He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

Mark 16:15-18

In my lifetime, I have been to many prophetic conferences.  I have been equipped, taught, and otherwise prepared and shaped through them.  As the late Jill Austin put it, she felt that conference were becoming the new Seminary for much of the Body of Christ.

Looking over the vast array of conferences, there are only a certain segment of them that interest me today.  The ones with a prophetic bent, the ones open to the manifestations of the Spirit, gifts, healing, prayer, and the like are what I generally go for, without another specific leading.  Certainly, my selection has been biased, I believe for the better, but God is the ultimate judge.

Yet, in the course of my attending many such meetings, it has come to my attention that there is a greater plan, the overall calling, or charter, if you will of many of these conferences.

Many of these simply exist for teaching.  These are wonderful, necessary, and can be either foundational or highly revelatory and prophetic.  But, just as there are five offices in the Church (the “five-fold ministry”), teaching is only one segment of this.  There are also apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors.

As I have watched, however, I have seen a slow, and even not so subtle shift.  Again, this could be the conferences I choose, or it could be a reflection of a greater trend.  I have seen many conferences fall into teaching and many others move in great power and impartation.  Jill Austin, while she may not have been the greatest teacher, had such an anointing of fire and glory that her gift made room for her.  Many are teaching intercession, and many faith.  Some conference speakers have only four or five real sermons they preach, where the ones I most prefer who do this have as their main goal to be to get people to seek the face of the Lord.

This is the true place of ministry, as all true service comes out of time spent with the Lord.  It is in His presence, being with Him, that He sends us out to preach.

Yet, as I watch, I notice a new trend in conferences, as speakers raise up ‘disciples’ and many younger people are beginning to speak at conferences.  Much more emphasis is on power and demonstration, which should be a good thing for the demonstration of the Kingdom, however, it in opposition to this they often lose the one thing, the one focus, that matters, which is to seek His face.  Even conferences on business often seem like they are more conferences on busy-ness rather than hearing the heart of the Lord and doing it.

It is only the anointing that breaks the yoke.  No amount of showmanship or ability to present something well will ever take the place of the power of God in a meeting.  Nothing but a consistent walk in the Holy Spirit will ever produce this, only the constant, year after year, day after day, hour after hour, of seeking the Lord, contending for His presence, and abiding daily in His Spirit.

The only thing that matters if faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).  The only thing that ever matters before the Lord is obedience.

As many conference speakers learn, the weight of ministry only grows, and the private life quickly dwindles with the demands and pressures of being before people.  Merely to get a weekend away with the family often can become a chore.

But, there is a shift away from devotion to the Lord Himself to a mindset of the experience of a meeting, to the emotional excitement and the immediate take home after a meeting is concluded.  Many ministers become snagged upon who has the best looking attire, and others jockey for prominent seats at meetings, hoping to garner the praise of men.

Surely, the snares and pitfalls of public ministry life are many, but they speak directly to the root of the Gospels.  If the Gospels are Christianity 101,they are also advanced leadership training.

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.

Luke 11:43

When told that this was offensive to his hearers, Jesus did not back off.

One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too. But He said, Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.

Luke 11:45-47

What God created as good often gets left behind as men see it as an avenue of advancement, when they fail to see the Heart.  Even Paul observed this, when he wrote:

Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

Philippians 1:15-17

Some preach the Gospel merely to advance themselves.  Although the Gospel is preached, there is very little reward, if any, for the man preaching.  Perhaps he will still be rewarded for the souls saved, and the Word that he did sow, but barely.  Of the things that matter in the end, Faith, Hope, Love, Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit, there is little by the way of it.

But, what of it?  When we forsake the narrow way, and seek the desires of the life, we make ourselves unfruitful.  The desires and cares of this life choke us out, drive away the true fruit from our lives, and, except for the grace of God to bring us back, make us unfruitful.

