Description
Pre-conferences are hosted prior to the New Room Conference on Wednesday, September 18th from 9am – 12pm CT (the conference begins at 1pm CT). Lunch is included, and participants will receive a book by the pre-conference teacher as part of the registration fee—regardless of which session is chosen.
Disappearing Church, Reappearing Church with Mark Sayers
In light of an increasingly secularizing, post-Christian culture, many churches have pursued a strategy of relevance over the last few decades. Yet, this approach has yielded limited results for the gospel. However, both the scriptures and the church’s history present an alternative approach, one that speaks of God’s ability to revive his people and awaken them to the power available in Him. Could we be on the cusp of such a cycle of renewal, where the empty promises of secularism are proving insufficient, prompting many to seek something more? How might we align ourselves with God’s work in our time?
Registration includes either Disappearing Church or Reappearing Church by Mark Sayers.
About the Host
Mark is the senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne, Australia. He is passionate about spiritual renewal and the future of the church. Mark is the author of a number of books including Strange Days, Disappearing Church, and Reappearing Church. Mark lives in Melbourne with his wife, Trudi, his daughter, Grace, and twin boys, Hudson and Billy.
Convergence and Spiritual Gifts with Jon Thompson
Through the convergence of spiritual disciplines, spiritual gifts, and spiritual experiences, Jesus demonstrates for us how we, and our local churches, can hear from the Father, carry out our ministry, and lead people into revival. Jesus–though always God–deliberately chose to limit His divine attributes and power in order not only to show us who God is, but also to demonstrate for us what the normal Christian life should look like. This will be a time to receive tools and be equipped to bring these insights into your local church and communities.
Registration includes the book Convergence by Jon Thompson.
About the Host
Jon Thompson is the Senior Pastor of Sanctus Church — a multi-site church in the Greater Toronto Area and online — where he has served for 25 years. He holds a Master of Theological studies from Tyndale Seminary and a Doctorate of Missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Modifying our Myths about Love with Joseph Dongell
We commonly make unexamined claims about love involving our beliefs about love’s origin, its nature as “unconditional,” its relationship to action, to our emotions and feelings, to truth, and to certain Greek and Hebrew words supposedly offering precise definitional guidance. Many features of these claims end up being inconsistent with each other, and (more importantly) at odds with much Scriptural teaching. Come to learn of 5 key revisions likely needed in our teaching and preaching about the central calling of the Christian life, and of Wesley’s vision for the recovery of the original gospel.
Registration includes the book The Most Excellent Way by Joseph Dongell.
About the Host
Joseph Dongell (PhD) is Professor of Biblical Studies and Director of Greek Studies at Asbury Theolgoical Seminary. As an ordained elder in the Wesleyan Church, Joseph has maintained an active ministry in that denomination as an associate pastor and a regular adult Sunday school teacher. He and his wife, Regina, have two children.
The Epic of Eden: Deborah, Unlikely Heroes and the Book of Judges with Sandra Richter
The newest Epic study is here! The hero? Judge and prophetess, Deborah, and her courageous commander, Barak. In this pre-conference gathering, Sandy Richter will run us through the core of her new curriculum, asking the questions: “What is the territory that you can see from where you’re standing that you know belongs to the Kingdom of God, but is not yet in the hands of the people of God? Is it worth fighting for? And what are we going to do about it? Sandy will walk us through the real time and space of the era of Israel’s settlement, the structure of the book of Judges, and the profile of our heroine. Be encouraged and strengthened by this story of courage and conquest that stands as a critical turning point for God’s people then and can serve as a critical turning point for God’s people now. The cast of characters is full of unlikely leaders. The crisis is insurmountable. The odds are impossible. And, yet, God shows up! This is a moment when the very real past of the people of God collides with the very needy present of the people of God, and forces us to ask ourselves the same question Yahweh asked of the Israelites: Is this territory worth fighting for? Or is it easier to just give up … and assimilate?”
Registration includes the workbook for Epic of Eden: Deborah by Dr. Sandra Richter, as well as a discount code to purchase the study videos.
About the Host
Sandra Richter (PhD) is the Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. She served as a Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College for the past four years teaching Hebrew language, exegesis, cultural contexts, and Environmentalism and the Evangelical. She received her MA from Gordon-Conwell and her Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations department. She is deeply invested in bringing the real people and real places of the Old Testament to life for both the academic and the lay person. For more than a decade she directed an Israel Studies program for Asbury Theological and Wesley Biblical Seminaries.
