Going to church, saying you are a member of a church, and saying you are a person of faith is the easy part.
For the sixth year in a row Pleasant Valley Church on Walnut Street has hosted ‘I Am A Diamond’ a discipleship and leadership conference aimed at helping people live up to the standards and mission of the New Testament Church.
“This program has seen lives changed and produced fruit since the very first one we hosted,” said Pastor John Givins of Pleasant Valley. “The goal is to empower people through the word so they can live a better life.”
Givins talked of marriages mended, former convicts who have put their past behind them and devout members of churches who have found their niche and mission in the Kingdom of God.
“It’s not one individual or one particular method or formula,” said Givins. “Everyone has special needs and we are all at a different place in our walk with the Lord. We try to meet people where they are, show them a strength and power and lead them on to something so much more than what they have right now.”
Givins said there were more than 150 people registered for this year’s event and 14 instructors teaching everything from stewardship and church outreach to the power of prayer and worship.
Givins said the ministry took off in its first year and many of the pastors and lay people leading particular groups have come back year after year.
“We tell people this is a lifestyle,” said Givins. “We don’t hit them with a book or a lot of intellectual knowledge.
“This is more about discipleship and getting people to take something back to their church their neighborhood and their home,” he explained. “We have seen the outreach programs at a number of churches grow because of this.”
Classes and training offered this year were:
• Pasturing the Sheep Without Killing the Flock.
• Don’t Graduate Too Fast (aimed a youth).
• Power of Prayer.
• Building a Strong Outreach Team
• Knowing Jesus Better.
• Bringing the Joy and Excitement back to your Ministry.
• I Am A Man.
• Power of Worship.
• Trust in God for Everything.
• Stewardship.
• Building a Strong and Successful Marriage.
• Prepare Your Faith for Battle Against the Enemy.
• Boot Camp (aimed at children.)
• Train Them Up.
• The Main Purpose of The Church.
“Clarksdale has a lot of problems and The Church has a solution for each one of them,” said Givins. “Showing that to people, living it in our neighborhoods and offering it freely in our community is how we are going to change lives and change Clarksdale.”
