More than a dozen pastors from more than 10 churches will be in Columbia with as many as 500 participants beginning Friday for the ninth annual Holy Convocation put on by the ACTS Fellowship.
The New Life Fellowship campus, located at 211 Eagle Day Ave., will be the site of the event, which according to Pastor Terry L. Weems, will be the largest one yet.
“This is a fellowship of churches where we get together and work on church issues and help each other out with training,” he said. “Each year, we have a convocation, which is a yearly meeting where we try to bring as many of those churches together as possible.”
On Friday, the event will feature training for churches.
“We have sessions on leadership, on church security, and the youth are involved in having talking sessions, targeted ministry for them,” Weems said. “We have a service that Friday night that begins at 7:15 p.m. that is mainly focused on prayer. Saturday is set aside for leadership development in all age groups. We also have a youth service that will start at 11:45 a.m.”
Weems said participants could focus on a variety of topics.
“There will be some that focus on men’s issues, some on women’s issues and some dealing with youth issues,” he said. “We will all come together for the youth service at 11:45 a.m. Something new that we have this time around is on Saturday night. We’re going to have the play, ‘Selma Untold Stories.’ It’s a stage play that has been on the Today Show and CBS This Morning. It will be Saturday night at 7 p.m. and the cast will be there for that.”
Sunday will be the official formal service at 5 p.m.
“We will have a ministerial chat at 4 p.m. and then everybody will get together for the service,” Weems said. “We take care of any official church business. I’ll be giving a lecture or sermon. We’ll be ordaining our first evangelist for the ACTS Fellowship. Evangelist Antonio Johnson will be commissioned.”
This year’s theme for the conference is “We have a solid word for a fluid world.”
“The world is moving, but we’re solid in our Christian faith,” Weems said. “Normally we have anywhere from 400 to 500 people here for the official service. Usually we have 300 or 400 people on Saturday and 200 or 300 on Friday. We’re expecting good crowds.”
Weems said the focus is twofold.
“The idea is for it to grow and for us to reach more people and be a training center for churches and an encouragement center in ministering to the pastors who are ministering to people,” he said. “We call Saturday the ‘empowerment sessions for all ages.’”
For more information visit the website terrylweems.com (click on ACTS Fellowship) or call (601) 731-1877 or 1-800-394-5433.
Pictured Above: Pastor Terry Weems of New Life Fellowship speaks at a recent event. Weems will speak this weekend as part of the ACTS Fellowship Holy Convocation. | Photo by Mark Rogers
