At 35,000 feet in the air on my way from Houston back to Newark, I began reflecting on my experience in AIM. I just can’t believe that it is over already. There were so many moments, so many nuggets of information that I had received, most of which I have shared on this blog.

However one moment that did stick out at me was on Thursday night when Bishop J. Drew Sheard, the AIM Chairman, announced a special guest that he had with him. Sometime before the week of the AIM convention he recieved a call from the Make a Wish Foundation. They  had told Bishop Sheard about a young man that was terminally ill. His last wish was that he could attend the AIM Convention. After Bishop Sheard was overcome with emotion, he made way for this young man and his family to attend the AIM Convention. After Bishop Sheard introduced the young man he asked for the Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake to come and lay hands on him. As Bishop Blake prayed, together we all corporately prayed that this young man would be healed from his disease. The room began to be filled with thousands calling out to God for Healing. What an awsome experience it was to see and feel the presence of God in that place. The Young man was also touched and was overcome with emotion. We all believe that God can and will heal him and allow him to come back to AIM next year. And I hope to be there also to see and hear how God brought him out of his sickness. God can still work miracles if you believe!

I hope that you all were blessed by this blog. There is still so much more that I wasn’t able to share here, but God has really blessed me through this experience. I have already started to plan for AIM 2012 which will be held in Birmingham, Alabama!

God Bless you and thank you for your prayers. Please feel free to comment and ask me any questions, I will be monitoring the responses.

On tonight, the Last night of the AIM Conventions, we heard a powerful word from our leader. The International Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, the Bishop Charles E. Blake.

Bishop Blake spoke about Maximizing and placing first priority on our relationship with God. He began by breaking down the different levels of Friends (Friendship). They are as follows:

Level 1 – People you never speak to or see. (i.e. People that you pass on the street)

Level 2 – People you interact with once in a while (i.e. People you are in a waiting room with)

Level 3 – People you share a place with (i.e. Co-Workers)

Level 4 – A Casual Friend (i.e. People you need a reason to call)

Level 5 – People you stay in touch with (i.e. People you don’t need a reason to call)

Level 6 – People you want to stay in touch with

Level 7 – People you can’t think of never being in your life

Level 8 – People like a brother

The role of a faithful father would function at Level 8. God should be seen by us a the ideal and perfect father. The predominant sentament God has for us is Love. God Loved us so much that he gave himself (in the form of Jesus Christ) on the cross for us. His love is the greatest force on the Earth and He Loves us from Level 8 and deyond.

It is therefore dangerous not to prioritize your relationship with God. God wants to be your one and only so He must come first in our lives. If God is not first in our lives, other things can get in between us and God. Only if we maximize our relationship with God, and put him first, can we be fruitful and blessed.

In tonight’s service Bishop J. Drew Sheard, the International COGIC AIM Chairman, brought forth a powerful word from Exodus 2:23-25.

He explained that there are some blessings that we enjoy from our Family and blessings we enjoy from our Friends. We however have to be careful because Association brings Assimilation. We can eventually conform to the ways of others that might not be good traits to have. You have to be careful not to receive the blessings of sinners. God has blessings for us individually. He has a special purpose for our lives and He is working on His plan. God will make a way but you have to be careful of Friendly Enemies, the Devil could be right next to you. God can set you up to a place where your enemies can’t get to you.

In the Mid-Day Youth Service Dr. Judith McAllister told us about how when she came to AIM on Monday her Ipad was not working. All her applications were there but her Sermon she had on it was gone. She then took it to an Apple store. It turns out that it had crashed because everytime her Ipad asked to perform a software update she would click “Later” instead of “update now”. Her Ipad became full of apps, but with no content. She then related this to us. We need the power of the Holy Ghost to activate what is already there. If we don’t have the power of the Holy Ghost, just like her Ipad, we will be full of apps but no content. A form of Godliness but without the power.

We need the power of the Holy Ghost!

Today was the last sessions of Sunday School University. In todays session we discussed Building a Successful Team. It is important that we become excited about the areas that we are in. If we are excited others will be also. We also have to be open to feedback, if we are not open we will be running things on our own.

In our next session we continued the discussion from Monday on Creating a Marketplace Ministry. It is important that we take the ministry outside of the 4 walls of the church. We have to live in the present and the message relevant. The same things that worked may not work now, today is a new day. We must become all things to all people.