It is the heart of faith, and of obedience that matters.  There are small men, and there are great men, but those who would be the greatest in the Kingdom must be the least.  When we love this world, we subject ourselves to it and its laws.  When we love the Father, we subject ourselves to Him, and as He created the natural laws, He Himself is outside of them.  For, nothing is impossible with God!

The Kingdom of God happens when faithful men and women believe the Word.  It is not in a gift, although it is full of them.  It is not in a manifestation, although they will always come in some form or another with the presence of His Kingdom.  It is not even in a preaching, if that preaching is not endued with His Spirit to confirm the Word.  Jesus’ words were never empty, for they were Spirit and they were Life!

This is the Kingdom, that we abide in Him.  That we seek after Him, and draw from and operate in Him.  As He is head, as we operate in His headship, there is no loss or shortage or lack, for He is the Lord who fills all in all, despite what any circumstance may look like.

This is the Kingdom, that in His Spirit, we stand united as brothers, preferring one another as greater than ourselves.

This is the Kingdom, that we bear much fruit–fruit that remains.

The charter of the Kingdom is that we go, and that we preach His Kingdom to the whole world.  And, these signs will follow us.  This is His mandate, and as we adhere to His words, His heart, and His message, His fruits and results will accompany us as surely as He is Lord!

As the conference in many ways has been about the teaching and equipping in areas where the body has been deficient, in the hands of a new generation that has not fully laid down their own lives, has not fully paid the price, and has reached their promotion by recognition by men, they run the risk of departing from the charter of the conference circuit.  When this happens, and as the lawlessness of unsanctified ministers increases, you should expect a judgment of some sorts upon the conferences we see, and already, this is happening to a degree.

God never intended a conference circuit where big name speakers perform your miracle, and you continue, year after year, to worship beneath that spreading tree. He wants you to believe, in the small mundane things of your life, like when you lose your keys, or to follow His prompting so you don’t, so that, at the end of the day, you’re a Son of God, because you are led by Him! The conference circuit ONLY ever existed to either win souls or equip people to walk in faith.

So far as the conferences and speakers depart from this, they have left their charter, and no longer function in the Spirit, but in the plans, minds, and agendas of men.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13

It is His charter to draw men to Himself, through a living and real relationship with Himself.

Even church, so much as it is church, exists to do this.  While there will always be certain administrative requirements simply to coordinate and facilitate a large number of people, the moment any liturgical or administrative process is elevated above the living relationship with God, it is out of place.  Further, so long as any structure of order, or any outward work of any kind, be it liturgy or ushering, is ever elevated to be in and of itself of any spiritually meritous work, it is abominable before God.

True and undefiled religion is to look after widows and orphans in their time of distress, and to keep ones self unspotted from the world.  And, this must come from a pure heart of faith and love, or it is worthless.

Any act, other than those that directly relate to God as man’s Spirit interacting with the Divine Spirit, or those that support and spring from those acts (such as cleaning the restroom, feeding the widows, the Word, etc) is never a spiritual thing.  Ultimately, if we are to regard the first commandment in its rightful place as first, we must see to it that our whole life falls under this rule.  Is our life directly corresponding and coming in line with the service and worship and praise of our God?  If not, we should cut it off.  We must bathe, we must feed ourselves, we must fellowship, but when any of these is not correctly in balance with keeping the Lord first in our lives, the Lord of the whole universe, we have a dead work.  And, whenever anything other than relating to Him and obeying His Word becomes elevated to a position of any spirituality, including behavior and decorum, it is an idol and a demon of religiosity and churchism.

The one and only relationship that matters above all the rest is our relationship with our creator, the sustainer of all things, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Whether it be a church, a conference, or even our own lives, the Truth that we must conform to is the Living way, the Living Spirit, the True Lord Jesus Christ, who was, is, and ever will be.

The only charter we have is the Word, the written word, to preach and proclaim and to make disciples.  Conference culture He’s not in.  He’s into hearts made pure by the blood and the agency of Jesus Christ.