Summer Celebration keynote speakers call for self-examination, recommitment to God

Summer Celebration keynote speakers Rick Atchley and Shon Smith called audience members to examine their sin and recommit to God at Tuesday morning’s gathering in Allen Arena. The messages, based on Joshua 7-8, were just two of the ten keynote messages Summer Celebration attendees heard over the course of the event. Rick Atchley (to the right), minister at Hills Church of Christ in North Richland, Texas, related Joshua 7 to the problem of sin within the church and how the sins of the individual affect the group as a whole. “Would we please stop ranting about what’s wrong in Hollywood and what’s wrong in Washington,”Atchley asked. “It’s not a shock to heaven when sinners sin. Let’s stop criticizing the sins of others and start dealing with our own.” Atchley’s message spoke poignantly to Samantha Davis of Americus, Georgia. An active member of her church community, Davis said her biggest takeaway was that “sometimes, we tend to forget that we have to fix ourselves before we can reach out to others.” Shon Smith, the minister at Naperville Church of Christ in Naperville, Illinois, focused his message on the temptation to live apart from God and the need for Christians to recommit to living godly lives. “There is a nasty tendency for us to drift,” Smith said. “Any amount of drift, however slight, if it goes on long enough, eventually you find yourself miles away from the person you desired and committed yourself to be.” Smith compared the Israelites’ need to redefine themselves as God’s people in Joshua 8 to Christians’ need to recommit to God to avoid drifting. “The message...