Why NY conference is in CT?

When the Keralite believers of the city of NY got together and asked me to lead a conference in NY, right away I had a few places in mind. One of my goals at that time was to do it right here in Long Island. I started negotiating with suitable locations right away.

My dream was to do it at Nassau Colesium. There is a Marriott Hotel at walking distance from it that had 800 rooms. So it looked very feasible - until we got into the details.

I found out to my surprise that the two locations were not enough to do the conference. The Marriott had a 1500 seat banquet hall, which would be great for the youth session. But , where would we do the children's sessions? Where would we do the dining?

And the price tag! The Colesium wanted about $100,000 just for space. Even then, we could only do the adult programs there.

So very reluctantly I started looking elsewhere. So many people had already told me not to do the conference in Rochester ( 7 hours from city) or in Syracuse ( 5 hours from city). Everyone wanted a place close to city.

That is how we ended up in Albany. It was not too far at 2.5 to 3 hrs from city. I knew they had an arena there. I had multiple meetings with the Albany County Convention Bureau. We saw a possibility there. The arena was bigger than what we needed. The floor alone could seat 2500 people with a big stage. The Crown Plaza (became Hilton later) had 400 rooms two blocks away. There were four other hotels around. The Crown Plaza had rooms for youth, children and dining. So it was a workable situation. I had pretty much finalized on Albany and said so in Canada.

But the Canada conference changed everything. It made the challenges of multiple locations very clear. Parents were always concerned about their children. Older believers were struggling with walking in the sun. Even with multiple vans and a very dedicated transportation team, people were complaining. Despite having very good meetings, in the end there were a lot of complaints.

Even before we returned from Canada, phone calls started coming. Every call had the same theme: Please do not put the conference where families are split and people have to walk a long distance from meeting place to dining hall. That is exactly what we were facing in Albany. I did not know a place where everything could be done under one roof at that time. So we decided to face the situation head on and do it in Albany anyway. I went to Albany with my wife to talk in detail about the menu etc. When we were leaving, our contact in the Albany Bureau accidentally told me that Hartford, CT is the only place where we could do everything under one roof. Since it was in CT, I did pay much attention to that remark.

The following week I was in Guyana for some meetings and I got an email from a believer in CT asking me about the conference and encouraging me. That is when I remembered the comment made by someone in Albany. When I googled Connecticut Convention Center, I was surprised by what I saw. A beautiful gorgeous facility with a hotel attached to it. When I looked at the details, I was more impressed. I realized that it was a facility where we can do all the sessions and dining in the same facility. When I reached home, I went and looked at it in person with a couple of other people. But it was in CT and the conference was supposed to be in NY.

So I decided to ask around. I asked many senior pastors in NY and around the nation for their feedback. Their reply was, the conference is given to NY and they have a right to select the best venue for the conference. We made a conference call with all the members of the National Committee and their opinion also was unanimous. Thus, we went back to look at details and start negotiations. Once we were sure of our selection, we decided to let the public know by posting it on the Facebook etc.

When we had the get together of national and local teams at the facility on September 9, every one of them were equally impressed. I am sure all of you will be too, when we get together for the 31st PCNAK on July 4, 2013.

BTW, the online registration is open now. Help us by doing early registration. We appreciate your cooperation. Together we will have a wonderful conference.

Let us be solution minded

As I start this blog, I am very much aware that at least some people will think this is self serving. I cannot help that. My goal is to open a window into my mind  and how it functions, which I hope to sell to all of you. We will find out shortly how good a salesperson I am.

After learning and teaching the Bible for over thirty years, I have no doubt in my mind that what the good book teaches us is to own up the issues, get right with God and man and move on. That is what I have always taught. That is what I still teach and practice.

In other words, our God is a solution minded God.

Fortunately, we live in a solution minded country. I love the American mindset. Whether it is Catrina or Apollo 13, their attitude is to find a solution for the problem. You may remember the famous saying by the guy with the white vest (Jim Crans) in the control room of Apollo 13. When the oxygen tank on Apollo 13 ruptured while going for a simple stir and the entire project was in jeopardy, the control room boss sternly said, "Let us work the problem, people. Let us not waste time by guessing." 


Remember the scene where all the engineers scrambled to find a way to use a square air filter to keep the carbon dioxide down and keep the astraunauts alive, while what they needed was a round filter? They succeeded, didn't they? Why? Because they were solution minded! And they brought three astraunauts home.

 

                 "View of Mission Control Center during the Apollo 13 oxygen cell failure" 

What if they had wasted their time guessing and finger pointing? The mission would have been a total loss.

