Our theme for this conference, lifted right from the Nicene Creed, proclaims that the Holy Spirit (Gk. pneuma, “breath” or “wind”), the “Giver of Life,” has always been and continues to be at work among us. In the Scriptures, He is the world-creating Spirit, the one through whom Jesus was conceived at birth and raised from the dead. It is He who gives the Christian new life, who ministers to us the presence of Jesus, and by whom we cry, “Abba Father!”. It is He whose very breath holds all things together and who has empowered the work and ministries of believers across time and still today. It is He who hovers over our world now, still bringing form from chaos, light out of darkness, and life from death.

It is right, too, that the Holy Spirit should be the focus of our annual Bible conference. For it is He who inspired the authors of Scripture, and He who illuminates its readers today, standing at both ends of the ministry of the Word.

Come, Holy Spirit, come.