What is the difference between great leaders of movements, and managers whose efforts only fed the status quo? More often than not, it is contextual intelligence, or as Scripture calls it, the ability to “read the signs of the times.” The good news is, Contextual Intelligence is a skill that you can learn. This workshop will help you develop the ability to recognize the underlying needs of your context, and adapt your leadership to fit.

In Canoeing the Mountains, Tod Bolsinger made the case for adaptive change in ministry as the Church navigates a changing cultural landscape. In helping leaders implement adaptive change, he has identified several common struggles, opportunities, and sticking points. Learn what those common issues are, and how you can find support to move toward church transformation and mission experimentation.

An oft overlooked piece of the gospel narrative is how much time Jesus spent at tables with the “never-been-reached” crowd. In this era where we’ve become ineffective at reaching the “not-yets” it does us well to revisit the historic Jesus table, and relearn the divine invite scheduled to occur there.

Is it possible that Jesus is looking to release a mission where you work? In this session you will learn specific and applicable principles and examples of multiple approaches to mission in the marketplace, including a church that began as a mission to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL and has now expanded to making disciples on six continents.

Home is the ‘first’ place. If our first place is in order it helps bring order to all of the other places in our life. But how do we get there? By getting socially fit. In this session, we’ll discover how talking small steps to develop predictable patterns in our home and family life (the Imago Dei) is vital for the Mission of God (the Missio Dei) in our neighborhoods and communities.

Pain and suffering have always been a part of the human experience. The political, financial, racial, and cultural uncertainty and complexity in the past 2+ years have made it clear, now more than ever, we need healers. The world is wondering, “What are we to do with our wounds and where do we go for help?” The time for healing is now – and the Church has an unbelievably significant opportunity in this season to be the ones who bring healing to a hurting world. The time for healing is now. Will we join with Jesus in offering that healing? This workshop will explore the practical ways we can orient our churches and ministries as a bringer and bearer of good news through the healing work of Christ.

Attention and presence are the key ingredients to discipleship and community. They are also two very hot commodities in our hyperconnected world. This workshop will help you develop a clearer understanding of how our digital context affects our ministry, and how we can thrive within it.

One of the lessons from the pandemic is that we need to learn how to embody creativity and innovation inside the Church. For many, achieving this can be elusive, but thankfully there are ways to embrace a system of creativity in our lives and in our churches. During this workshop, you will learn about the i2 process and how it can be applied to your ministry context. An expansion of ‘Design Thinking’, a creative process used by some of the world’s most innovative companies, the i2 process is rooted in theology and in Scripture to give ministry teams a concrete method for problem-solving and innovation. You will also be equipped with a variety of tools to help you and your teams to start exploring what it looks like to approach the complexity of today’s world with creativity and confidence.

Is God giving you a vision for multiple fresh expressions of church for your congregation? Heather and Jim have both led congregations through the process of dreaming, strategizing, equipping and releasing teams for multiple expressions. They will be sharing advice and stories learned from experiences of both success and failures in their contexts.

God is already at work in your neighborhood, community, or city. There are glimpses of the Kingdom already taking place before anyone from your church gets there; the key is having the eyes to see them. In this workshop, we will talk about practicing dwelling in your community with eyes and ears for what God has already started and what it means to partner with God in Kingdom efforts.

It’s no secret that it was challenging to make disciples before the pandemic began. However, this discipleship focus has become exponentially harder since the pandemic began. Join us in this workshop as we discover what elements of discipleship are needed in our current pandemic environment, how they can be applied, and reclaim why discipleship is as important as ever. We will walk through “what is working” and “what is not” at a practical level when it comes to discipleship, along with providing some take-away concepts to implement that a church of any size can benefit from.

Fresh expressions of church can often fall prey to one of two problems: starting too soon or never starting at all. Dave has started new forms of church, and coached others to do the same. This workshop will give you the clarity of purpose and actionable steps to get started

The onset of the global pandemic changed so much of what we’ve known ministry to be inside and outside the church. Social distancing, and non-physical gatherings brought new challenges where connection and relationship building are concerned. With so much ministry happening BOTH in the building AND online, how can we earn the second, third, and ongoing visits from those who are new to our faith communities? New strategies are required for living into what it means to be a hospitable church. In a season where everything feels different, how can we claim or reclaim a passion for radical hospitality, making great first impressions and work toward being poised for guests before they arrive?

Pain and suffering have always been a part of the human experience. The political, financial, racial, and cultural uncertainty and complexity in the past 2+ years have made it clear, now more than ever, we need healers. The world is wondering, “What are we to do with our wounds and where do we go for help?” The time for healing is now – and the Church has an unbelievably significant opportunity in this season to be the ones who bring healing to a hurting world. The time for healing is now. Will we join with Jesus in offering that healing? This workshop will explore the practical ways we can orient our churches and ministries as a bringer and bearer of good news through the healing work of Christ.