Many other cultures would not have acted the same way. Some would have just prayed. Some would have had endless meetings, reports, press releases, blame games, finger pointing etc.etc.etc. Not Americans. They committed to 'work the problem.'

That is the attitude we need to have a successful conference next July. Let us accept the issues that happened. But that should not stop us from having a very good conference. 'Let's work the problems' and find solutions. It is certainly within our reach. We are a resourceful people. So many in our community are professionals, handling challenges and finding solutions daily. So how come when it come to spiritual issues or church matters, we capitulate and we act like we cannot do anything? That is a lie!

This is not the time for blame games and finger pointing which will take us nowhere. This is the time to put our hardhats on and 'work the problems' and find solutions. God will help us, if we are committed to do this in a way that will bring glory to God. The national team and the local team are. I invite you to come on board and share this attitude.

Nothing But The Truth

You have been hearing all kinds of news about PCNAK 2103. What is the truth?

The initial discussions to bring the conference to NY was done in 2010 with the intention of doing the conference in NY in 2012. In that meeting the IPC Pastors mentioned that since their Family Conference is taking place in 2012, we should not bring PCNAK to NY in 2012 and that if it is done in an year when there is not Family Conference, the IPC churches also will participate. It was unanimously agreed upon.

So the matter was taken up again in 2011 in NY and everyone agreed to bring the conference to NY in 2013 and Pastor Sunny Philip was elected unanimously to be the Convener. It was presented in PCNAK 21011 in Oklahoma City and was approved by the General Body of PCNAK.

Unfortunately, thereafter, some issues came up in Pastor Sunny Philip's church which naturally raised the question, "What do we do now?' A meeting was called on April 8 by the conveners of City Wide Fasting & Prayer Fellowship and that meeting after much discussions decided by a majority vote not to have the conference in NY in 2013. Pastor Sunny Philip mentioned in that meeting publicly that even though some have happened in his church, there was nothing in his personal life that will stop him from being the convener of PCNAK in 2103.

There were discussions in many cities about hosting the conference in 2013. But no city took a concrete decision to host the conference. Moreover, in many cities, the consensus was, "This conference was given to NY and Pastor Sunny Philip; so let them do it." Thus it came back to PCNAK 2012 General Body as an open question in Hamilton.

There was a very active discussion about PCNAK 2013 in that General Body. Many Senior Pastors from across USA voiced their opinions in favor of sending the conference back to NY. The body did recognize and respect the decision taken in NY on April 8. But the majority opinion was that the final say in this matter is PCNAK General Body. A vote was taken and with significant majority, the conference was sent back to NY with Pastor Sunny Philip as the Convener.

Since then, the National Committee under his leadership is making arrangements for a successful conference. Many things are done already. By the grace of God, we expect to have a dynamic, relevant, spiritual conference next year.

As I pen this, we are in the beautiful Marriott hotel in downtown Hartford for our National Committee meetings. Most of the members arrived last night and stayed in the hotel. Some are driving in this morning. Almost all of them will be here this morning and they will be joined by the local team from NY. We will let you know the decisions taken in this meeting.

'This is the Lord's doing and it has become marvelous in our sight.'

A Word About PCNAK 2013

It is with great delight that we start this official blog page of PCNAK 2013. You may hear all kinds of news about the conference from different sources. Please realize that if it does not come from us or from our authorized representatives, it is not official. Anything that is represented in those news releases, irrespective of where it appears, is not the official position of the conference or its leaders.

PCNAK will happen in New York area, as decided by the General Body of PCNAK in Hamilton. Myself or the other executives of PCNAK did to 'take' the conference in any way. The responsibility was 'given' to us by the General Body. We take this responsibility very seriously. We will not betray the confidence placed in us by the believers and Pastors across USA and Canada. The executives of the conference along with the National Committee are fully committed to see it through.

Preliminary arrangements are already made. The venue is the beautiful Connecticut Convention Center and the attached Marriott Hotel. All the sessions will be done under one roof.

Hartford is easily accessible from New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Boston. New York city is less than two hours away.

We already have some speakers committed to the conference. We will be releasing their names once the list is completed.

Our Youth Coordinator Ashish Jacob is working very hard to have meaningful sessions for the young adults and the youths. There will be a dynamic children's ministry for the kids.

We are planning to incorporate many new programs in this conference. We will be giving out details about them in a timely fashion.

So get ready to join us on July 4, 2013 in Hartford, CT.

God bless.