National Missionary Convention- Tulsa, OK

Hey guys,
I spent 5 days last week/weekend at the National Missionary Convention in Tulsa, OK. Every year, NMSI has a booth at the convention where we spend time networking and recruiting. Since my new role is Director of Summer Internships, it was important for me to be at the NMC to meet potential interns. I was blessed to have a lot of great conversations with missionaries, potential missionaries, friends, college professors, and pretty much everyone in between. From your typical productivity standpoint, the conference was great considering we had a large amount of people interested at NMSI. However, the way NMSI measures productivity is different from the way most of us do. Growth is not a core value of NMSI. Let me say that again…growth is not a core value. We do not exist to grab people and send them on the mission field. We exist to help people realize the dream, vision, or ministry that God has given them. This philosophy is a big reason that I am here. We’re not in competition with other mission organizations either. If someone is better suited with another organization, then great. We want them to go work with the other group and be blessed in their endeavors.

For example, a man approached me and asked what we were about. After a brief discussion, he asked “Are you a Christian Church mission?” I responded that we consider ourselves a New Testament ministry, and I am from a Christian Church background, but we have affiliates that are from a wide variety of denominations. Visibly irritated, he simply said “so you’re interdenominational…” and walked off. So, NMSI isn’t the place for this man…though I didn’t entirely appreciate his response, I (and the rest of us) want this man to find a place that is a good fit for him, and wish him the best of God’s blessings. So I’m proud to represent NMSI…and the NMC was a great venue.

Since the NMC was in Tulsa, I thought you might appreciate a few random facts/observations.
*Tulsa is the 45th largest city in the US
*Tulsa has the nickname “Oil Capitol of the World”
*Trying to find food or convenience items in downtown Tulsa is like trying to find a penguin in Florida
*The Doubletree hotel gives you a free cookie when you check in…they will also give you more of these check in cookies if you’re nice and smile
*Tulsa’s wind can stop you in your tracks
*Tulsa is called the “Buckle of the Bible Belt”
*The new BOK center is state of the art and looks like a place where a NBA team should play
*We were not in the BOK center
*We were in the Tulsa Convention Center
*The Tulsa Convention Center has seen better days...

Hope you enjoyed the random facts! I’m running a ½ marathon on Thanksgiving…you’ll hear about that soon!

Happy Thanksgiving y’all.