Studies show that the majority of the US population hold to a secular worldview. This means many common practices of the church, including sermons, no longer connect with people. Jesus spent much of his ministry telling stories and the early church told stories about Jesus. In this workshop you’ll learn how to tell Jesus stories that connect with secular people and practicing Christians alike.

Is it possible that Jesus is looking to release a mission where you work? In this session you will learn specific and applicable principles and examples of multiple approaches to mission in the marketplace, including a church that began as a mission to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL and has now expanded to making disciples on six continents.

Rural communities are more de-churched than we realize. Fresh expressions are emerging in rural areas but the process looks a little different than in suburban and urban places. In this workshop we’ll explore the unique characteristics of rural fresh expressions and the types of fresh expressions that are multiplying in this context.

What image comes to mind when you hear the word “play”? Board games? A swing set? What if it’s deeper than that? We believe play is a way to connect with our being by doing. Through this connection, we have the opportunity to build relationships, form new communities, and experience God in ways we may not have thought of before. Whether it’s dirt biking, cooking a meal, using a microscope, or something else you have a passion for, play opens doors to build relationships and asks how our faith could interact with this part of our being. During this workshop, we’ll share stories of church @ play, offer practical strategies of how to start on this journey, and talk about the importance play has in our walks with Christ.

It’s no secret that it was challenging to make disciples before the pandemic began. However, this discipleship focus has become exponentially harder since the pandemic began. Join us in this workshop as we discover what elements of discipleship are needed in our current pandemic environment, how they can be applied, and reclaim why discipleship is as important as ever. We will walk through “what is working” and “what is not” at a practical level when it comes to discipleship, along with providing some take-away concepts to implement that a church of any size can benefit from.

Why do some pastors and pioneers keep going when things get tough? Why do some not just start one fresh expression of church, but do it again and again? How do some pastors stay faithful and full for the long haul? Long term leaders don’t have superpowers, but they do have specific postures and practices that help them stay in the game. Learn how to pastor and pioneer for the long haul from two leaders who have been at it for years.

Many church leaders have spent much of the pandemic feeling the heat of their congregations, meeting sometimes unexpected resistance in the midst of unrelenting change. Leadership burnout is at an all time high, but there are ways to navigate the mission of God before us with perseverance and resilience. In this session, we will explore how to navigate the two threats to resilient leadership, the failure of nerve and the failure of heart, and how to face the challenges before us with tenacity, wisdom, and purpose.

What is the difference between great leaders of movements, and managers whose efforts only fed the status quo? More often than not, it is contextual intelligence, or as Scripture calls it, the ability to “read the signs of the times.” The good news is, Contextual Intelligence is a skill that you can learn. This workshop will help you develop the ability to recognize the underlying needs of your context, and adapt your leadership to fit.

In this workshop, you will encounter learnings from the field about how congregations are inspiring the everyday people of God into pioneering mission. You will discover how leaders are identifying, equipping, and supporting fresh expression pioneers. You will hear concrete ways to gather pioneers for ongoing connection and support, and how critical this is for the flourishing of the mission. If you are a permission giver or a supporter who is committed to releasing the ministry of all believers in your setting, you have the opportunity to create a culture of strong support for your pioneer leaders…will you be intentional about doing so?

This will be a broad ranging conversation about the absolutely critical role that Jesus has for the people that claim his name. Here Alan Hirsch, Cheryl McCarthy, Dan White, Jr. and Mandy Smith will explore the idea of recalibrating the church to the person of Jesus. We will explore the ideas in Alan’s latest book ReJesus and we will also seek guidance from the teachings of seminal theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar who had much to say on the topic of Christocentric discipleship. Balthasar warned us that: “Every Christian plan of the future will, and must, be valueless if it does not remain oriented toward Christ. For Christ is not a ‘program’ that can be surveyed or drawn off and bottled and simply taken with one on a ‘future operation.’ Only in the openness of contemplation and listening prayer is there revealed to us ever anew what Christ, in whom we have our origin, means and wants. Every action that is not rooted in contemplation is doomed to sterility from the start….In the life of the disciple the momentum of Jesus expresses itself as the call to unconditional discipleship. The four gospels set the pattern for this in their many call narratives: if anyone wants to be involved with Jesus, or if Jesus takes the initiative to involve himself with anyone, this means for the disciple a choice of all or nothing. Discipleship is an indivisible adherence which demands the whole existence, and is marked with the brand of his ownership not only in one place, but in all places.” In this time of grumpy and dangerously ideological religion, it’s high time to ReJesus the church.