The territory’s recent Mission Advance Conference drew representatives from 50 corps—10 more than last year.

“That makes 90 corps for the two years!” said Major William Groff, Mission and Culture Department secretary. “That’s almost one in four corps [in USA East] so far that have been trained in Small Groups Ministry or Natural Church Development (NCD).”

Among the speakers and workshop leaders was Steve Gladen, who oversees almost 4,000 small groups for Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Southern California. Gladen was joined by two NCD trainers: Jack Stephenson, pastor of a large and healthy church in Anona, Fla., and Dave Wetzler, founder and owner of ChurchSmart Resources, which publishes NCD materials.

The 130 delegates attended workshops and watched videos about successful small group ministries taking place throughout the territory. In a video from Puerto Rico, where several small groups hold “cell” meetings in homes, Captain Edwin Velez touted the benefits.

He said that, outside the structure of an organized church service, “We can [examine an individual’s personal reaction to the message] and find out what’s going on in someone’s life.”

The Oct. 13–15 conference, held at the Eastern Territorial Conference Center in West Nyack, N.Y., also featured worship and prayer, a panel discussion, and participation by territorial leaders.

Commissioner Lawrence R. Moretz, territorial commander, said he was “blessed” to share in the enthusiasm of the delegates.

“Soldiers and officers, side by side with vision plans and new skills, have prayed and worshiped and committed themselves to the task to grow healthy corps,” Moretz wrote in his pastoral letter after the conference. “They have been good for us and we thank God for each of them.”

Colonel Steve Hedgren, chief secretary, and Lt. Colonel Kenneth Maynor, program secretary, also offered words of encouragement.

Hedgren, quoting Founder William Booth on being a spiritual example, said officers should exhibit a “charming holiness.”

“If we are to be God’s, we must be holy too,” he said. “We must be a charming example of holiness to the world. Jesus died that we, like God, might be energetically good—not passively good, but actively good in a sense of expressing in this world a compassionate love that marked Jesus in His incarnation.”

Maynor played a clip from the movie “Rocky” and urged officers to stand for Christ during times of challenge, doubt, and defeat.

“Sometimes you will encounter a battle,” he said. “You will encounter the enemy. But he is limited. He is already defeated. He is a coward. Our God is the champion, the undefeated, undisputed King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

“In those moments when the enemy comes, do not sit down. Do not lie down. Stand in confidence.”