Being Perfected in God's Love (Part 2)

Gary DeLashmutt

1 John 4:7-19

God's will for Christians is to learn how to receive God's love for themselves and to freely give it to others, and He promises to train Christians on how to love others the way that He has loved them. God's training uses five different methods: 1) Biblical instruction; 2) the Spirit's personal promptings; 3) positive and negative role models; 4) difficult people; and 5) rewards of personal fulfillment and happiness. When Christians choose to commit to God's training program in love, they will experience Him meeting their needs personally.

Reaching College Students

Kelsey Shannan

1 John 4:7-19

Studies on generational trends in evangelism are shared, focusing specifically on the millennial generation. The best method for reaching this generation is with meaningful community that is built through personal investment, every person playing a role, high commitment, and equipping while maintaining a focus on the Word of God.

Help for the Hurting - Lessons from Job

Lee Campbell

Galatians 6:2

Jobs friends often get a reputation for being bad comforters, but when we look carefully, we see that they did many things right. We can learn a lot about how to help the broken-hearted through the book of Job, both things we should do and things we should not. We see that we should draw near with compassion to those who are hurting. This includes many components such as being inclusive, sensitive patient, and available. Alongside practicing these things, we should nudge our hurting brother or sister toward hope, because in the end, it is only God who can offer genuine hope.

Discipleship and Hospitality

Rich Mendola

Luke 7:34

Jesus knew the importance of utilizing meals to engage in meaningful relationships and conversation. Often in American culture, our lives can be too fast-paced to enjoy meals with not only our friends, but strangers. We are called, however, to slow down and offer hospitality to strangers, providing opportunities to share the gospel. Learn what this practically looks like and how we can set up times to practice this in our discipleship.

Information Technology - Using it or Being Used by it

Gary DeLashmutt

Luke 7:34

Despite information technologies' many advantages and opportunities, excessive use can inhibit or erode many key aspects of spiritual development. Christian workers must think critically about the issue of technology in order to keep themselves growing, discipling effectively, and building genuine Christian community.

Xenos Home Group Model

Patrice McCormac

John 17:21-23

The foundation of Xenos was the home group model, where the church first began. Still today, Xenos is a large church based upon a collection of home groups. This workshop explores the structure of home groups as well as some key features of these groups, including evangelism, discipleship, and community. Finally, this workshop provides an overview of leadership and home group planting.

Serving Christ through Life's Stages and Shifting Priorities

Mary Barnum

Colossians 1:3-12

The key to serving Christ through life's stages it to develop a "gospel-rooted, mission-driven, community-based" lifestyle. This focus will effect how we interact with the core areas of our lives and our faith: evangelism, marriage & family, discipleship, school/work, and Biblical teaching. In this breakout we see how all of these areas are interdependent.

Introduction & Preface

Gary DeLashmutt

John 1:1-18

John, one of Jesus' disciples, wrote his first letter to the church at Ephesus for the two-fold purpose of exposing the Gnostics and their false teaching and strengthening the Ephesians' assurance of their salvation and spirituality. The first four verses of the letter explain the message about Jesus' identity, how we know this message is true, and why God gave us this message.

The Goal of Our Faith

Conrad Hilario

1 John 4:18-19

Christianity is centered on love, and this love is only possible through receiving the love that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This love is proactive and sacrificial, and healthy spiritual communities facilitate and encourage this type of love among members. However, this love does not stop with other Christians, but it should lead to loving those outside the church as well. Without a balance in these two arenas of love, churches will either be superficial or ingrown, and Christians must learn to accept God's love for themselves and then learn to love others.