by Joe Conway

Worship led by the Passion Band with Kristian Stanfill set the tone for the first day of the 2015 Send North America Conference. More than 13,000 participants came to the gathering to discover life on mission and the next steps they can take. Photo by Susan Whitley/NAMB

Some quotes from Iowa pastors and ministry leaders who attended the 2015 Send North America Conference:

We had a great time at the SEND conference in Nashville.
I was encouraged by the passion and direction of the SBC. This is not your Grandpas SBC!
Conference was amazing. Really really awesome. I’d like to think that will become an annual thing. The price was right too.
I loved the conference.
It was a great conference! Thank you for investing in us!
It takes a conference like that to see what you have been saying – that there has been a whole lot of progress in the SBC. Seems like very hopeful days ahead.

NASHVILLE (BP) — A sold-out crowd of more than 13,000 from all 50 states and four Canadian provinces flooded into Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena to celebrate the call of Jesus and the response of life on mission at the 2015 Send North America Conference Monday.

North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell and International Mission Board President David Platt welcomed the assembly and challenged attendees to serve wherever God calls them.

2015 Send North America Conference evening session keynote speaker Louie Giglio, pastor of Atlanta’s Passion City Church, told attendees they were celebrating the name of Jesus. “The Gospel is not that sin made us bad,” Giglio said. “It is worse than that. Sin made us dead. But Jesus stepped into our dilemma. He came to make us not dead.”
Photo by John Swain/NAMB

“This is where I want to call 13,000 plus people in this arena, from the beginning [of the conference], to put a blank check of our lives on the table for God — no strings attached,” Platt said.
Ezell noted, “We need pastors, students, men and women to rise up. We want this to be more than a conference you attend, we want it to be a life-altering experience.”

The mission entity leaders were joined on the platform by Southern Baptist Convention president Ronnie Floyd, Tennessee Baptist Convention executive director Randy Davis and others who helped lead prayer.

Opening session keynote speaker J.D. Greear told attendees they have a call to leverage their talents and lives for the Great Commission.

“True growth only comes through scattering and gain only comes by losing,” said Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C. “It’s counterintuitive, but it’s true. Jesus’ promises about the greatness of the church were always tied to sending. He always focused on leaders being raised up and sent out, not an audience being gathered in and counted.”

J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C., was the keynote speaker for the opening session of the 2015 Send North America Conference. “Jesus’ promises about the greatness of the church were always tied to sending. He always focused on leaders being raised up and sent out, not an audience being gathered in and counted,” Greear said. Photo by John Swain/NAMB

Illusionist and host Harris III opened the gathering by taking the stage with a seemingly empty white box representing a life lived on mission. He described the contents of the box as a “mystery” before, piece by piece, removing items that signified unique lives lived on mission, explaining, “You don’t have a mystery to solve. You have a ministry to serve.”

A dozen breakout sessions at three venues presented participants with topics on living out missions in everyday life. Panelist Danae Herndon, who ministers in her Colorado Springs neighborhood, said, “(My husband and I) decided we don’t want to wait to be on mission for someone to fund us. We promised God that we would be on mission today. So we started praying, ‘God, whose life can we breathe into? Who can we be in relationship with? Who can we impact?’ And it always went back to our local community.”

Prayer opened the 2015 Send North America Conference. More than 13,000 people from all 50 states and four Canadian provinces flooded into Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena to celebrate the call of Jesus on the lives and discover a life on mission.
Photo by Susan Whitley/NAMB

Video interviews, including one with Tyson Foods CEO Donnie Smith, were presented at main sessions in the Bridgestone Arena. Smith said, “People don’t mind Christians living Christian lives in the workplace. They hate hypocrites.” He said faithfulness is key to maintaining an effective witness in the corporate world.
The evening sessions keynote speaker, Louie Giglio, told attendees they were celebrating the Gospel — and a name.

“The Gospel is not that sin made us bad,” said Giglio, pastor of Atlanta’s Passion City Church. “It is worse than that. Sin made us dead. But Jesus stepped into our dilemma. He did not leave His throne to make us good people. He came to make us not dead.”

Giglio said the resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit set in motion the plan of God, outlined in the Book of Acts, setting in motion a church that would send its people.

“Sin leads to in. It always turns the focus on me,” Giglio said. “The first two letters of Gospel are g-o. The Spirit says go. It takes the propulsion of the Spirit to overcome the inward pull of the flesh. It is all about the name of Jesus. That is what God has given us to celebrate — His name.”

The night concluded with a concert by David Crowder.

David Crowder and friends entertained 2015 Send North America Conference participants with a concert to conclude the opening day of the missions gathering, which drew more than 13,000 to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Photo by John Swain/NAMB

Joe Conway writes for the North American Mission Board. NAMB writer K. Faith Morgan and IMB writer Anne Harman contributed to this article. For complete coverage of the Send North America Conference visit namb.net/send2015.

Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com).
Baptist Press (BP) is the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention and provides news to the 42 state Baptist papers. BP reports on missions, ministry and witness advanced through the Cooperative Program and on news related to Southern Baptists’ concerns nationally and globally.

North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell (left) and International Mission Board President David Platt pray to open the 2015 Send North America Conference where more than 13,000 participants gathered to discover mission opportunities. Photo by John Swain/NAMB