I believe the Lord God has made another massive dent in the kingdom of darkness in Madison!
WE International, Inspiring Hope Ministries, and Upper House collaborated to invite Bob Goff, author, speaker, lawyer, and Christian activist to bring his “Dream Big and Love Extravagantly Conference” to a sell out crowd at Upperhouse Friday night. Goff is a two time New York Times best selling author of Love Does and Everybody, Always, Honorary Consul to the Republic of Uganda, and founder of the non-profit Love Does, a human rights organization operating in Uganda, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
His message was simple and compelling. “Figure out what you want and go for it with all you have. Honor the people around you, love your neighbor, know why you are doing what you are doing.” Goff’s approach was way more than sound bites. His story was interspersed with bizarre personal experiences which demonstrated that when you follow Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor, really good things happen to everybody. Like when he went to Afghanistan to meet with 170 tribal leaders and offered to build a school for girls (Its illegal to educate girls in Afghanistan) and the leaders embraced the idea. Today the four-story school is up and more are in the works.
When you put it all together, Goff’s message was transformational, on a personal and community level. His last illustration was a picture of two sea otters on their backs, floating in the ocean, holding hands (paws?). “The reason they do this,” Goff explained, was “so they don’t drift away from each other.” With that, he invited the crowd to hold hands with their neighbor, and he prayed for love to permeate our hearts, minds, souls, and community; that God would reveal his purpose for each one of us, and that we would pursue that purpose with everything we have.
What will happen when more than 400 mostly young people, unleashed into the world to follow Christ’s example and command to love their neighbor? Blessings flow and the Kingdom of God advances. That’s what.
A follow up event, Dreaming Big, Loving Big, will be held at Upper House on Thursday, October 17 from 5:30-7:00 pm. It is designed as an evening to process, explore questions raised, and hear about great ways to move forward. For more info and to register visit: followupdreamingbiglovingbig.eventbrite.com