By Ottavio Palombaro, Milan, Italy

This past December I was part of the AWAKEN VI conference in Rome (Fiuggi), Italy. It was an amazing opportunity to meet brothers and sisters from every part of Europe, united for one cause: to go into the world and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28).
It was already the third time I participated in the conference – the first time was in Pescara 2011, where I came to know Christ as my Lord and Savior. This time the conference was exciting for me because I had the chance to lead worship together with my brothers and sisters from both Italian churches. I felt the Holy Spirit moving during those times and I was grateful for such a privilege.
I lived in Rome for three years of my life, so it was special for me to go to those places where I grew up and to see the history behind them from a Biblical perspective. During our excursion to the ancient ruins of Rome I was challenged to examine my race before leaving this place – the place where Paul was imprisoned for his faith. Paul ran the race of faith of until the end of his life – and we should do the same. (II Timothy 4:7)

Lastly, the Awaken conference was for me an opportunity to see dear brothers and sisters that I hadn’t seen for a long time from other churches around Europe. I felt very encouraged, as well as other people in our small church in Milan, Italy, because we had the chance to remind ourselves that we are part of a bigger reality than the local church. And I received a lot of encouragement during the sessions from the teachings, especially from Tom Short (the main speaker) and his inspiring words on who we are in Christ and how much this should empower us to accomplish great things for God.