CURE Winter Conference Photos

Click on the link to view some photos of the Winter Conference!!

How was Your Experience at CURE CWC 2006?

What did you think of the conference?
What did you like?
What did you not like?

Let us know what you thought about it!

It's There for the Taking

Grace, I just don't deserve it.
Never have, and never will.
But it's there for the taking - always.

Titus 2:11-13 Active Grace

The verses we are using for our conference are:

Titus 2:11-13
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.


So this grace that is freely given by God and sets us free also disciplines us. So if you are inclined to holiness or some godly act is that grace leading you?

Accepting Grace

"God gives where He finds empty hands. A person whose hands are full of parcels can't receive a gift." ~St. Augustine

Grace in other words, must be received. ~Yancy

The Boot and the Cross

The story is told, by celebrated Japanese author Shusako Endo, of a horrific persecution which all but eliminated Christian faith in Japan in the late 16th century.
The church in Japan was estimated to be over 1/4 million at this time. The Shogun decided that the growing movement was a threat from the west against Japan so they set out to destroy the church which was being nurtured by Portugese missionaries.
Many missionaries and disciples were arrested and told to deny the faith or face a brutal death. Silence is the story of one such Missionary who faced this dilemma with a slight twist. Though willing to die himself, he was not prepared for the torturous deaths which faced the people he had come to know in the village. He was not going to be killed but in darkness he listened to the pain and groans of many others being tortured to death.
He was told that all he needed to do was to trample on a medallion of the virgin Mary and Child which would represent his apostasy, the turning away from his Lord and Savior. So much pain, so much hurt, so many dying, he continued to cry out to Jesus for an answer to his prayers. "Silence" (the name of the book) was the only thing he heard.
Finally, broken and sorrowful, he decided he publicly would trample the "fume". As he lifted his foot to do what he never imagined, symbolically grinding away at the face he so dearly loved, Jesus breaks the silence, speaking from the medallion. "Trample, Trample," Jesus said, "for this is the reason I came into this world, to be a ransom for many...Trample!"
This is not a story of triumphalism. This is a story of grace... scandalous grace which challenges us to see, once again, the story is about Christ, not about us. I would love to think I would stand firm but, more foundationally, I need to know that God’s grace is far more dependable than my supposed courage, no matter how fueled by devotion. We have not really known God’s grace until we have been offended by that grace.
Peace

Who Deserves Grace?

Who deserves GRACE? Are these people in the pictures outside the bounds of grace and salvation or are they given the same FREE GRACE that someone else does? What makes someone in the bounds of grace? Is there a certain "goodness" that someone has to have? Or is grace just given- as an offering to everyone? What do you think?

God Looking for Us?

"So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about - God is looking for us." Simon Tugwell

Is this another way to discribe grace, God looking for us?