Last year’s conference here in Auckland was an absolute zinger. Bill Johnson preached the lights out and many people got healed.

This morning at Harbourside Church Martin Steel announced that, so far, they have received 1600 registrations for the 2011 conference in August. This is double the number of registrations received at the same time last year. So if you’re thinking of attending, I recommend you get organized soon. (The conference is next month!)

“But what about those gnarly parking and seating hassles?” I hear you ask. Here’s the good news: To accommodate the enormous demand, this year two conferences will be run back-to-back, as follows:

Conference 1: 22-24 August 2011 (Monday evening – Wednesday evening)
Conference 2: 24-26 August 2011 (Wednesday evening – Friday evening)

Who’s preaching in 2011? Both Bill Johnson and Danny Silk from Bethel will be speaking along with Harbourside’s very own Martin Steel. You can register and learn further details at the Manifest Presence conference website. Mention “EscapeToReality.org” when registering and you’ll qualify for a photograph with Bill Johnson.*

___
* But only if you bring your own camera and are happy taking your shot from 100 feet away because that’s as close as you’re going to get. Anyway what do you want a photo for? What is this – a rock concert?

Have you ever noticed that the gospel of grace draws different responses depending on who you’re talking to? Lifelong churchgoers tend to respond with caution because they don’t know how to reconcile what they’re hearing with what they’ve been taught. Tell them that they’ve been completely forgiven and instead of celebrating they’ll respond with questions. “What about 1 John 1:9?” But tell a sinner that God forgave them 2000 years ago and they’ll react with surprise. “I never heard this before!”

My chat with that lady got me thinking. The gospel is good news for both saints and sinners but we’ve got to deliver the message in a way that suits each group. Here on Escape to Reality I’m principally writing for people who, like me, have grown up with a mixture of grace and religion. We’ve had a taste of grace and we like it, but we’ve still got questions. For most of us there’s a lot of unlearning taking place.

But sinners don’t have that baggage. They don’t need a list of 12 reasons why we don’t need to confess our sins. They just need to be told they’re forgiven! And if you tell them that natural disasters are not God’s judgments, they’ll say, “I never thought they were.”

We Christians like to discuss these things in depth, but the average sinner is coming from a completely different starting point. They don’t need all their i’s dotted or their t’s crossed – they just need to hear the good news.

Enter, my new website: JollyGoodNews.com

JollyGoodNews.com is a collection of gospel highlights from E2R. If you are a regular E2R reader, you’ll find nothing there that you haven’t seen before. That’s because JollyGoodNews.com was not designed for you. It was designed for your unsaved friends and those who are unacquainted with the gospel of grace.

I plan to keep publishing posts here on E2R that tackle the concerns that believers wrestle with. But on JollyGoodNews.com I plan to put links to those gospel posts that will be of greatest interest to the unsaved. It’s a bit of an experiment but then so is fishing. You cast the net then wait to see if you catch anything.

Anyway, take a look at the new site and, if you like it, think about sharing the link on your Facebook page. Better still, put a small badge like the one on the right on your own website or blog. (Simple instructions for doing that are found here.) If your unsaved friends are anything like mine, the good news of God’s grace may be something they’ve never heard before.

Then there are those who are too scared to walk away. They’re scared because they believe that God gets mad at them when they don’t perform. Some of these folks are working their butts off for Jesus, yet the things they do, Jesus never did and the things Jesus did, they never do! They follow the rules because they’ve never learned to follow Jesus. Sadly, most of them know they’re in a rut but they can’t see the way out. They have become enslaved to what Paul called the weak and beggarly principles of this world (Gal 4:9).

My heart grieves for both groups – the poisoning victims and the slaves of religion. I know Jesus loves them and died to set them free, but they don’t know it so they’re not free. How could they know? The gospel has always been good news, but it has been poorly packaged, poorly delivered, and sold when it should have been given away. Just as there are people dying in Africa for lack of medicines that are available elsewhere, God’s children are suffering unnecessarily for lack of access to His love and grace.

But the world is changing.

Poisoning victims who would never set foot inside a church building and slaves who would never leave can now see and hear the gospel of the kingdom being demonstrated live on Facebook and YouTube. They can watch miracles unfold before their eyes and hear first-hand accounts of lives being radically transformed. They can ask questions anonymously without fear of being embarrassed. And no one will pressure them to give, quit, sign up for stuff, or turn around and hug their neighbor while they’re doing it. (Lest any one get the wrong impression, let me add that I love the church that I regularly attend.)

