When the national conference on preaching holds its 13th annual session in Birmingham May 6-8, it will feature a program filled with Alabama Baptists.
Among the those who will be speaking are Calvin Miller and Robert Smith, both on the faculty of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School; Rick Ousley and Kelly Stephenson from The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, which is hosting this year’s conference; Roger Willmore, pastor of First Baptist Church, Boaz; James Barnette, minister to the university at Samford; and Denise George of Birmingham, freelance writer and speaker.
Other Alabamians include James Earl Massey, former dean of the chapel at Tuskegee University; John Ed Mathison, pastor of Montgomer’s Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church; and Harry Reeder, pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.
The conference is sponsored by Preaching magazine and American Ministry Resources. Conference director is Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching and former director of development and church relations at Samford University 1986-93. Deduit also served as interim pastor of The Church at Brook Hills prior to Ousley’s call as pastor.
“Alabama is blessed with gifted preachers, and we are looking forward to bringing this national conference to Birmingham for the first time,” Duduit says.
“With the theme focusing on preaching and worship in the local church, this conference will be a tremendous resource for pastors and worship leaders throughout the region,” he continued.
The theme of the 2003 conference will be “Fill the Land with His Glory: Worship and the Local Church,” Duduit said this year’s event will offer some new elements.
“Because of the theme of this year’s conference, we are encouraging pastors to bring along their music leaders and worship teams for a time of planning and development,” he said.
“in addition, on two evenings we will see model worship services recreated as they would take place on Sunday – one by The Church at Brook Hills, the other from Brentwood Baptist Church in suburban Nashville. These will be great examples of growing churches which offer different approaches to the worship service.”
Additional information about the national conference on preaching can be found by calling 1-800-288-9673, or by visiting the Preaching magazine’s Web site, www.preaching.com.
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