October 31, 2005 - The I.Q. Forum - Grappling With My Reality

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The I.Q. Forum - Grappling With My Reality
By Chantell Smith
October 31, 2005

Take a moment to revisit the mission statement of ninetyandnine.com.

Now perhaps it will be easier to understand me when I say that after participating in the Identity Quotient (IQ) Forum held October 21-22 at Gateway College of Evangelism in St. Louis, I’ve finally found my Voice.

As soon as I heard about this symposium, I just felt compelled to go. I recruited two other young ladies from my church to join me, and, needless to say, the 8-9 hour road trip from Montgomery, AL to St. Louis was well worth it.

Neither Fish Nor Fowl
What was this Forum all about? Well, what I loved about it is that it defied all conventional definitions. It was not a singles conference, a.k.a. Pentecostal meat market with an air of desperation—okay, that’s a little extreme, I know; neither was it a preaching conference, a.k.a. go hear Bro. Big-Name preach to the point of losing his voice, get all temporarily fired up and remain ultimately unchanged—okay, also a bit cynical, but only because I’ve been guilty of it, too.

In a nutshell, it was a college and career-focused symposium centered upon providing an environment where young, thinking, Christian adults could discuss relevant topics of today’s world. Because of the intimacy and the format, all participants could actively engage the speakers. Rather than a one-way monologue, each session was a two-way dialogue.

The topics were fresh, contemporary, and varied, yet all had a sound biblical perspective in their presentation. Among them: Accountability (in business, in college, and for spiritual growth) Time Management, the Christian Bio-Ethics of Stem Cell Research (Ray Crownover surprised me with his overall perspective and intellectual honesty), Islam, Defining your Self Image, Transitioning from College to the Real World, Debt Management, Colonizing the Media for the Kingdom, and Creating Your Own Ministry are some of the sessions I attended.

The speakers were from a variety of races, experiences, and backgrounds; some included in the lineup were Todd Gaddy, General Youth Division President, Philip Hampton and Cara Davis (both of ninetyandnine.com fame), Drs. Robin Johnston and Crownover, both Gateway professors, Glenda Moehlenpah, a certified public accountant, Dawn Medina, a national speaker and home mission’s pastor’s wife in the St. Louis area, and Vinessa D’Sa, an Urshan Graduate School student from Pakistan.

Dealing With My World
One outstanding session was the Social Ethics Panel (which included discussion on same sex marriage, Islam, and stem cell research). It was simply well done, and the speakers tackled such controversial topics with an extraordinary amount of knowledge and tact within such a short amount of time. They also forced us to redefine what we were told and what the Bible says.

I also was highly impacted by Colonizing the Media for the Kingdom, where Davis, Kent d Curry, and Shane Long, Creative Director for the Pentecostal Publishing House, spoke. Our world is changing rapidly because of our rapidly developing forms of media. This session gave ways that we can harness that media power to reach our world. Among some of the ways mentioned—blogging, podcasting, keeping a current church website, and creating interest-specific online forums, because getting known in some of these areas leads to other opportunities—speaking, radio devotions, and more. Shane Long shared some of his ads that were run during North American Youth Congress, and Cara Davis shared Relevant, a young adult Christian magazine of which she is an assistant editor.

Still, I think the session that most inspired me was the Creating Your Own Ministry panel, which featured Angie Clark, who has helped initiate a growing worldwide children’s prayer ministry from a local church, Nate Binion, who has been working on Campus Ministry, and Curry, who helped found ninetyandnine.com because a candid forum was needed for Apostolics today. So many times our definition of “ministry” is limited to preaching, singing, and piano playing. These are undoubtedly ministries, but at times it seems that if your abilities do not include one of these three then you are unable to be used. So, this session challenged me to create my own ministry, outside the actual church building if necessary, especially if I have talents that God can use that sort of fall outside of the already established box. A little light bulb went off in my mind. As soon as I get my ideas in a formal format to present to my pastor, I will begin giving free conversational Spanish lessons at my church because the saints want to learn it to talk with Spanish speakers at church and in the area. It’s a small door, but to my knowledge, Jesus only needed a child’s lunch to feed a multitude.

Self Image and Influence
My two accompanying friends attended some sessions that I did not have the opportunity to attend and had some thoughts. Alicia Longshore noted that she really enjoyed Curry’s session on Power vs. Influence: The Importance of Mentoring and that she was inspired by Creating Your Own Ministry as well. Of the symposium as a whole, she stated, “I appreciated the straightforwardness about controversial topics, and the boldness of the speakers.”

Tanya Johnson was inspired by Dawn Medina’s session on Self Image; as she put it, “She touched me and gave me new insight, that it is not about me or how I view myself, but about God and how He sees me and the plans He has for me.” In the end, she feels that conferences like these are about “reaching out of the box to revolutionize our Christian world.” Once we revolutionize the way we look at things within our ranks, then we can go out and effectively change the world at large.

It wasn’t perfect of course. There were technical difficulties, some rushed scheduling at the start, and not all of the speakers followed the worksheets we were given in the official binders.

Last weekend was the first IQ Forum ever held, and one is being planned for next year. I encourage everyone who can make it to come and add to the clarity of their Voice!

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Chantell Smith is an elementary and middle school Spanish teacher in Montgomery, AL. Though she has prided herself on not being one of those conference junkies, the IQ Forum has now become one of her permanent “fixes.” For other musings and a mini-photo gallery of her trip, visit her Where You Can Find Me blog.