SPRINGFIELD, Mo. —This semester’s Spiritual Emphasis Week at Evangel University will take place Tues.-Fri., Jan. 22-25, in partnership with the Church Multiplication Network. Presentations will be made by five speakers from numerous states.
“CMN has worked with us for the past several months to bring in a wonderful lineup of speakers, who will be urging our students to find a place of meaningful work in the church,” said Campus Pastor John Plake. “The theme for the week is ‘Refuse the Pew.’”
John Jay Wilson, director of leadership networks for CMN, said, “We want students to know how they can help with a church plant no matter their chosen field, whether they are a graphic designer or a teacher. When students go to church, we don’t want them to simply occupy a pew or a seat; we want them to be actively involved.”
General sessions, which are open to the public, will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings at 10 a.m. in the university’s chapel auditorium. Additional student breakout sessions will be conducted throughout the week.
For additional information, contact the Spiritual Life Office at 417-865-2815, ext. 7396.
About the Speakers
Rev. Dary Northrop—Tues., Jan. 22, 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. sessions
Northrop has served as the senior pastor of Timberline Church in Fort Collins, Colo., since 1986. Previously, he served for eight years as a Colorado youth pastor. He received his training from Central Bible College in Springfield, Mo.
Rev. Brian Schmidgall—Wed., Jan. 23, 10 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. sessions
Schmidgall serves as the lead pastor at MiddleTree Church in St. Louis, Mo. He and his wife, Mary, planted the church in 2009 after moving to St. Louis from Wisconsin.
David Kinnaman—Thurs., Jan. 24, 10 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. sessions
Kinnaman is the president and majority owner of the Barna Group, a visionary research and resource company located in Ventura, Calif. The Barna Group provides market research for many world-renowned clients such as NBC-Universal, SONY and the Salvation Army, and its data has been cited by major media outlets such as USA Today, CNN and Fox News.
Kinnaman is the author of the best-selling book unChristian and of the 2011 release You Lost Me, both of which explore faith and spirituality among teens and young adults.
Rev. Jeremy Johnson—Thurs., Jan. 24, 7 p.m. session
Johnson is the senior pastor of North Point Church in Springfield, Mo. Before serving on North Point’s leadership team, Johnson spent 12 years in family ministry and authored An Incident Waiting to Happen, which has been used as high school curriculum for leadership and character development.
Dr. Jim Bradford—Fri., Jan. 25, 10 a.m. session
Bradford has served as general secretary for the General Council of the Assemblies of God since 2009. As such, he oversees Minesterial Resourcing, credentialing of ministers, church chartering, collection of official statistics and the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.
Previously, Bradford served as senior pastor of Central Assembly in Springfield, Mo. He is the author of Preaching: Maybe It Is Rocket Science.
About CMN
The Church Multiplication Network was created to effectively equip, strategically fund and innovatively network church planters. Since 2008, CMN has helped plant over 1,400 new churches.
CMN is driven by a desire to effectively equip church multipliers through consulting, training and coaching, and providing strategic funding and resources. As a part of the Assemblies of God, they connect church planters to networks of resources at the local, district and national levels.
Evangel University is a private, Christian university of arts, sciences and professions. With enrollment of 2,100 students, coming from all 50 states and abroad, Evangel offers more than 100 undergraduate academic programs and nine master’s programs.