By Matt Proctor
I set my single-trip driving record in July 2002. I was 32, a preaching professor at a Bible college, and I drove from Joplin, Mo., to Columbus, Ohio, in 10 hours, with just one stop. (My bladder couldn’t take that anymore now at 53.) Why the urgency? I was registered for the North American Christian Convention pre-conference led by Dave Pierre And Rick Rusawand I didn’t want to be late.
WHY I LOVED NACC
At that NACC, I formed friendships with Dave and Rick, who remain some of my greatest encouragements 20 years later. I doubt I would have met these guys outside of the convention, and I could say the same about a dozen other friendships. These aren’t the only gifts NACC gave me:
- In 1993, as a young preacher in southern Illinois, an NACC workshop on transitioning to two morning services helped me avoid mistakes when our church made this decision.
- The NACC in Indianapolis in 1995 began with a Sunday evening service, and as 40,000 of us shared fellowship at the RCA Dome, this preacher from a small church felt like he was part of something big .
- In 1999, Marc ScottThe 2 Timothy Bible study at the Denver NACC changed the way I read this letter, and I have taught its outline dozens of times since.
I could list others, but I will only mention one more: when I accepted in 2010 to be president of the 2013 CNLA, I did not know that my wife, Katie, would be diagnosed with cancer in February 2013. But the Lord knew it, and before that year’s convention, as our family shared the news, thousands of churches came together in prayer. This tribe we call the Independent Christian Churches – who called the NACC their family reunion – interceded for my wife, and I am convinced that this immense outpouring helped preserve her life.
Katie is still cancer free and I will be forever grateful.
You understand then why I felt melancholy on the evening of July 2018, when the lights of the last NACC went out and the room went dark.
NACC had been good to me. . . and so much the better for our movement. . . And I reflected on the loss. Where could I find the encouragement this meeting gave me? Where could I (and future generations) begin the kind of friendships I found there? How would our church community stay connected?
WE HAVE NOT STOPPED SEEING EACH OTHER
It’s been five years since the final NACC, and good news: I still go to North American Christian conventions. And I think you should too.
You’ve probably noticed that I use the plural “conventions” and I’ll explain why in a moment. But it must first be noted that our movement still has many meetings. We stayed connected to:
- Thematic gatherings. People come together to learn about topics such as older adults (e2elders.org), preaching (preachersummit.com), camp ministry (cclcamps.org), campus ministry (aofcm.org) and church planting (exponential.orgwhich has now exploded far beyond our community).
- Region-specific gatherings. Although many state Christian conventions have ceased, Christian Church members in some areas still gather at events like the Michigan Christian ConventionTHE Missouri Christian ConventionJohnson University Back homeor Ozark Christian College’s Preaching-Teaching Convention.
- Age and/or gender specific gatherings. Of course, our movement still has a myriad of men’s and women’s gatherings, senior adult conferences, children’s camps, and teen conferences.
Maybe not all of these events qualify as “conventions,” but the restaurant movement didn’t stop seeing when the NACC closed its doors. This is good news because, even in the New Testament, churches related to other churches in their geographic region (2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:2), shared teachers and biblical resources (Acts 8: 14; Colossians 4:16), combined kindness offerings (Romans 15:26; 1 Corinthians 16:1), joint discussions on doctrinal and evangelical matters (Acts 15:1-35), and cooperation in missionary efforts (Galatians 2:1-10; Acts 20:5). Kingdom collaboration was the norm.
At best, independent Christian churches have also been interdependentso I hope that you and your congregation will participate in some of the meetings I have mentioned.
But I also want to share a simple challenge: I hope you will also go to North American Christian conventions.
WHAT I MEAN BY “CONVENTIONS”
When I say “North American Christian conventions,” I’m talking about our three largest national gatherings that are still largely members of the Independent Christian Church: the International Missions ConferenceTHE Arrow Conferenceand the National gathering RENEW.org.
