Conference Description:  We live in an age that has shifted from receiving information to producing it, and from listening passively to messages to actively collaborating in producing them. Yet our preaching remains uniformly mono-directional and transactional in nature. How do we move to a more participatory style of preaching where congregants don't simply listen but actually contribute to our sermons so as to become better interpreters of Scripture, faith and life?

Schedule

Monday, October 22

10:00 a.m.

Session #1 - Where Have All the People Gone? - The Rise of Digital Pluralism

Ask any pastor or long time church member and sooner or later the conversation turns to attendance. And the question on everyone's mind is, "Where Did All the People Go?" And the next question, sometimes not asked aloud, is "Did we do something wrong?" As it turns out, it's not so much that we did something wrong but just that the culture and world around us has changed dramatically in the last generation and we haven't changed with it. In this session we'll delve into some of the major cultural changes and explore what our life is like in the "Age of Digital Pluralism."

12:00 – Lunch

1:00 p.m.

Session #2 - The Rule of Unintended Consequences

A generation ago, church leaders complained that the culture was only "nominally Christian." Now we look back and wistfully remember when it was at least "nominally Christian." We may not have realized just how much support we received from the culture or how we oriented people to come to church rather than be sent by the church into the world. In this session we'll explore the "rule of unintended consequences" and examine how some of our assumptions and even our best efforts are now getting in the way of effective mission.

3:00 p.m.

Session #3 - Moving from Performance to Participation

A primary challenge for most Christians is identifying God's place and role in their daily lives. But if we can't see God in our lives and world, how can we partner with God and share the news of what God is doing? In this session we'll explore how we can help each other hear the biblical story in fresh ways that help us see God alive and active in the world and equip us to partner with God's work in the world.
 

5:15 p.m. - Dinner

Tuesday, October 23

9:30 a.m. – Closing Chapel Service

10:30 a.m. – Panel Discussion and Q & A Session

It gives me great joy to commend my friend David Lose, Preaching Professor at Luther Seminary, to the preachers of the Trevecca Region. David is one of the rising stars in the field of American Homiletics. I had the privilege of studying under David in my Doctor of Ministry in Preaching, and found him to be a teacher of great passion and imagination as he applies sound interpretive and homiletic practice to the context of ministry in a postmodern world. His book, Confessing Jesus Christ: Preaching in a Postmodern World is one of the most important books on homiletics in the past ten years, one that Steve Green and I both use in some of our Masters Classes at TNU. I strongly encourage you to put the date of October 22 on your calendars and plan to join us for this significant day of instruction and inspiration.

Dr. Mike Jackson, Associate Professor of Preaching

Trevecca Nazarene University