P4C19: Pressing Matters
Pressing matters are always upon us. There are sometimes so many that they weigh us down.But shouldn’t we who know Christ take up the offensive by pressing towards something? Shouldn’t all of life’s pressures come under our call to press on and more importantly to press towards something in particular? This was the question before us at Passion4Christ Summit 2019. The challenge for us to take up is pressing toward the mark, pressing toward Christ. Our friends who came to P4C, came in anticipation of different things The renewal of friendships and establishing of new ones; the good food and the fellowship around the table that goes with it; the time to relax and have fun; and volleyball; all of these and more make The Summit something to look forward to and something to return to. Which explains that while 40% of this year’s attendees were new, the other 60% were returnees.
But the main and most important reason to gather at Pleasant Hill is the Word. We are renewed in and by God’s Word. Each session and breakout was built to challenge us with the different aspects of christlikeness and a life that pursues Christ. Our guest speaker was Matt Watson Pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon IN. Mat embraced and engaged the young adults who came. His exposition of God’s Word was faithful and practical. His exhortation to pursue Christ and christlikeness in the context of the local church was an important punctuation to it all. And these things did not fall on deaf ears. The questions submitted for the Q&A which came on Saturday showed that our brothers and sisters were seriously considering what they heard. Of course, during those days they also heard from Daniel Cavanaugh and Charles Cavanaugh in the plenary sessions and Pam and Micah in the breakouts. Everything was designed to encourage the next generation to pursue christlikeness. One of the highlights of the week was the formal theme dinner on Friday evening. Our family and staff worked hard to recreate a “Dickens Christmas”. The atmosphere was special and the cuisine splendid! These are the kind of things that help to make this a special gathering. After the evening session with Matt Watson speaking, we had pies made from scratch for desert. All of the things we would call fun were designed to enhance our more important experience of hearing and considering the challenge of God’s Word to pursue christlikeness. Charles began the week with pressing toward the mark. Daniel preached on transparency. Matt presented us with a picture of Christ by expounding how God’s love for us motivates our love for one another, how gazing upon Christ transforms us from one stage of glory to another, and how Christian unity flows from a mutual commitment to Christ and His church. All of this led us to come face to face with the mind of Christ in Philippians 2, because it is the mind of Christ that catalyst for all christlikeness.
The thirty souls the Lord sent our way were a precious gift and a blessing to us. Our volunteer staff who spent their time, funds, and energy energized us for the work. Pleasant Hill is a pleasant place, abut what makes it special to us is that it has been home to Passion4Christ Summit for eleven years. Wherever God takes us we will continue to look forward to gathering with young adults from across the nation for P4C.
Charles Cavanaugh
