NC Baptists

A Conversation With Russell Moore

Join us for a discussion with Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, about contemporary issues in loving our neighbors. The session will be moderated by Matt Capps, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Apex, N.C. Speakers: Matt Capps & Russell Moore

Basic Tools for Gospel Conversation

Learn and practice two basic tools for conversational evangelism. We will also discuss transitions into sharing the gospel, as well as calling people to decision. Speaker: Josh Reed

Contextual Awareness in Discipleship

When shepherding young believers from different races and cultures, it is important to ask the question, "How can I lead this person to become more like Christ without causing them to jettison their culture?" Come learn how to pass along the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” to those who are called to walk in faithfulness in different cultures. Speaker: Walter Strickland

Church Revitalization for the Sake of Our Neighbors

Is your church impacting lostness in the surrounding community? Impacting lostness with the gospel of Jesus Christ is at the heart of church revitalization. This breakout session will introduce you to a process and resources available to North Carolina churches that desire to return to their mission of impacting lostness by making disciples. Speaker: Sandy Marks

Creating a Customized Disciple-Making Pathway for Your Church

Jay McGuirk - We are all called to make disciples. But how are we to pursue that in our specific contexts and church bodies? Listen to Jay McGuirk as we explore how our churches can be uniquely positioned to make disciples in a meaningful way.

Faith at Home Focus in Every Ministry

Mark Smith - The Faith at Home Ministry works alongside pastors and church leaders to develop a holistic family disciple-making strategy based on Deuteronomy 4:9 and 6:7. As churches refocus their ministries to equip families, parents and grandparents will discover new ways to be disciple-makers of their children and grandchildren in the natural rhythms of daily life.

Spaghetti In Your Pockets: Understanding the Unreached Population Segments in Pockets of Lostness.

Russ Reaves and Steve Harris - It’s been said that a pocket is not like a pancake, but a waffle. But I say to you that a pocket is like spaghetti, with common strands woven throughout and often from one pocket to another. This session will explore those common strands and how to spot them, how to engage them in disciple-making, and how to leverage strands in one pocket for similar strands in another.

Recognizing Opportunities and Turning Conversations

Josh Reed - Ever wonder why Jesus talked to some people and not to others? And why did He often use questions when He was talking to people about the kingdom of God? In this session, you will explore some case studies and develop some responses regarding getting to the heart of the matter with people without being argumentative.

Planning for the Long Game: Family Ministry

Daniel Dye - Churches see a need for family ministry. Our approach can still leave a perception that responsibility for children's spiritual growth rests with the church. Because of busy schedules in ministry, we are often left with just enough time to plan for the upcoming season. Do great worship services, events and fellowships cause change in the homes of our congregation? In this session, we will look at one church's effort to go beyond seasonal family ministry planning to a long-term process that teaches families to think with the end in mind.

Disciple-Making in Multifamily Housing Communities

Zac Lyons - Nearly 95 percent of the people who live in luxury apartments, gated communities, government housing communities, trailer parks and other multihousing communities are unchurched. While there is no “one-size-fits-all” model for disciple-making among the different multihousing communities in our state, there are proven principles that can be used as your church seeks to begin a multihousing ministry. During this session, you will learn those principles.

Kingdom Prayer and Making Disciples

Chris Schofield - John 17 provides the biblical backdrop for this equipping module as participants are challenged to look beyond themselves through the practice of Biblical prayer that focuses on the moving forward of God’s Kingdom.

Worship and Disciple-Making

Kenny Lamm - Corporate worship is very formative in the process of making disciples. We need to be careful about what we are imprinting into the minds and hearts of our people. This session will focus particularly on the musical aspects of worship by first ensuring the songs we sing are worthy. We will also look at the way we lead the songs to prompt participation and have the greatest impact on lives. We will also discuss ways worship leaders can intentionally make disciples in small and large groups through the worship ministry of the church.

Cultural Awareness in Discipleship

Walter Strickland - The Great Commission calls Christians to make disciples of people from every nation. This means that God is glorified by having faithful witnesses to Himself in every cultural context. As a result, it is important for disciple-makers to cultivate younger believers into those who faithfully imitate Christ in their cultural context without having to jettison their culture and adopt their mentor’s culture to be a faithful follower of Christ. Come learn how to do this work in our time together.

Apologetics: The Fuel for Discipleship

Eric Simmons - The early church faced extreme persecution and held no political power, yet it grew exponentially. Today, with extreme political power and little persecution, the present-day church in America is dying. Why the change? First Peter 3:15 gives us the answer — apologetics. We have stopped teaching the “why” behind the “what” of Christianity. This session will cover the role of apologetics in discipleship, including practical insights for equipping Christ-followers to defend their faith in an ever-changing culture.

Disciple-Making in a Rural Context

Jonathan Blaylock - Making disciples means being in relationship. Learn how to leverage the relationships God has given you to make disciples.

