A Bethany Report- Where Our Jazzy is at

A Passage written by Pastor Stockstill of Baton Rouge, LA to conferencees, for conference that was scheduled for October 2005...

A Church Full of Pastors
Thursday, October 6, 2005 to Saturday, October 8, 2005 Conference rescheduled for March 2-4, 2006Baton Rouge, Louisiana

September 12, 2005
Dear Leader:
Re: “Church Full of Pastors” Conference Rescheduled to
March 2-4, 2006
As you know, in the last two weeks our nation has witnessed the worst natural tragedy in American history. At this writing, New Orleans is still 50 percent under water. One and a half million people have been scattered, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, are feared dead.We here at Bethany have been involved since the first moment of the disaster. We opened our south campus Center of Hope to the first evacuees. Then we turned our entire north campus into a massive shelter to feed, clothe, and minister to 800 people, at a daily cost of $10,000. These evacuees are sleeping, showering, and eating in every nook and cranny we can find. Now the South Center of Hope has become a refuge to 200 state troopers and paramilitary men and women who stay there each night.All hotels in Baton Rouge have been taken over by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). As a result, all our reservations for the 4,000 registered delegates for the scheduled October conference were automatically cancelled. Furthermore, the traffic in Baton Rouge has increased 50 percent as the city’s population has swollen from 450,000 to between 800,000 and 1 million. Our entire church staff is working with the relief effort on a round-the-clock basis.In light of these factors, we have reached a strategic decision to postpone our “Church Full of Pastors” International Conference until March 2–4, 2006. Our local convention bureau feels confident that Baton Rouge will be back to normal by the end of this year, and thus we should have no problem with the March date for the conference.In order for us to have an accurate count of people planning to attend the rescheduled conference, you will need to register again. You can do so at achurchfullofpastors.com or at bccn.com, or by calling BCCN at (225) 771-1600. Registration will continue to be free up through January 31, 2006. Flight reservations can generally be changed up to a year after making them, so if you had already scheduled a flight for the October conference, please change your flight to the new dates. We are, of course, very sorry for this development. No one could have anticipated the monstrous devastation that struck New Orleans. I will say, however, that of those staying in our shelter, 750 people were saved at our first “town meeting.” We are taking all of them through the first part of the Journey (formerly Pre-Encounter) and then holding a mass Encounter for them! They will also be trained with the new materials of the Discovery classes (formerly School of Leaders), which will be coming out in OctoberI anticipate the March conference will have far more in attendance than the one we had scheduled for October. God is moving mightily in our midst and forming strategic alliances. This past week in Baton Rouge, we have connected personally with Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Rod Parsley, and Rick Warren and have told all about the multiplication vision. President Bush, his wife, our governor, her husband, and our mayor were all here for two hours in our north shelter on Labor Day. It was quite a historic day. God is moving rapidly to build unity, focus, and revival.I love each one of you and thank you for supporting us in this effort. If the Lord leads you to contribute to the 52 shelters we are directly helping to supply, you can send your donation to Lifelinefoundation.com, a separate Bethany ministry exclusively designated for Katrina relief.If you have questions about the new materials soon to be released, please contact Carl Everett or any of the BCCN staff. They will assist you to immediately begin discipling others or will help with any needs you have leading up to the massive conference in March. May Jesus Himself receive all glory for the rescue, relief, and rebuilding efforts being done here and in New Orleans.
Your fellow laborer,
Larry Stockstill Senior Pastor
Bethany World Prayer Center