2012 National Gathering Focused Sessions Announced
Bob Hyatt
Feb 09, 2012

Listed below are the breakout sessions that will be available during the National Gathering. What? You didn’t register yet?   Well, get on it! 

A Faithful Vision For Education Reform: Helping Low-Income Schools – Nicole Fulgham (FS # 1 & 2)

A high quality education is the most direct path to helping a child overcome poverty. But the United States’ public school system is not yet delivering on that promise. Children who need the most from their education continue to lag behind their wealthier peers. More than 15 million children are growing in poverty in the United States. Only half of these children will ever graduate from high school. Only 1 in 10 will graduate from college. By the time children in low-income communities are in the fourth grade, they’re already three grade levels behind students in wealthier neighborhoods.

The academic achievement gap is a national epidemic with profound moral dimensions. What role can the church and people of faith play to help ensure all children receive a high quality education? How can we help all children, regardless of their background, achieve their God-given potential? This workshop explores a Biblical framework for public education reform and provides church leaders with concrete strategies to help improve public schools.

Advanced Coaching For Ministry Leaders – Brian Hopper (FS # 4)

Grow in your coaching and leading skills. This hands on, participative session will help you further develop two essential skills of coaching: Active Listening and Asking (Good) Questions. Most coaches rely on their natural inclination to ‘tell’ and lead with their ‘own agenda’ when trying to help someone. But effective coaching moves beyond telling to listening/asking. This enables those you are leading/coaching to discover the solutions and pathways the Lord is leading them, rather than relying solely on what you tell them.

How could you better help those you are currently leading/coaching by relying more on these essential coaching skills? Join us, as we help equip you to be more effective in your coaching relationships.

Church-Based Community Development – Aaron Graham (FS # 2)

What does it look like for the church to take responsibility for the welfare of the community and not just leave it up to others? Too often the work of God is disconnected from the church of God. How can we development ministries and nonprofits that are supported by rather than disconnected from the local church? What are some of the key social issues we can address in our community that help make the Kingdom visible and tangible to an unbelieving world?

Coaching In Missional Congregations – Brian Hopper (FS # 1)

One key ingredient to fruitful church planting/pastoring is frequently underused, or completely missing from the process. That ingredient is the opportunity to work with an objective person who can journey with you and assist you in your church-planting endeavor. This breakout is an introductory session to the practice of coaching.

Creating A Missional Culture Through Christ’s Gifts To The Church – JR Woodward (FS # 2)

Why does the church lack mature disciples who live in the world for the sake of the world, without being of the world? It is because we fail to recognize the life-shaping power of culture and how our approach to leadership shapes the culture of the congregations we serve. As leaders understand the power of culture in shaping the life of the congregation, and learn the basic elements of culture, they will understand their role as cultural architects in creating a missional culture through Christ’s gifts to the church.

In this session you will learn how to create a thriving, liberating, welcoming, healing and learning environment which helps the church live in the world for the sake of the world.

Evangelism For The Rest Of Us: Recognizing People Of Peace – Ben Sternke (FS # 2 & 3)

What does it looks like to proclaim the good news of Jesus in a post-Christendom world? How can we learn to stop advancing a pre-packaged agenda and simply learn to cooperate with what God is already doing? What would it look like to both embody AND proclaim the good news of Jesus as a community? We’ll be exploring these questions and more through the lens of the “Person of Peace” that Jesus seems to lay out in Luke 10

From Event To Impact – Aaron Graham (FS # 4)

Too often events come and go with little sustained impact. The reality is that we all have to plan events in some form or another. The question is whether these events are strategically placed so that they advance your mission and the engagement of your leaders. A well-planned event can be a powerful way to launch a church, start a new ministry, or even celebrate what God has already done. Don’t let the event be the enemy when the real enemy is poor planning!

The Actually Acts 2 Church: Towards A Missional Discipleship Framework – Todd Hiestand (FS # 3)

Most of us have lost all expectations of being the “Acts 2 Church”. We know that we live in a different culture and, let’s be honest, the Acts 2 church wasn’t all daises and people sitting a circle singing kum-bya. But, what if we didn’t take Acts 2 prescriptively and instead read it descriptively? What if Acts 2 actually did set forward a helpful over-arching framework for discipleship and mission? We’ll explore that “what if” together as we look at a hopefully healthier perspective on Acts 2 and how it works out cross-culturally.