Ever since I started Escape to Reality I’ve been looking for just the right words to convey the good news to people who might otherwise never hear it. It has taken me this long because I set myself a number of goals. In addition to all the usual elements (death, resurrection, etc.) my gospel message had to meet the following criteria:

1.    it must be written in plain English (Jesus never used jargon)
2.    it must be good and fill people with joy (just like the angel said it would)
3.    it must be good news for Christians as well as sinners (Jesus died for all!)
4.    it must present the Father and the Spirit as being united in purpose with the Son (Jesus was not on a rogue mission)
5.    it must reveal the heart of the Father (enduring love! reconciliation!)
6.    it must present an invitation to a relationship, without threats, rewards, or any other performance expectations (just like when you get married)
7.    it must reveal God’s covenant oath (we’re not changed by the promises we make to God, but by the promises He makes to us)
8.    it must clearly portray discipleship as Christ living through us (and not us trying to be Him)
9.    ideally it should touch on oft-ignored truths like His divine exchange, His perfect work, the gift of righteousness, our new nature, and eternal redemption (phew!)
10.    it must be less than 400 words

It was the last aim that was hardest to meet!

I didn’t want to write a book, but something short that people would actually read. I don’t know if I’ve succeeded, but at least it’s short and covers most of the bases. I’m giving it a permanent page here on E2R. You will find it identified as “Good News!” in the sidebar on the right (under Pages), or you can just click here. Note that there are three pages. The first presents the good news, the second suggests a response, and the third recommends further reading.

Let me know what you think.

Each day from Monday to Friday you will find a fresh grace quote from well-known preachers like Derek Prince, Watchman Nee, Andrew Wommack, Rob Rufus, plus others you may not have heard of. The blog exists to prove that the gospel is simple and that God is good!

Contrary to a lot of other “grace” websites you’ll find, this one is devoted to preaching pure, unadulterated grace. That means it’s about Jesus, His finished work on the cross, and what that means for the rest of us.

Take a look and see for yourself: GraceQuotes.com

If you like what you read, you can enter your email address in the subscription bar found on that page and get a fresh GraceQuote sent to you daily. What a great way to start your day!

If you are a Facebook user, you can also click “Like” on the brand new GraceQuotes.com FB page. This should result in getting the daily GraceQuote sent directly to your wall.

Under each GraceQuote is an assortment of share buttons. I encourage you to use these to spread the good word. For too long the church has been sold an inferior, watered-down gospel. The world needs to hear the good news straight up, without human additives, without hooks.

“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.” (Acts 20:32, NLT)

This year there are seven G&G Conferences taking place around the world.

The links below will lead you to further information.

1. The Netherlands (Barneveld), 18 – 20 Feb at Doorbrekers Church
2. The Philippines (Manila) 22 – 23 April (no website yet, but keep an eye on this)
3. Australia (Sydney)  5 – 7 May at Jubilee Church (follow the news on FB here)
4. Australia (Adelaide) 12 – 15 May at various locations, more info here
5. South Africa (Gauteng), 22 – 23 July at Real Life Church and Central Park Church
6. South Africa (Pinetown) 28 – 30 July at Highway Christian Community
7. USA (Atlanta) 3 – 5 Nov at Northlands Church

July 2011 Update: Information about the 2011 Manifest Presence Conference can be found here.

August 2010 Update: Manifest Presence 2010 is now history! Click on the link to see some of Bill Johnson’s top quotes from the conference.

>>

Bill Johnson is coming to town. If you don’t know who Bill Johnson is, click here to find out.

Some have said that Johnson is one of the best preachers in the world. I find it hard to disagree. He’s certainly at the top of his game. I am often blown away by the man’s insight into the mind of God and his depth of revelation. His preaching usually leaves me freshly humbled by the goodness of God. So I can guarantee you we will be going to the Manifest Presence Conference this 23-26 August, here in Auckland.

The conference is more than 5 months away but if you’re thinking of going, click here to register. If you have no idea what I’m on about, click here to find out. If you mention this website when registering you’ll qualify for free parking.
___
Related posts:

Ryan Rufus has just circulated the tentative dates for this year’s Glory and Grace Conference in Hong Kong. There are lots of unconfirmed exciting things being planned for this conference but all I can give you now are the dates. They are:

Sat 23 October 2010: All day with Andrew Wommack – 3 sessions

Mon 25 – Tues 26 October 2010: Glory and Grace meetings, 3 sessions per day (speakers yet to be confirmed).

Finalized dates and speakers will no doubt be advertised on CCI’s website in a few months.