“Get your degree and join a team!”
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Evangel University will be hosting a conference next week that will introduce students of all majors and all careers paths to the concept of church planting and how they can fit in.
The Church Multiplication Network (CMN) is partnering with Evangel for a START Conference Jan. 13-16. This coincides with Evangel’s traditional Spiritual Emphasis Week.
“Not everyone is called to be a senior pastor or lead planter, but CMN START helps you to find ways to use your individual gifts to serve a new church, regardless of your major,” said Chris Railey senior director of Leadership and Church Development.
Whether that’s through graphic design, accounting, working with children, serving on a music team, or building relationships within the community, CMN START encourages students to finish their degrees and find a way to volunteer in a new church, while starting their new careers.
“The network’s purpose in coming to Evangel is to promote church planting and to recruit students from every department who — upon graduation — would be willing to consider joining a church planting team,” said Greg Johns, campus pastor at Evangel
“Church planting is not a spectator sport, its a movement. Get your degree and join a team,” encourages Railey.
The following is the list of speakers and the services that are open to the public. These sessions will be help in the Robert H. Spence Chapel.
- January 13 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. and January 14 at 10 a.m.
Adelita Garza – lead pastor of Puente de Vida in Santa Paula, Calif.
She graduated from Bethany College with a bachelor’s degree in church leadership and from Fuller Theological Seminary with a master’s in divinity.
- January 15 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Jeff and Ericka Sandstrom – lead pastors of Ethos Church in Chicagoland, Ill.
Jeff graduated from Central Bible College with a degree in church leadership. Ericka also graduated from CBC before attending Assemblies of God Theological Seminary to earn a master’s in theology. The couple has recently relocated to Chicagoland to plant a network of house churches called Ethos.
- January 16 at 10 a.m.
Greg Ford – lead pastor of One Church in Columbus, Ohio.
Ford is a 2003 graduate of Southwestern Assemblies of God University and currently serves as the lead pastor at One Church, a progressive, fast-growing church in Columbus. He is also the founder and directional leader of the IGNITE Network, a network of churches focused on funding, resourcing and coaching new churches to a place of stability and organizational health.
For additional information, contact Tammy Gore at (417) 865-2815, ext. 7396.