The Missional Family – Joe & Lisa Racek (FS # 3)

Raising kids is tough (why didn’t anyone tell us?) and raising kids who love Jesus and want to tell the world about Him is even tougher (most days we’re just glad they didn’t kill each other on the way to school). The simple truth is that God has a mission for our kids just like he does for us- and as we make it our mission to help our kids discover theirs, the pieces start falling into place. Joe and Lisa had 4 kids in 4 years while on a church plant (it’s all about organic church growth, right?!) and now they are reaping the blessings and challenges of being a family on mission together.

The F Word. Finances. – Winn Collier (FS # 3 & 4)

The love of money may be the root of all evil, but the disregard of money is the root of much trouble. Most of us are financially stretched, but ignoring our finances will multiply stress. How do we talk together about money? Are we making wise choices about retirement and insurance? Are we maximizing our income by using available tax advantages? Are we using the federal grants available for offsetting our church’s health insurance costs?

The Go-Between God: God’s Spirit In The Ecology Of Life – AJ Swoboda (FS # 1 & 4)

In the Scriptures, the Spirit is between all things. Between humans. Between the Father and the Spirit as love of the two. And in the middle of creation. The Spirit, in this way, vivifies all of life. Long ago, Karl Barth mentioned that the future of Christian theology would be a return to the Third Article, the Spirit, and that it was the last undiscovered realm of theology. Today, the Spirit plays a key role in understanding the life of creation. In this break-out, we will explore this dynamic relationship between God’s Spirit and the realm of ecology and creation.

The Role Of The Family In The Spiritual Formation Of Children – Ivy Beckwith (FS # 2 & 4)

Children spend more time in their families than anywhere else. Therefore, the home can’t help but be the center of spiritual formation for children. This workshop will deal with ways in which families can creatively accept this God given responsibility.

The Spiritual Formation Of New Millennium Children – Ivy Beckwith (FS # 1 & 3)

This workshop will deal with the generational characteristics of the Millenials and the generation following them. Special emphasis is given to how these characteristics effect their spiritual formation and those who participate in forming them spiritually.

How It Is Now Is Not How It Will Always Be

By Bob Hyatt • 20 Mar, 2024
One of the main tricks in life, I believe, is not to extrapolate current conditions and circumstances off into the future. However, that’s exactly the tendency we have as humans, and especially, I’ve discovered, as ministry leaders. We look at things now and think they will always be that way. We long to see landmarks in the road, mileposts that tell us either we have now reached the pinnacle, the place we always dreamed of being (even if that place is only “stability”), or conversely, the bottom has fallen out and now is the time to bail out. But the mileposts are merely markers on the journey, telling us where we are now, promising nothing of the journey ahead. And so, when things are good, we see nothing but success and good times stretching out in front of us. In the depths of despair, during the most challenging times of life and ministry we feel as though the darkness has become the new normal. The reality is much more complex: there are always better times ahead, and worse ones as well. During those dark times, when ministry becomes more of a weight than a joy, I tell myself, “whatever is happening now will not keep happening forever.” Those words have kept me through relational breaks in our staff that seemed unfixable, through budget woes when we didn’t think we were going to meet payroll, even a time when our community lost a third of its members because we had let a beloved pastor go. In this way I have found hope. In the same way, during the successful times when we were growing, budget was bigger than ever, and when new people were engaging with the church seemingly every week I continued to tell myself, “what is happening now will not keep happening forever.” In this way I have found a measure of humility. There’s another way to read this mantra as well, one that encourages us not to miss what is happening right now as we overly focus on where we’d like to be or what we’d like to see happen. The challenge of ministry, like the challenge of life in general, is to be present to what’s happening now . Too many single people miss the joys of singleness longing to be married. Too many young married couples miss the joys of the early years without children because they long to be parents. Too many parents of young children miss the joys of the infant years, longing for the days when their children are more independent, less dependent on them for everything. And on it goes. In the same way we in ministry can miss the joys of a small, close community by looking at larger communities and wishing we had their resources and influence. We can miss the inherent learning and even joy of being shoulder to shoulder in community with others through challenging times because the difficulties and pain we are experiencing mask the ways in which we are being brought together, the ways in which we are being formed and the invaluable things we are learning. In life, and in ministry, remember: How it is now is not how it will always be. Learn to appreciate how things are now, but also take comfort in the fact that if things are difficult, there are better days ahead. Stay humble because no success is forever. Stay hopeful because, in Christ, no failure is permanent.

