GENERAL

Room 38 – How Can the Church Minister to the Divorcing?
Kathey Batey, Divorce Support Anonymous
There is a great and silent need to minister to the divorcing within the church. Kathey will give practical tools and steps to minister and guide people going through the trauma of divorce and provide a safe space for them to heal. Kathey Batey is the founder of Divorce Support Anonymous, ministering to hundreds since 2006.

Room 50 – Prayer for Your Church from the Church
Dave Rodgers, Trinity Baptist Church
“Prayer is to faith what breath is to life” –J.C. Ryle. This workshop has two goals. Learn about prayer from people throughout church history and even more important, use the lessons we learn to pray for our churches. Start the conference off praying with others for your church, other churches, and God’s Church.

Room 64 – Why Pastors Ought to Stop Saying, “It is Okay to Struggle with ___, but Just Don’t Act on it.”
Jonathan Marko, Cornerstone University & Forest Hills Baptist Church
In this workshop, Dr. Marko will show that not all sins are “voluntary” and will reason that we help no one when we sugar-coat sin.

Room 66 – Hope for the Hurting!
Darlene Larson, Hearts With A Purpose
Loss comes in all sizes and shapes. The loss of a loved one, a divorce, a relocation, a loss of a job, a fractured relationship, a loss of a pet, and on and on we could go. Loss hurts. So how do we move through the hurt to get to the other side to offer comfort to others? Can God heal any loss? Yes, but you have to be a willing participant. Join me in this workshop and learn five steps to begin to travel through grief and loss with Jesus.

WOMEN’S MINISTRY

Room 132 – Women Making a Difference: Developing an Intergenerational Ministry that Works
Denise Roberts, Berean Baptist Church (Portage)
Never before have we needed the older women to teach the younger as we do now. It used to be a natural part of family and church life. Come and learn how to develop intergenerational mentoring that can be done as a group or one-on-one.

DISCIPLESHIP

Room 56 – Training in Godliness
Terry Burlingame, Jamestown Baptist Church
The term “godliness” is often used without a clear understanding of what it looks like in the believer’s life. In Training for Godliness we will examine from 1 Timothy 4 the intention of training, how to train, and what is the goal to accomplish in training. Focusing on God’s desires for our lives will make a positive difference in helping believers overcome sin, discouragement, and purposelessness.

Room 32 – The Three Hour Disciple
Doug Burrier, Sustainable Discipleship
Prepare for a concept bending experience and share time in our most requested talk. Discover three people, three goals, and three strategies that always work in disciple-making. It is amazing what you can do with three hours a week! If you only hit one Sustainable Discipleship breakout – this is the one.

Room 34 – Welcoming the Stranger and Sojourner
Gary Heim, True North Ministries/Magnify Church
Hospitality in the ancient Near East was vital for existence to travelers. As people opened their homes to strangers, the weary traveler found welcome, food, and shelter. We too are fellow sojourners traveling through this dark and broken world. We too need safe places where we find welcome and spiritual connection with each other. This breakout will provide biblical insight and practical tools to enable small groups to be those places where weary travelers can find spiritual refreshment for their souls.

LEADERSHIP

Room 30 – Leading During Times of Change
John Nixon, North Park Baptist Church
C.S. Lewis once said, “To live in time is to change, because time is change.” Nothing stays the same except the fact that change is always present. In this workshop, you will not only learn why people resist change, but you’ll learn some ways that will help you encourage and lead others to embrace change in this ever-changing world.

Room 54 – The Leadership Bounce
Nate Wagner, Sparta Baptist Church
Practical resiliency tools to help you lead from the overflow of God’s grace in your life rather than from the inevitable deficits leaders experience.

MISSIONS & EVANGELISM

Room 52 – Social Justice through Social Capital
Joel Shaffer, Urban Transformation Ministries
As a viable alternative to the flaws and failures of today’s secular social justice, Christians have an opportunity to practice Biblical social justice as apologetics through their social capital. This workshop introduces social capital theory and explores practical ways Christians can address injustices through their social capital leading to gospel conversations with progressives.

Room 31 – Bible 101: Taking a Small Group
of Pre-Christians on a First Trip Through the Bible
Mark Kresge, North Park Baptist Church
No bells. No whistles. No glitzy material. No higher education needed. Get together with a handful of starter Christians or pre-Christians who are curious about the actual message of the Bible, and help them discover the truth. Come see how to use a Discovery Bible Study method and a list of 30 Bible passages from Genesis 1 through Revelation 20.

Room 58 – Why Orphans Go to Hell
John Shirley, Live Global
No one is more hopelessly lost than an orphan — an unloved, unfed, destitute wanderer. An orphan must be saved to survive, and that is the picture of the Gospel. This workshop explores the most powerful description of our salvation found in Scripture, our adoption by an Eternal Father. This workshop will help you appreciate your salvation, understand your Father’s purpose for adopting you, and challenge your understanding of what it means to be on mission.

WORSHIP

Room 122 – Curating Your Worship Music Library
Nathan Vaughn, Highland Hills Baptist Church
In this workshop, we will formulate a step-by-step approach regarding how to evaluate what we sing, how to introduce new music, and how to keep current music fresh.

CHILDREN

Room 119 – Becoming a More Effective Preschool Teacher
Ashley Setaputri, West Cannon Baptist Church
Teaching preschool-aged children about Jesus is more than singing the “B-I-B-L-E” and “Jesus Loves Me.” Come learn how to be intentional in teaching the Gospel through fun and engaging teaching strategies.

Room 124 – How to Create an Effective Learning Environment
Melissa Kent, West Cannon Baptist Church
Before kids can learn, they need to be provided with an environment that meets their needs and where they know what is expected of them. This workshop will address things such as creating and keeping a schedule, transition activities, and setting and keeping classroom expectations.

Room 126 – Developing a Heart for Missions
Mary Lou, Heyboer BCM (MI Bible Clubs)
Not only do we need to “Reach the Next Generation with the Gospel”, we need to challenge children to become involved in reaching their generation and the next. We will look at the MESSAGE we need to tell, how to be INVOLVED today, and how to PREPARE to serve the Lord in the future.

Room 128 – Blast Through the Bible: Kinetic Learning to Understand the Big Picture!
Rochelle Visser, Camp Michawana
Every person learns and retains information better when they speak, move, and teach it! Discover a helpful way to learn the BIG PICTURE of God’s Word using kinetic learning and key phrases.
The Blast Through the Bible workshop will offer free resources and training to use Camp Michawana’s Blast Through the Bible as well as ideas to create or modify your own memory system that is tailored to your specific needs! Come get infused with some gospel energy!

Room 131 – Keeping Kids Engaged in Bible Lessons
Jody Marvin, West Cannon Baptist Church
A variety of practical, classroom-tested and ready-to-use ideas will be shared to help keep kids (K-5th grade) engaged in Bible lessons. Games, object lessons, magic tricks, attention getters and classroom activities are among the strategies that will be taught.

STUDENT MINISTRY

Room 129 – Building Cultural Discernment in Your Students
Matt Bell, NorthPointe Christian High School
Drawing from the second practice of the groundbreaking book, Faith For Exiles (David Kinnaman & Mark Matlock), this workshop will focus on how to help students develop the muscle of cultural discernment in a complex and anxious age. Whether you are a pastor, parent, teacher, or anyone who works with this next generation, this workshop will help prepare young Christians to thrive and cultivate faithfulness in our world today. We will also discuss how to practically teach the Bible in the midst of competing narratives.