GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)–Pastors’ Conference president Bryant Wright has prayerfully and carefully designed a gathering that has something for the young and the old, something for those who embrace a contemporary style of music and something for those who have a more traditional bent.
With the theme of “Reaching Today’s World for Jesus Christ,” this year’s June 11-12 conference is an offering of both the stained glass and Starbucks approach to celebrating the goodness and grace of God.
“We’re trying to address the different ways — different styles of worship and different approaches to ministry — in reaching today’s world for Christ,” said Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga.
Acts 4:10-12 (“… there is salvation in no one else …”) and 1 Corinthians 9:22b (“I have become all things to all men …”) serve as the conference’s Scripture texts.
“Paul tried to be all things to all people so that he might reach some,” Wright said. “I think those two passages really explain what my hope is for the conference.”
The conference will feature blended music on Sunday evening, contemporary music Monday afternoon and traditional music Monday night. For the first time, it also will feature breakout sessions, which will be held Monday morning. One breakout session sure to get some attention deals with “Reaching Today’s World Through Differing Views of Election,” with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson.
The Monday morning breakout session and Monday afternoon preaching session will be held at the Sheraton Greensboro (the convention hotel). All the other sessions will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
While this year’s Pastors’ Conference will include well-known pastors — including Johnny Hunt, Rick Warren, Tony Evans, David Jeremiah and Ed Young Sr. — it also will include some who haven’t spoken at previous Pastors’ Conferences.
Monday afternoon’s speakers are Erwin McManus, pastor of the Mosaic congregation in Los Angeles; Nelson Searcy, pastor of The Journey in New York City; and Kerry Shook, pastor of the Fellowship of The Woodlands in Woodlands, Texas. All are SBC churches, Wright said.
“My desire is to bridge the gap between the emerging young leaders and those who have served us so well for many years,” Wright said. “Some of the younger leaders have felt disenfranchised and I am excited about the challenge of encouraging many of them in building up the Kingdom of Christ.”
Recording artist David Phelps will sing at the Sunday evening and Monday evening sessions. The Monday evening session also will feature a video tribute to Adrian Rogers and a testimony by Joyce Rogers.
“We hope that everyone will come to all of the Pastors’ Conference sessions to show support and encouragement for those who may prefer a different style of worship,” Wright said. “Surely, there are many ways we can worship the Lord with a Christ-centered, biblically based focus as long as the gospel is not compromised.”
Additional information on the 2006 Pastors’ Conference is available online at www.reachingtodaysworld.org.
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Based on reporting by J. Gerald Harris of the Christian Index and Michael Foust of Baptist Press
