We live in a time where our culture is deeply divided. Politically, ethnically, and economically our culture is in constant conflict - even at a deep interpersonal level, close relationships and community are in a sharp decline. How can the Church find unity in such a divided landscape? We will look at what insight the Bible provides into how the Body of Christ can remain unified and interdependent even in this cultural climate.

Thinking Biblically about Christ's lordship over illness can help us to walk victoriously through our own illness and to pastor others dealing with illness. Through healing miracles during his earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated his lordship over illness and death in order to validate his mission. His authority over physical illness affirms his authority over spiritual illness and his ability to heal us of our deepest problems. Practically this means four things: that a diagnosis is not one's destiny; a disease is not one's identity; suffering is not wasted; and physical demise is not eternal.

The Bible is littered with miracles from the Old to the New Testament. What is the point of these miracles? What is the role of miracles in the church today? And what role do miracles play with people who don't know Jesus?

God wants to use parents as the primary influence on children to grow them up to be spiritually mature Christ-followers who pursue His will for their lives. Through prayer, teaching, and modeling, parents should train their kids in godly character--to be above reproach, hospitable, generous, self-controlled and practice sexual integrity.

Being an effective spiritual leader requires more than charisma or influence. Good character, with the proper equipping is more important. 4 different qualities of this character include: hospitality, not being self-willed, gentleness, and enthusiasm. Josh breaks down the impact of neglecting growth in these areas and how to grow in them also.

It is important for any Christian to understand the Bible's view of finances. And we all must find the balance of living at the need level and not the greed level; with neither riches nor poverty. The world system promotes materialism. Learning to live simply can help us enjoy life better, be an example to our children, and be better stewards of what we have been given.

A life dedicated to ministry requires perseverance. There are times of discouragement, deep pain, and failure. Whether it is seeing friends say no to God or facing our own personal weaknesses and failure, doing ministry is tough. How do we face setbacks and discouragement in ministry faithfully? How can we learn not to give up during times of discouragement but actually thrive and grow?

The Christian life is described in the Bible as one which requires perseverance in a spiritual war. Gary DeLashmutt examines the connection between the eternal life and the endurance required in the Christian life. By increasingly anticipating life in Heaven with God, the current issues of this life are not eliminated, but put in proper perspective.

Anyone called to Christian leadership will be faced with many difficult conversations as they love those entrusted to their care. As we move in to bring biblical truth to people (which is often in opposition to the mainstream cultural view) we may find ourselves in a tricky situation. It's helpful to understand what's really going on in difficult conversations, how to recognize when things get off track, and how to move the discussion back to a constructive course.

Being persuasive is a key factor in convincing others to give their lives to God. Using pressure can be counter-productive or ineffective in making our case. This teaching highlights what it looks like to be persuasive for God and how to avoid pressuring people. The teacher explains the effects of pressuring people and what it means about us. With the correct understanding we can create a healthy tension where we work with people, not against them.

Appreciation is recognizing the full worth of something or someone; grasping the true situation. This teaching explains how we can take the things of God for granted and the impact of appreciation on our lives. Appreciation has many benefits including greater gratitude, greater joy in following God, and greater willingness to forgive. This teaching explains multiple ways to grow in our appreciation.

Many Christians fall under two traps: 1) legalism - that following Jesus is a list of "do's" and "don'ts" or 2) forgetting or ignoring that Jesus wants to transform your life. This is a sort of "gospel crisis." The truth is that Jesus wants his Gospel to deeply transform our lives as we commit to him. What does it mean to follow Jesus with our lives? We will look at Jesus' call to discipleship and both the difficulties and fulfillment that following his call leads to.

Mental health is difficult to define and is more than just the absence of mental illness. One way to define it is to look to Jesus as a model of perfect mental health, who gained security and identity from his relationship with his heavenly Father and set healthy boundaries.

Religion in our culture is often considered a private matter apart from any type of close spiritual community. John Stott points out in The Cross of Christ "from the day of Pentecost onward it has been clear that conversion to Christ means conversion to the community of Christ." As Christians it would be na?ve to believe that we are not influenced by our culture's commitment to radical individualism. This workshop explores the risks and dangers of Christians living outside of Christian community and looks at the Biblical principle that a commitment to Christ is meant to be lived out in the context of a commitment to a Christian community.\r\n

The Gospel is the only hope for our hopeless world. Jesus wants to provide salvation, healing, and love to our broken and hopeless cities. Yet, how will our cities hear and feel the love of Jesus if we aren't sharing? Jesus says in John 13:35, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." We will look at how to share the love and forgiveness of Christ with our broken cities, not only in spiritual conversations, but in the way we love and serve.

