The fireside chat started with a need for more fellowship especially during the 2020-2021 COVID19 pandemic; it started with a series of questions given during the 2020 European University Conference (which was held online).
In this first session, brothers Chris Wilde, Ken Mooney, Peter Welk, Ray Mulligan, and Don Pullen sit down and share with us about their experiences of Christ during this “online fireside chat”. You can watch this in full via UniStudents here, and enjoy all the Fireside Chats via this link.
There were 140 questions submitted, and each one was taken seriously by the brothers, but they selected mainly four of them to answer during this fireside chat.
This is not a Q&A (Questions and Answers) but a Q&R (Questions and Responses), for we are not presuming to know the answers but just a response from what we have learned from the Lord, what we experienced of Him, which is, just like your experience, something fragmental and partial. What the brothers testify is that we all are nobodies – we are just brothers and sisters.
Online Fireside Chat 1 – Questions & Responses (2020 European University Conference)
Question 1 – 9:11 – How do we respond to the present pandemic (COVID-19)? How is it related to the Lord’s return and our preaching of the gospel? How do we deal with anxiety during this time?
What do I do? How can I be ready? If the Lord’s coming is approaching, how can I be ready? How do I prepare practically for my living? We want to live with the Lord’s return in view, in the light of His imminent return, but we live in a responsible way taking care of all the responsibilities that we have, not being drugged or taken away by the stupefying effect.
We live in the light of the Lord’s return, but we don’t neglect our responsibilities, whether we are students or working ones. So we need to shepherd others, give them food so that when He returns, He will find us so doing. We live a regular life, caring for the other brothers and sisters, in the light of the Lord’s return.
How do we respond to the present pandemic? How is this related to the Lord’s coming back, to our preaching of the gospel, and what about our anxiety, as we consider these things?
Continue listening to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 2 – 42:05 – How do we deal with obstacles that might prevent us from being ready for the Lord’s return? What experiences do you have in dealing with obstacles and in developing a healthy, romantic relationship with the Lord?
As we go through our daily life with the Lord, we find all kinds of obstacles. We do want to be ready for His return, we want to ripen, but there’s a lot of things in our way.
So the question for the brothers is, if they can share some of their struggles, their battles and obstacles, and the lessons they learned, to have romantic, normal, healthy relationships with the Lord. This is not something that comes so easily a lot of the time. There is a lot of roadblocks in the way, and we need to know how to get through that.
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 3 – 1:10:36 – When the Lord allows things to happen to me, oftentimes my heart is hurt and my soul has gone through trauma. What should I do when I am bitter and angry with the Lord when I come to Him? On His side, He might really want to love me, but I might not feel the same way back. How do we change that part of the relationship?
We would never say that the Lord does things to us, such as negative things, but He would allow such things to happen to us, and when He does, it’s oftentimes that our heart is hurt, our soul is going through some trauma.
What should we do in regards to being bitter toward the Lord in such situations, or being angry toward Him when we come to Him? On His side, the Lord loves us, but we don’t feel the same way back…how can we deal with this bitterness and anger that may accumulate as things happen to us?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
Question 4 – 1:47:03 – How can students who are perhaps isolated go on with the Lord after a conference?
When we go to the “camp high” at the conference time, but after the conference meetings are over, we take a deep dive and we don’t have the same experience or feeling.
Maybe the feeling is part of the problem…but how can we go on after conferences with the Lord, especially if we are isolated outwardly from others. Especially with the pandemic and the lockdown, how can we go on?
There are some ministry portions to read, listen to, and download, such as Joseph’s storehouse, but what would be a good way for students in isolation (or with companions) to continue on with the Lord after the conference?
Listen to the response to this question here – or watch it on youtube here.
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