Bethel Baptist Church of El Sobrante, California held its second annual Word of Truth Conference beginning on Wednesday night, November 10, 2010. Visiting pastors and wives and Bethel members gathered together for a wonderful Filipino dinner at 5:45pm. This was followed by a sermon by Pastor Bobby Mitchell of Mid-Coast Baptist Church of Brunswick, Maine at 7:00pm. All the sermons in the conference were expository, exegeting portions of Scripture. Pastor Mitchell preached two messages from the book of 3 John. Later in the week, the attendees heard sermons from Pastors Thomas Smith of St. Clare, MO, Mike Custer of Grand Forks, ND, and Dave Mallinak of Ogden, UT. Expositions came from Genesis, Malachi, Nahum, Daniel, and Acts, resulting in a rich time in God’s Word for the week, the preaching accurate and practical.
An important aspect of the Word of Truth Conference are the morning sessions beginning Thursday morning at 9:00am, for the first three years dealing with the Bible doctrine of ecclesiastical separation. Pastor Mike Custer started these sessions on Thursday with teaching on the holiness of the Old Testament congregation, Israel. I (Pastor Kent Brandenburg) came next with John 17 and Unity. Pastor Thomas Smith taught on 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 3 and separation from the believer. Next Pastor Dave Mallinak covered Titus 3:9-11 and the process of separation there. The teaching sessions ended with Pastor Bobby Mitchell covering 1 Timothy and the role of the pastor in the purity of the church. Sunday evening at 6:00pm was a panel discussion during which questions were answered over the four morning sessions.
The meals and the music were tremendous. We had a great time praising the Lord with congregational and special music, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The church provided meals for lunch and supper Thursday and Friday, and each evening was a dessert fellowship time. Many commented on how wonderful the food was for conference attendees. A notebook was available at the conference for ten dollars that included complete chapters from the future book on separation.
The weather was warm and sunny. Those who came to the conference did some sightseeing at the amazing places around the Bay Area. The Bay was clear and colorful with sailboats dotting the blue surface of the water. The sunsets were gorgeous behind the Golden Gate Bridge.
Bethel is tentatively planning on holding the conference November 9-13, 2011. You can begin registering right now for the next year, so we can begin preparing for another great time together. We hope you make plans to come. We will provide more details regarding the 2011 meeting as we get closer to the conference date.