanied by powerful, Spirit-filled worship from a worship team led by George Williamson of Point Loma Nazarene University, and featuring musicians from around the Asia-Pacific Region. To equip attendees to truly live a life unleashed by the Holy Spirit, numerous workshops were provided. These covered a wide range of topics, such as discipleship methods, sharing the gospel through pictures, the theology of worship, and conflict resolution. Attendees were also given the opportunity to reflect on the services and workshops in fellowship with their fields and ministry partners, allowing them to adapt their learning to their individual contexts.
Regional Director Dr. Mark Louw gave his thoughts on the powerful event. “We have gathered here for a purpose, and that purpose is to experience the presence of the living God.” He added further, “We have come here because the Living God…wants to be unleashed. He wants us to trust him. He wants us to give Him our insecurities, our fears, our inhibitions. He wants us to trust Him, that He is God.”
Unleash2019 Participants – Selfie 🙂
Dr. Louw spoke in the opening service and shared what the power of God was ready to do in Asia-Pacific. “When the power of God is unleashed upon us, it’s not that we might have the power to do what we want to do, the power to speak to nature and calm the storm, and pray that rain would come down like some miracle-worker, or that we would have the power to save someone. No, the power of God that comes upon us is an unseen power at work within us that changes us…into His likeness, if we will trust Him and let Him do His work.”
“The Unleash conference was a true revival. The spirit of prayer, obedience, worship, and celebration saturated the event,” said Rev. David Philips, Field Strategy Coordinator of the Southeast Asia Field, who hosted the event. “The workshops were tremendously helpful. Our people were greatly encouraged and went home with a new vision! The connections between people were delightful to see. All over the place, people were meeting, planning, laughing with joy. We are very grateful to the regional director for selecting Thailand for this event.”
If you would like to view the videos shown during the services at Unleash 2019, you can visit the Asia-Pacific Regional Vimeo site. More resources from Unleash, including sermons, will be available in the near future. Stay tuned to the Asia-Pacific Regional website, and follow us on Facebook.