"My" Art in Light of His Heart: Disciple-making, Culture and the Arts

William "Duce" Branch - Moses’ staff, David’s sling and the disciples’ nets were all common tools of their particular trades. When they encountered the God who claims people, these tools became His means of His glory and the advance of His kingdom. Disciple-making is the current overarching agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will use the common cultural and artistic tools of the day for disciple-making purposes. This session will explore the intersection of the heart of God for disciple-making with culture and the arts in hopes of reinforcing a commitment to disciple-making in one’s cultural context and through artistic platforms. We will advocate artistic fervor anchored in gospel fidelity.

Disciple-Making in the World

Sarah Davenport - Second Timothy 2:2 teaches us to think about being reproducible in all we teach. In this session, we will walk through some ways to make disciples across the globe with chronological Bible storying and Henna storying.

Discipling Children and Teens in the Home

Sammy Joo - We are told how important it is for parents to take the lead in discipling their children, but what does that look like? This session will cover practical techniques for parents to lead their children to love God and live on mission.

Developing a Disciple-Making Culture in Your Church

John Davenport and Nathan Stamm - Are the folks in your church staying in the “holy huddle” instead of looking outward? Are you concerned that discipleship focuses on gaining more knowledge rather than applying what is learned? Do you want to challenge others with obedience to the commands of Christ? Come learn a simple yet comprehensive framework that will help you examine various aspects of disciple-making. This flexible tool will help you determine the health of your disciple-making and will encourage you as you lead your members to engage the lost and make disciples.

Discipleship in the 21st Century

Matt Curry - Our communities and those we seek to reach for Christ are a part of a rapidly changing world. However, our main purpose of making disciples has remained the same. Join us as we discuss how to be a more effective disciple-making church in a fast-moving world.

Transitioning from Sunday School to Small Groups for the Purpose of Making Disciples

Ronnie Parrott - Is there a difference between Sunday School and small groups? Aren’t they both the same? Don’t they both accomplish the same purpose? The answers to these questions are often determined by the discipleship strategy of each individual local church. However, many churches have a traditional Sunday School model without a clear discipleship strategy in place. With the continued secularization of American culture, churches must define their discipleship strategy, equip and train effective leaders, and move their Sunday School beyond Bible intake and into life-on-life discipleship. The goal of this breakout is to help pastors and leaders determine, define and implement a successful strategy for making disciples through small groups.

Beauty, Aesthetics and Spiritual Formation

Matt Capps - What does beauty have to do with spiritual formation? How does our aesthetic sense serve as a signpost to stir our affections toward God? In this session, we will explore the theological relationship between beauty, aesthetics and spiritual formation. Suggestions will be made for how we can utilize these truths for the holistic formation of the local congregation through preaching, worship, teaching and service.

Hermeneutics and Racial Prejudice: How the Bible Can Help and Hurt Race Discussions

Courtlandt Perkins - Ephesians 6 gives us the imagery of the Word of God being a sword. We would hate for a sword to end up in the hands of 6-year-old boy messing around in the garage because they can hurt themselves, and we also would hate it for an evil villain to get their hands on a sword in any movie we were watching because they can hurt others. The same is true about the Bible. This book unlike any other book has literally changed the world because of what it says, but throughout time, people have used and misused its content to deal with racial issues. This session will highlight some common passages from God’s Word that can be used and those that have been misused to have discussions about race and the church.

Disciple-Making and Women in the Church

Mary Wallace Wilson - Every church needs women who love to serve, yet one of the most important ways to serve is by disciple-making. The only prerequisites are obedience to Christ, a heart of love and being Spirit-filled. No seminary training is required.

What is a Pocket of Lostness?

Cris Alley - North Carolina has 250 pockets of lostness. Think of a pocket of lostness as a gospel desert — a small geographic area with a large percentage of lost people. This session will show their locations, explore their causes and introduce the steps your church can take to eradicate lostness in North Carolina's gospel deserts.

Disciple-Making through Word and Deed Among Your Immigrant Neighbors

Zac Lyons - Whether you are a single woman living in a downtown apartment, a mom in the suburbs or an empty nester in a quiet rural setting, you are right where you need to be to make an impact for God’s kingdom. Join us as we explore the discipleship potential that is waiting as close as your front door.

The Home: A Strategic Platform for Discipleship

Tabatha Frost - Whether you are a single woman living in a downtown apartment, a mom in the suburbs or an empty nester in a quiet rural setting, you are right where you need to be to make an impact for God’s kingdom. Join us as we explore the discipleship potential that is waiting as close as your front door.

Delighting in the Company of God: Solitude & Other Practices to Help You Love God More

Larry Trotter - We will look at how the practices of solitude, ceaseless prayer and other disciplines help order our hearts to love God more and walk with Him more consistently. The content is highly transferable to those you are discipling, especially those who are maturing in their faith and longing to know God more deeply.

Competence and Confidence in Personal Evangelism

Josh Reed - There are a million ways to get into a gospel conversation. The question is, do you know what to do once you are in one? In this session, you will gain practical tools to both share and train others in telling your story and God's story competently, confidently and humbly. You will also spend time practicing these things in the session.

Adolescence is a Timeframe for Leverage

Merrie Johnson - Adolescence is a time when you can leverage distinct opportunities to influence a teenager’s future. A parent has approximately 936 weeks between a child's birth and the time they graduate from high school. Join us as we examine different stages of development in a teen’s life and how those stages open doors for discipleship.