I’ve been to all three, and a few weeks ago the OCC Preaching and Teaching Conference welcomed the executive directors of all three to campus (Dave Empson, Rick RusawAnd Bobby Harrington, respectively). So, before I encourage you to attend these three “North American Christian Conventions,” can I give you my quick thoughts on the unique value and flavor of each? Here is my own handy homemade reference chart:
![](https://christianstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Proctor_chart_JN.jpg)
THE National gathering RENEW.org will meet in Indianapolis on April 25-26, 2023. This relatively new meeting wants to “explore the real theology that fuels discipleship.” With a mix of worship, prayer, breakout sessions, and TED-style talks on the main stage, the RENEW gathering tends to touch on theological, apologetic, and worldview topics to engage the mind of the leader of Christian church, and you are more likely to hear a presentation on the ministerial relevance of Trinitarian belief at RENEW than at the other two.
This is not a family conference, so there are no sessions or child care available. But because this gathering includes many speakers and non-instrumental participants from the Church of Christ, you will meet members of the Restoration Movement family that you might not normally meet. His church place—Traders Point Christian Church this year, it indicates its purpose is to equip you for ministry in the local church. Incidentally, it quickly outgrew its previous location, at Harpeth Christian Church near Nashville. Check it out on RENEW.org/events.
THE Spire Conference will meet in Nashville from September 26 to 28, 2023. Although this gathering is the heir to the NACC, it looks a little different from the old North American one. With a blend of worship, preaching, TED-style talks, breakout sessions, and ministry-specific discussion groups, the Spire Conference tends to address relevant and practical ministry topics to equip Christian church leaders.
This is not a family conference, so no sessions or care is offered to children. But the conference’s wide range of ministry disciplines means there’s something for a church’s entire staff team. More than the other two conferences, the speakers on stage feature leaders from our broader evangelical family. Spire’s goal is “to encourage and equip leaders who inspire a healthy growing church movement,” and its venue at a resort hotel – this year’s Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center – signals that the One of his strategies for such encouragement is to provide weary church leaders with rest and leisure. Check it out on spire.network.
THE International Conference on Missions (ICOM) will meet in Oklahoma City November 15-19, 2023. ICOM is the oldest of the three gatherings (begun in 1948 as the National Missionary Convention) and still remains the largest. Its goal is to “encourage, equip, and recruit workers for the harvest,” and it tends to focus on cross-cultural evangelism. But this is not only for current or future missionaries. He addresses the topics of the Great Commission for all Christians, and his worship, preaching, and workshops are intended to encourage the heart of every Christian church member.
ICOM offers sessions for children and adolescents, making it a conference for the whole family. Its convention center includes ample booth space for kids and adults to explore. (The old NACC was never my kids’ idea of fun – not exactly Christmas in July – but it was Halloween, as they “trick or treat” the booths, filling goodie bags with free candy, notepads, pens, throwing discs and T-shirts. The ministry exhibits also introduced them to the creativity and size of our movement.) You will also be encouraged by the size of our movement as you meet more international believers at ICOM. Unlike the other two conferences, ICOM has a different president and a different host city each year (Lexington in 2024, Atlanta in 2025), allowing it to connect over time with many regions and networks within our great tribe. Check it out on theicom.org.
MY SIMPLE CHALLENGE
So my simple challenge is this: I hope you will go to the North American Christian conventions, whether you are young or old, male or female, volunteer leader or vocations minister, on the West Coast, on the East Coast ( or somewhere in between). . If budget and time don’t allow you to attend all three, consider choosing one as your annual pillar and alternating between the other two as much as possible.
I won’t do a 10 hour trip with one stop anymore, but I will still make RENEW, Spire and ICOM a high priority. Like the NACC, these meetings bless our movement and bless me:
- I still get to meet Dave Stone and Rick Rusaw (and many other friends) at the Spire conference.
- My 29-year-old son, Luke, now a pastor in Indianapolis, tells me about the encouragement RENEW.org has given him as he leads.
- For ICOM 2023 in Oklahoma City, Ozark Christian College will cancel Friday classes and charter buses for students to see the magnitude of our movement and our mission. (Students will likely fill goodie bags at the booths, too.)
I hope you never need to muster the kind of prayer my wife Katie needed in 2013, but we all need the encouragement, wisdom, and help of our great tribe. So I hope to see you at one or more of these three family reunions!
Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.