Exciting Announcement- Ecclesia is Joining Ascent!

By Chris Backert • 19 Feb, 2024
I’m writing to share some exciting and important news with you that we believe will be significant for Ecclesia in the days ahead! For the last few years, I have been engaged with other church and network leaders across the US and Canada about forming a new “connection” for the church in North America. The heart of the effort is around unifying, amplifying, and multiplying the kind of Christian witness that Ecclesia represents, for the sake of the gospel, over the next few decades. This new effort is called The Ascent Movement, and within the last 12 months, its momentum has picked up increasing speed. A few months ago, I was asked by the council of Ascent if I would help spearhead the development of the network in its next phase. I agreed to accept that task. One of the core goals of Ascent is to connect, coordinate, and collaborate with groups like Ecclesia so that we can do more together than we could in isolation. In many ways, it will function as a “network of networks” like Ecclesia functions as a “network of churches”. In addition to ministries like Ecclesia, there are also seminaries, mission agencies, and other ministry support organizations that are joining Ascent in these early days. For the last several months the Ecclesia board has been discerning whether or not Ecclesia would officially enter into a partnership affiliation with Ascent. We unanimously affirmed that decision at our recent board meeting. Since Ascent is in its early phases of formation, more information on the benefits and opportunities of this new partnership will be ongoing. However, we are happy to share some of the aspects of this new affiliation that we find compelling and will not only bless Ecclesia, but also all of the churches within Ecclesia. First, given the size of Ecclesia, there have always been areas of ministry that we believe are important, but toward which we have not had the scale to accomplish or contribute. Among these are concrete efforts around - increasing the witness of the Hispanic church in North America - supporting mission expansion to less-resourced parts of North America - increasing opportunities for disaster relief and response - and mobilizing prayer networks. Further, there are also specific and tangible benefits that are made possible through this partnership for any Ecclesia Churches. Some of these include things like - discounted tuition costs to Truett Seminary for any Ecclesia leader or member serving an Ecclesia Church. - discounted rate in utilizing the services of Chemistry Staffing for future hiring - access to a church-based missionary sending ministry for those Ecclesia Churches engaged globally, and more! Lastly, there is a specific aspect to this partnership affiliation that is particularly helpful to Ecclesia. Ascent has agreed to partner with Ecclesia over the next year to expand our church planting and multiplication reach in a way that benefits both Ecclesia and Ascent. Practically, this looks like Ascent investing a little over $1,000/month into Ecclesia over this next year and together working toward a set of mutually beneficial goals. As I think about this opportunity within the current moment of our network, it seems right for multiple reasons beyond the purely practical. At our Ecclesia board meeting in late 2022, we established a path for individual affiliation within Ecclesia to make concrete space for leaders who are outside ministry contexts that allow for our core congregational affiliation. The heart of this decision was a desire to increase the kinds of relationships that Ecclesia has within our scope of ministry. The decision to affiliate with Ascent is similar. Also, as I shared at our Ecclesia Gathering in January, this decision fits within the Core DNA of Ecclesia. When I look back at the founding of our network, three aspects were central then and have carried forward. First, our desire to extend the gospel to increasingly post-Christian, or more challenging, settings and groups of people. Second, a desire to exemplify a Christian witness aligned with the theological and missiological direction of affirmations like the Capetown Commitment. Third, our desire to provide a relationally rich journey of friendship for the churches and leaders who are part of our family. When I consider the affiliation with Ascent, we share in common those first two Core DNA. As for the 3rd foundational aspect of our network, I believe the time has come where Ecclesia itself needs “friends for the journey” in the same way that Ecclesia has provided a context of friendship for those within our community. On the other side of COVID, it’s clear that ministry in the days ahead is more exciting, while also more challenging and complex. We believe we need a greater community to be the most faithful to the gospel that we can. You can go to www.ascentmovement.org to get a quick glimpse of its vision. The current website is a placeholder for a more thorough site coming later this Spring. Ecclesia, of course, will have a seat at the table in its formation. We have also provided a one-page overview of Ascent on the attached document. We will keep you updated on this exciting development. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. - Chris
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