Send North America Conference 2012

Ellis Prince. We have all heard from numerous respected teachers and writers a variation of Howard Hendricks' line, "People don't care what you have to say, until they know that you care." If we are going to reach the lost (especially in our urban environments), we need to be intentional about building relational currency. How do you earn the right to be heard? How do you get people who don't trust the Bible to be true to trust you? How do we tell people about Jesus again? Is there a biblical theology to support loving your neighbor? These are just a few of the questions behind a city-reaching strategy that helps us channel our theology into our areas of influence called intentional living.

Ed Stetzer, Philip Nation and Scott McConnell. In every city, there are tribes, systems and attitudes that must be understood to effectively reach people with the gospel. This breakout addresses how to better love and serve your city by better understanding it.

Dhati Lewis. We are in a new day, but still struggling with old problems. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few…pray to the Lord of the harvest for laborers.” With growing urbanization in the United States, we need to prepare church planters for the next generation. It will look like something we have yet to see. Learn how to raise up church planters for the urban context.

Carlos Navarro. Hispanics won’t be reached in our church buildings. They will be reached where they live, work, shop and socialize. This session deals with planting churches effectively among this people group in North America.

Bryan Galloway. Learn how to make initial contact in cross-cultural settings. More specifically, learn how to make objective observations and ask culturally appropriate questions when engaging ethnic minorities within the U.S. Participants will take away practical how-to handles on connecting with the diverse ethno-linguistic populations now residing within the U.S.

Benny Wong, James Dixon, Aslam Masih, Carlos Navarro and Bryan Galloway The North American mission field has been and is currently changing and rapidly becoming more diverse in culture and language. We must have strategies to plant churches to reach the people groups that God is bringing to our communities and cities. This breakout was led by a panel of ethnically diverse pastors in North America and an IMB representative who have experience in planting churches among specific people groups.

In the closing message of the Send North America Conference, David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, Ala., encourages pastors and church planters to focus on making disciples—using the book of Acts as a guide.

Johnny Hunt connected penetrating lostness in North America with the unity of the church during his message in the concluding session of the 2012 Send North America Conference hosted by his First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga.

A panel discussion on church planting partnerships includes J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C.,Paul Chitwood (left), executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and NAMB president Kevin Ezell.

J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C., shares how the gospel is the source for the church planting vision.

John Bisagno, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Houston, talks with Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board.

Dispersing the wisdom of 60 years in the ministry, John Bisagno focused the 2012 Send North America Conference attendees on obtaining the proper balance to ensure a lasting ministry during a Tuesday lunchtime main session.

A panel discussion on urban church planting during the 2012 Send North America Conference included Dhati Lewis of Blueprint Church, Atlanta, Ellis Prince of Gallery Church in Baltimore, and Aaron Code, vice president of mobilization and equipping for NAMB.

Vance Pittman kicked off day two of the 2012 Send North America Conference by reminding conference attendees of the kingdom potential of new churches they’ll plant in North America. Pittman used the backdrop of his own story of being sent by First Baptist Church of Woodstock to start Hope Church in Las Vegas more than a decade ago as an illustration of the church’s kingdom potential.

Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, told more than 2,000 attendees at the Send North America Conference that in the last 10 years, the number of self-proclaiming Christians has declined by 10 percent. “I don’t have to tell you that the world is growing more hostile to the message we bring."