NACC Ministry Encouragement and Why the Convention Still Matters
Mark A. Taylor reflects on the quiet but enduring value of the North American Christian Convention. Through simple conversations, shared meals, sermons, and โchanceโ encounters, the NACC has encouraged ministers and reminded them they are not alone.
- The NACCโs strength has long been its simplicity and personal connection.
- Encounters at the convention have encouraged ministers to persevere in long-term ministry.
- The gathering reminds Christians they are not alone in their calling.
By Mark A. Taylor
Actually what we do at the North American Christian Convention is not dramatic.
We talk. We eat. We laugh.
We sing. We pray. We listen to sermons, some of them excellent.
Some of us go to meetings. Often we encounter people with names we recognize, but weโve never actually met them before. How could we, when we live across the country from each other and theyโre busy with their ministries while weโre occupied with our own?
The Beauty of Simple Encouragement
This is how it has been through the decades. The beauty of the NACC is its simplicity, its predictability, its opportunity to connect folks who need each otherโs encouragement but have few other opportunities to experience it.
Allan Dunbar, who was a part of the NACC long before he became its executive director, told about the first convention he attended; it was 1965 in Oklahoma City.
โI sat on a stool at a coffee counter for breakfast. A man sat beside me I didnโt know, but Iโd just read a book heโd written, published by Standard Publishing, Christians Only.
โI talked with James DeForest Murch for two hours, right through the morning session. He wanted to know what was happening among the churches in Canada. He encouraged me in my ministry.
โThe NACC has facilitated meetings like that through the years.โ
Courage to Carry On
Forty-four years later, NACC attendees continue to tell how the convention has given them courage to carry on.
Two ministers whose names I didnโt catch were talking at a ministerโs mentorship breakfast. One of them has been preaching 16 years at the same congregation in Americaโs heartland. He started there while still a Bible college student.
โI thought about leaving in 1997, but I came to the NACC that year. I heard Allan Dunbar and Russ Blowers speak about the value of a long-term ministry.
โI brought their manuscript home and taped it inside my Bible. Iโm still there at that church.โ
The preacher sitting beside him smiled. โI thought I was the only one who taped NACC manuscripts inside his Bible,โ he chuckled.
Why the NACC Matters
Only God knows how many NACC workshops and sermons and โchanceโ encounters have sparked new hope and commitment. This is why the NACC matters. It gives us the chance to reconsider our ministries and to decide theyโre worth the price weโre paying to perform them.
This may not be true for everyone who has attended the convention. It certainly is not true for those who have stopped attending. We neednโt spend much energy wooing or worrying about them. Instead we can celebrate what the NACC continues to accomplish: it reminds us weโre not alone in our quest to be simply Christians in an increasingly complicated world.
And thatโs enough.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
