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Sessions offer diverse options for disciple-making event
Chad Austin, BSC Communications
February 19, 2018
4 MIN READ TIME

Sessions offer diverse options for disciple-making event

Sessions offer diverse options for disciple-making event
Chad Austin, BSC Communications
February 19, 2018

Pastors and ministry leaders from churches of all sizes and locations should walk away from the upcoming 2018 N.C. Baptist Disciple-Making Conference with a host of biblical and practical resources to help them make disciples in the home, church and world within their context of ministry.

“Home. Church. World.” is the theme for this year’s conference, which is scheduled for Tues., Feb. 27 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Center Grove Baptist Church in Clemmons.

Through a combined total of approximately 40 breakout sessions planned throughout the day, this year’s event features a special emphasis on training and equipping in the three spheres of home, church and world reflected in the theme.

Registration for the event is $10 per person and includes conference materials and lunch.

While the Disciple-Making Conference has traditionally been held on a Monday, this year’s event is on a Tuesday. Additional information and registration is available online at disciplenc.org.

“This year’s conference has been designed with all North Carolina Baptists in mind,” said Brian Upshaw, who leads the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s (BSC) Disciple-Making Team, which is coordinating the event.

A diverse group of pastors, ministry leaders, church practitioners, seminary professors, BSC staff and others will lead the various equipping sessions held throughout the day, Upshaw said. “This year’s speakers represent churches of different sized memberships from both urban and rural contexts,” Upshaw said. “Each of the equipping session leaders brings both experience and expertise to the topics they will be addressing.”

Since disciple-making involves both helping others come to know Christ and then helping them grow in Christ, Upshaw said equipping sessions will focus on both evangelism and discipleship.

For example, a variety of sessions will focus on how to begin a gospel conversation or turn a conversation toward the gospel. A session on worldviews will equip attendees on how to listen for verbal clues about a person’s spiritual beliefs in the course of everyday conversations and then use those conversations to build bridges that connect with the gospel.

Other sessions will focus on issues such as race relations, culture and the arts, and how to wisely and carefully approach these topics from a biblical perspective in a way that can lead to disciple-making.

Several pastors and other church staff will lead sessions on creating a culture of disciple-making and developing a disciple-making pathway in one’s church. Other sessions will emphasize how to align specific ministries, such as children’s, youth, family ministry and missions, with a church’s overarching disciple-making strategy.

Equipping sessions designed for women and women’s ministry leaders will also available.

A complete list of equipping session topics and leaders is available at disciplenc.org.

Matt Carter, pastor of Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, will lead two plenary sessions.

“Austin Stone is a church that has cultivated a disciple-making culture that is impacting the home, the church and the world,” Upshaw said. “Matt is a gifted preacher whose church is aligned with what our strategy here in North Carolina is focused on.”

Preregistration is requested for this year’s conference, but Upshaw said walk-up attendees are welcome the day of the event. He encouraged all pastors and church leaders to bring a group from their church to the conference.

“There’s really something for everybody at this year’s conference,” Upshaw said. “The event is designed so that attendees should come away with practical ministry applications for making disciples in the home, the church and the world.”