GROWING EDGES

Corporate gatherings–like the experience we recently had in Houston–are enormously helpful to the ongoing work of renewal. It does several things at once. It puts us immediately in touch with the spiritual riches of a vastly larger community of faith than we can possibly experience from week to week. Sustained preaching and teaching on a single theme–for us the Sermon on the Mount–enlarges our understanding and impacts us in an altogether new way. Prayer experiences are so much more powerful than we normally experience because of the deep concentration of spiritual energies upon a single event. Hope rises up within us as we see the works of God performed while hearing the word of God preached, and this hope defeats the unbelief which we so easily pick up from the culture around us.

These experiences, however, are not just for the 2,000 plus who attended the Houston gathering from forty-four states and twelve countries. No, the spill-over is meant for each person who receives this newsletter and hence is part of our nurturing fellowship. The pages which follow will give you a glimpse of the tender experiences of Houston and the heart-warming feedback since. Be encouraged and strengthened by this small report.

Also, the Conference audio tapes are the next best thing to actually being there. (And even if you were in Houston these tapes will help to solidify the teaching into your heart and mind.) Use the enclosed order form to purchase tapes directly from EGAMI A/V, the folks who did such an excellent job capturing the Conference experience for us on tape. They will be delighted to serve you.

I close with that great peon of praise first uttered by the Apostle Paul and which seems so very appropriate to our Houston experience: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33).

Peace and joy,

Richard J. Foster

Downtown Houston	Shuttles Waiting at the George R. Brown Convention Center