This year's conference was truly an amazing time of fellowship, teaching, worship, and celebrating as we came together to honor the I AM. I am so glad to have been able to share time with many of you over that weekend and I wanted to take a few minutes to write a few notes to close this year's event.

First, thank you to the MIA Shepherd's Council and the MIA Founders. Much of what happened this weekend is a direct result of the work you began so many years ago. Thank you especially to my parents. My mom saved me so many times that weekend and she rarely gets the thanks she deserves for everything that she does. My dad always does an amazing job as an emcee, which helps out in more ways that I can honestly count.

Our office manager, Cathy Wright, and her husband Herman both did an incredible job running so much of the conference, and in particular the registration and marketplace that everything worked together so smoothly. Thank you to Chris Franke, John Diffenderfer, and David Sturlin for your help putting together everything that went into the ballroom. Many thanks go out to Wayne Clemons for recording and producing the conference teaching CDs (which you can pick up from our online marketplace!) and to Robert Crouch for leading our security team to help keep our conference a safe and positive place.

At every major conference, the musicians and dance leaders do an excellent job helping lead us into worship. Thank you to Lenny & Varda for being so faithful and dedicated to what God has called you to do with your lives (hey, they also have a new CD available The Hope of All Israel from their web site www.lennyandvarda.com). Thank you to Steve Manning & Jimmie Black for leading worship.

Every dancer came with a spirit of worship and each dance was so very anointed this year. Thank you to Chester Anderson & Simchat Adonai, Lisa Rubel & Chayah Praise, LeAnne Workman & Mayim Hayim, and Chavah Harris for leading presentation dance teams. Daniel & Sylvia Calderon once again did a phenomenal job leading congregational dance. Make sure to take their congregational dance class next year if you missed out!

Photos and videos from the event will be available on our web site very soon, but you can already read articles about the event online. Charisma had a brief article about the March Through the Arch and Kelly Ferrari of DoorKeeper Ministries (online at www.doorkeeperministries.com) has written a blog about her experience, which you can read by clicking [Here].

But now is not yet time to rest! We already have several conferences planned for this next year. Up next is our Hanukkah Regional Conference, December 26-28 in Nashville. You'll be able to register for that event soon!

I hope to see all of you in Nashville, or at least next Labor Day weekend in Orlando for our 2009 National Conference!

Shalom,
Benjamin Diffenderfer

PS - Due to a minor technical difficulty, we were not able to correctly play a video from a great ministry, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, during our Friday evening service. If you'd like to see the full video, you can view it online at www.revver.com/video/597504/the-forgotten-people/ or you can visit www.pjtn.org for more information about their organization.