This evening we heard from the Vice-President of the International Youth Department, Supt. Micaiah Young. He told us “in case of Emergency Do Not Panic”.

If your problems want to be in your atmosphere take your atmosphere to church. Meaning, any problems that want to bother you and attack you, tell your problems to come to church. When you have trouble in your life you have to lay hands and pray. We must not let carnality enter the church. We need to grab the horns of the Alter and pray.

Furthermore, if you have been called to do something you have to pray that you are lined up according to the Word of God.

We are called to be delivered. Any problem, and situation, we can call on the Lord and bind those things that have been coming against us.

Today was the 2nd Day of Sunday School University. I decided to attend the foundational Sunday School Sessions. The first session dealt with Job Descriptions.

It is important to remember that change must be managed. Any changes that take place in leadership or within the church must be managed. Also, if we want Sunday School to grow we must be organized. Organization is a key thing that our Pastor has preached, we have to be prepared for the souls that will be coming in. In addition when we are working in our Jobs in the church, it is important to understand what our Job duties are, and stay in our lanes. We should only be doing the Job that we have been appointed to do.

The next session dealt with Equipping Young Saints. An important statistic shared was that on average a Sunday School Teacher spends 3 years with a Child. It is important that we teach the Word to them during that time. Prov. 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” It is also important to use social media such a Facebook and modern technology like smart phones to reach the youth. While in class, a teacher could have a student research a definition on the phone. This keeps them involved using something they love.

The last session, taught by the Dean of Foundational Sunday School, dealt with Equipping the saints. In our studies of the Sunday School lesson it is important to have tools like a Strong’s Concordance, a Study Bible, and other biblical study tools. These tools are necessary to be prepared to teach Sunday School, or to prepare to bring a Word. A Sunday School Teacher should always be 2 steps ahead of their Students and not give a “Saturday night special” (A lesson prepared the night before). Saturday Night Specials will not keep Students coming back to Sunday School.

More to come later.

This evenings service was awesome. Bishop Alton Gatlin, the International President of the Sunday School Department, preached a great word. His subject, “And God Said…” came from Gen 1. It is important to realize that if God said it, it’s already done. Those that are real prophets will say what God said, because then truly if God said it, and the prophet speaks it, then it will happen. Everything that God said, all the promises that God made, it will come to past.

I am ready for another power packed prayer tomorrow. God Bless You All!

This morning was the first day of Sunday School University. I decided to attend the Sunday School Leadership Ministry sessions. The first session was “Creating Marketplace Ministry”. In this session we learned that we need to accept the challenge of Change by overcoming personal dislikes and biases, living in the present and developing new mindset.

The next session, “Creating a Techno-Savvy Sunday School with 21st Century Communication”, was something I was very interested in hearing about. We discussed the importance of using modern technology like email, powerpoint, teleconference, video conference, texting, facebook, and twitter. Using these methods can help streamline communication and make sunday school more appealing to this up and coming generation. Facebook for an example can be used to create discussion boards for Sunday School Topics that get students involved even before Sunday comes.

In the next session, “It’s time for a Paradigm Shift”, we discussed the need to evolve and change to make things better and more efficient. The example, given by Evangelist Sharon Williams, was how the convention went from, in the past, having one long line waiting to purchase cd’s and dvd’s to now having 20 kiosks to make it more convenient.

After the Sunday School University sessions we attended the mid-day Music & Youth service that was awesome and on fire. There are definitely some very on fire youth in the national church.

That’s it for now, if you can please check out the live stream of tonights service at 7pm on www.cogic.com. Our Pastor Supt. Ahmed Screven will we expediting tonight.

Also, if there is anyone that might be available to Skype on this thursday please let me know. One of the presenters in Sunday School University wants to do a demonstration in class.

This evening we attended the opening night service where the main speaker was Bishop Rufus Kyles from Houston, tx.

Bishop Kyles spoke of the need for us to reevaluate our method of Evangelism. Bishop Kyles also said that Jesus himself was the perfect example of evangelism. Jesus left his heavenly hometown to come down and evangelize. There were many, for an example in Mark 5, Jesus came into contact with that he healed and delivered from their infirmities and told them to tell what had been done. We as saints of God need the power of the Holy Ghost to save and deliver and spread the Word of God.

Much more from a full day tomorrow. God Bless!

Also if you would like to view any of the AIM evening services it will be streaming live every night this week at 7pm. Visit www.cogic.com