A wake-up call for the bride of Christ.
The 2025 Annual Pure Life Conference was a rich time of ministry, as people from all over the nation and even other countries came together at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky to seek the Lord. One of the blessings of the conference was being able to connect with many people who I haven’t seen in years, including some I was in the program with in 2011 as well as friends from the Netherlands and Brazil. What a joy it was to connect with like-minded believers who want to live their lives for the glory of God.
The theme of the conference was “Watch and Pray.” A lot of attention was put on establishing and maintaining a vibrant prayer life so that we can thrive in our spiritual lives despite the atmosphere of the world around us. I emceed the Pre-Conference on Thursday and Pastor Jeff and Rose Colon were the speakers. They spoke about the importance of establishing our marriages and families in prayer and the Word of God. After their speaking sessions, we had a Q & A and the three of us answered several questions regarding how to go deeper in prayer as individuals, couples and families. The whole Pre-Conference was a call to grow closer to the Lord and to separate ourselves from the world around us.
Pastor Steve Gallagher preached the first session of the conference on Friday morning. His message was about a believer’s intimate relationship with the Lord. He talked about the fact that you can have a religious experience, but you cannot have a true spiritual life without a personal relationship with God. He encouraged us that our relationship with God must be nurtured, like any human relationship. We were all called into a deeper walk with God, which is a necessity for the Christian today.
Pastor Dave Leopold spoke during a session for men based on Luke 17 and Genesis 13 and 14. He shared about Abraham’s friendship with God and exhorted us to make sure we have our own friendship with the Lord. It tied into the morning session and was a continued invitation from the Lord into the rich relationship that He wants with all of His children.
The title of my message was, “Time to Wake Up!” I shared from the story of the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus told them to watch and pray that they might not fall into temptation. (Matthew 26) Despite Jesus’ multiple admonitions to stay awake and pray, they failed to do so. My message drew out some of the reasons why the disciples were unable to fight off sleep, and applied them to the modern church of our day. If we are not diligent and sober in our walk with the Lord, the same thing that happened to the disciples can happen to us. We need to press into the Lord with everything we have so that we can keep our spiritual eyes open and make an impact in our generation. (you can watch the full message at the link below)
Pastor Nate Danser shared the first message on Saturday. He shared four points on the topic of prayer. He said that God’s will is that each of us become less like ourselves and more like Jesus. In contrast, the devil’s will for us is that we do whatever seems right to us. It is through intimate prayer that the battle between these competing forces is fought and overcome. He encouraged us to make prayer the foundation of our spiritual lives so that we can avoid going our own way.
Pastor Jeff Colon gave the final message called, “There is a Wedding Coming.” It was based on the parable given in Matthew 25 about the bridegroom coming for the bride. He admonished us to make sure that we always have the oil of the Holy Spirit in our lamps, a lesson the unwise bridesmaids learned the hard way. We need to have a sincere, whole-hearted devotion to the Lord so that we will be ready when He does come. It was a powerful ending to the conference and we all left with a fresh desire to press into the Lord through prayer.
That evening, we attended the Alumni and Friends banquet. There, we received updates about the ministry’s impact over the last year, saw a video that shared three powerful testimonies of men who are walking in freedom after going through the program, and worshipped with the Pure Life Ministries residential choir. As always, it was a moving experience for me to remember when I was a student singing in the choir. What an amazing work the Lord has done in my life! I’m personally very grateful for Pure Life Ministries, because God used their program in an incredible way to set me free from my bondage and restore our marriage and ministry. For more information about Pure Life, please visit their website at: www.purelifeministries.org
