Conference Category: UBF Headquarters Education Department Educators Retreat
Chapters: UBF Headquarters Education Department
Dates: November 8-9, 2024
Location: Garden of Life Retreat House, Eureka, MO, USA
Title (Theme): The Wisdom of God (James 3)
The UBF HQ Educators Gathering occurred on November 8-9, 2024. Sixteen HQ educators gathered at the “Garden of Life,” a lovely retreat house owned by Abraham and Grace Park near St. Louis, Missouri. God blessed the HQ Education event with genuine fellowship in Christ, His words, engaging discussions, prayers, and vision-building.
The Gathering provided facilitators a space to spend quality time together. We enjoyed genuine fellowship in Christ, getting to know each other, and appreciating each other and God’s beautiful creation. God’s word enriched our fellowship: Pastor Ron Ward delivered a message on the wisdom from above (James 3), encouraging us to take seriously the privilege of being a teacher, warning against selfish ambition, and encouraging true humility; Dr. Henry Park emphasized open heart to learn wisdom from God’s word, people and creation, even including dogs. Pastor Abraham Lincoln exhorted to exalt Christ Crucified, the wisdom of God.
We discussed the main UBF Institute (education) activities: Emerging Leaders Cohort, Pastoral Cohort, Online Continuing Education, Women Encouraging Women, and a new online platform. In small groups, we all exchanged ideas on how to enhance our educational initiatives to meet the needs of our UBF ministries better, particularly in equipping pastors as community builders and caring for our members, especially women, and we prayed together. The Gathering was fruitful in identifying areas for improvement and providing direction for the next steps. We began to synthesize a shared vision for UBF educators that can be articulated as: “Empowered by Christ’s Love, Equipping Members for His Kingdom.”
The gathering was organized by the HQ Education Committee, which includes Kevin A, Steve S, Paul H, Joshua H, Ezra Ch, Liz H, and Augustine S. We thank God for encouraging educators to respond to His call by faith to do His kingdom work through education ministry. We are also thankful to God for those who served behind the scenes at the Gathering, creating a warm environment and providing delicious food. We praise and thank God for his abundant blessings.