The concept of God can be difficult for children to understand especially at early levels of cognitive development. This workshop discusses ways to utilize children's natural imagination and enjoyment of narrative to strengthen their understanding and experience of God through the stories of Jesus in the Gospels.\r\n

Christians can go through life with the attitude of either a tourist or explorer, and which we choose can have a drastic effect on our life. A tourist attitude is casual and takes in whatever happens to pass by without much effort. By contrast, an explorer sets out to discover new things and has a specific direction. This affects many areas of life, including theology, relationships, the way we interact with God's Word, and may determine whether we finish strong in our walk with the Lord.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Jesus has commissioned a global rescue mission and we each get to play a part. What else does scripture say about missions? Xenos has a specific vision of our role in missions that is guided by scripture. We will look at what this vision is as well as the key scripture that motivates this vision.

There are many benefits to memorizing Scripture that are referenced in the Word itself and that we can observe ourselves. Memorizing scripture can impact our lives in many areas in ways that other forms of study might not. Ryan explains many different helpful strategies for memorizing Scripture along with their advantages and disadvantages. He also give suggestions of verses to start with that will help to begin memorizing Scripture.

Marriage is about oneness and life long commitment, but what we see in our culture is marriage in a deep decline while divorce rates are rising. How do we fight against this cultural trend and have a successful, Christ-centered marriage? We will look at what habits are good to form in the early stages of marriage to lead to success.

What if we view this life as our permanent residence? The Bible is clear that this life is only temporary. 1 Peter 1 details God's incredible motivating plan to help us align our hearts and minds with our true home in heaven and away from all of the distractions that so often entangle us. Which residence will we invest our lives in?\r\n

Living out our potential sounds like such an obvious truism that we rarely (if ever) notice that there are serious problems with this kind of thinking. To live to our fullest potential is, at best, sub-biblical. This breakout session explores what it means to pick up our cross daily and how that contrasts with the self-actualization message of 21st century American careerism.\r\n

For much of the history of missions, there has been little return on investment in terms of number of conversions, in spite of earnest efforts on the part of Christians. In the 20th century, world receptivity to the gospel changed and more and more people began coming to Christ. This raises the question of how local churches in America can connect to the growing global church and support global evangelism, especially in light of the decline in the American church.

It can be difficult to know how to help fellow Christians be restored to a healthy spiritual walk when something goes wrong. Regardless of the circumstances, Liz Sweet discusses how we can help others to regain their vision for serving both by helping them walk through suffering and regain a proper perspective of who God is.

Traumatic events have the potential to have a lifelong effect. In addition to the psychological impact, Satan uses the occasion of trauma to deceive us with lies and cause us to view life through an interpretive lens that doesn't line up with what's true. However, life in Christ offers real and significant resilience and healing.

Many important figures in the Bible experience failure and we can learn from their responses. In this teaching, different types of failure and different responses to them are discussed. Failure leads us to decide to depend on God or not. Learning God's Will helps us reconsider our definition of success.

In an age when culture presents us with many either/or issues and pressures us to choose one side or the other, the church is often best served by choosing a both/and position. One of the most important of these issues is whether to focus on evangelism or social justice issues. Rather than choosing one or the other, the most effective approach is to follow the Bible's model of spreading the Gospel while also meeting the physical needs of others. Emphasizing one while neglecting the other will lead to an imbalanced and less-effective Christianity.

Deep friendships are a crucial element of successful discipleship relationships. Too often, discipleship is reduced to a transfer of information, rather than shepherding the whole person, leading them to treasure Jesus above all. True discipleship, in the biblical sense, requires a deep level of friendship that reflects the intimate nature of the Trinity.

Many Christians are aware that Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 53 predict Jesus' first coming. Few realize, however, that the New Testament also applies these passages to Jesus' followers. This workshop explores these applications so that believers can become more effective servants of the Servant.\r\n