Pastors Conference President Bryant Wright has prayerfully and carefully designed a gathering that has something for the young and the old, something for those who embrace a contemporary style of music and something for those who have a more traditional bent.
With the theme of Reaching Today’s World for Jesus Christ, this year’s June 11–12 conference is an offering of both the stained glass and Starbucks approach to celebrating the goodness and grace of God.
“We’re trying to address the different ways — different styles of worship and different approaches to ministry — in reaching today’s world for Christ,” said Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, Marietta, Ga.
Acts 4:10–12 (“… there is salvation in no one else …”) and 1 Corinthians 9:22b (“I have become all things to all men …”) serve as the conference’s Scripture texts.
“Paul tried to be all things to all people so that he might reach some,” Wright said. “I think those two passages really explain what my hope is for the conference.”
The conference will feature blended music on Sunday evening, contemporary music Monday afternoon and traditional music Monday night.
For the first time, it also will feature breakout sessions, which will be held Monday morning.
One breakout session sure to get some attention deals with Reaching Today’s World Through Differing Views of Election, with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson.
Other breakout sessions will include:
► Reaching Today’s World By Confronting “The DaVinci Code” with Ben Witherington, professor of New Testament interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.
► Reaching Today’s World Through Leadership Development with Steve Stroope, pastor of Lake Pointe Church, Rockwall, Texas.
► Reaching Today’s World Through Women’s Ministries with Marsha Crowe of Johnson Ferry Baptist, Marietta, Ga.
► Reaching Today’s World Through Multi-Campus Churches with Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church, Springdale, Ark.
► Reaching Today’s World Through Church Discipline — Are You Kidding? with Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, and Art Wilder, associate pastor of pastoral care at Johnson Ferry Baptist, Marietta, Ga.
► Reaching Today’s World Through Breakout Churches with Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources.
The Monday morning breakout session and Monday afternoon preaching session will be held at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons (the convention hotel).
All the other sessions will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.
While this year’s Pastors Conference will include well-known pastors — including Johnny Hunt, Rick Warren, Tony Evans, David Jeremiah and Ed Young Sr. — it also will include some who haven’t spoken at previous Pastors Conferences.
Monday afternoon’s speakers are Erwin McManus, pastor of the Mosaic congregation in Los Angeles; Nelson Searcy, pastor of The Journey, New York City; and Kerry Shook, pastor of the Fellowship of The Woodlands, The Woodlands, Texas. All are Southern Baptist Convention churches, Wright said.
“My desire is to bridge the gap between the emerging young leaders and those who have served us so well for many years,” Wright said. “Some of the younger leaders have felt disenfranchised and I am excited about the challenge of encouraging many of them in building up the Kingdom of Christ.”
Recording artist David Phelps will sing at the Sunday evening and Monday evening sessions. The Monday evening session also will feature a video tribute to Adrian Rogers and a testimony by Joyce Rogers.
For more information, visit www.reachingtodaysworld.org. (BP)
For more news and information about the SBC annual meeting and related meetings in
Greensboro, N.C., visit www.thealabamabaptist.org.
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