Evangelism Insights from Francis Schaeffer

Josh Benadum

Romans 10:14

Francis Schaeffer, a nineteenth century, prominent theologian, provides several key insights into faithful and biblical evangelism that is transcendent across culture and time. Schaeffer was convinced that we must become preoccupied with reaching the people of our current generation. We should not settle for a superficial knowledge of secular ideology, and we should hold loosely to language or methods that may be barriers to the gospel. While we want to adorn the gospel with authentic Christian love and community, we never want to compromise the truth as we do so. Finally, we can have confidence to point every individual toward a God who is truly there.

Teaching Apologetics to Teens

Brad DuFault

John 15:5

While there are barriers to teaching apologetics to teenagers, there are also several important benefits. Apologetics can help lead non-believing teens to Christ, and students who are believers can begin to develop a confident faith. In order to teach them effectively, however, we should pray for God's help and involvement and seek ways to connect with the students. Through accommodating for students' understanding and encouraging participation, we can communicate the content in a way that is clear and impactful.

Trinity Basics for Spiritual Conversations

Dave Schutter

John 3:16

The reality of the Trinity is an important truth both to support our discipleship and our evangelism. As we see Scripture's witness to God as the Trinity, we mature in our faith and grow in our confidence, which in turn helps our evangelistic conversations improve. Through studying the Trinity in Scripture, this doctrinal truth can become a truth that is both relational and relevant for us. This workshop helps us extract key truths about the Trinity from Scripture and consider how to thoughtful converse about this topic with non-Christians.

Does Science Contradict Christianity?

Kate Mizelle

Jeremiah 33:25

Many critics of Christianity align science and Christianity against each other in the fighting ring. But is this a proper debate? This workshop addresses two major questions. First, can we believe in both science and God? And two, where does the evidence lead? As we explore the evidence in our physical world, we see that belief in science and God are not two mutually exclusive areas. In fact, science helps defend the Christian faith, and the Christian faith helps propel science.

Sensing Your Soul

Dennis McCallum

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

The existence and personal experience of our soul is readily available evidence that we have a personal, creator God. After defining the soul, we can begin to assess arguments for and against the existence of the soul. This presentation examines several key lines of evidence, including high order consciousness, near death experiences, indications of free week, as well as discrediting parts of the no-soul view. The existence of the soul is overwhelming, and it leads us to the logical conclusion that there must be a supernatural God.

Ways of Knowing: How the Bible Speaks to the Whole Person

Jim Leffel

John 17:20-21

Francis Schaeffer, in his book "The God Who is There," states that we must make a biblical case for Christ in every generation, meaning that we begin with the question of what is truth and how we may know it. There are several ways of knowing, and through examining these different ways, we can adopt a holistic and biblical view of both truth and knowledge. We find truth through our head, heart and hands. Another way to explain this would be knowing through propositional truth, personal truth and practical truth, all tests for identifying truth. As we explore this topic, we see how imperative discovering real truth is to our world and to our faith.

Being IN the world and not OF the world (part 2)

Ryan Lowery

1 Corinthians 5:9-11

The final part of the Upper Room discourse is discussed focusing on Jesus' prayer. His prayer is centered on three things: 1.) Jesus and the Father; 2.) the Disciples; and 3.) all future generations of believers. Here we see the call for believers to be both culturally relevant and distinct from the world system.

Does the Bible Perpetuate Misogyny?

Conrad Hilario

1 Corinthians 11:3-14

Many believe the Bible teaches a misogynistic worldview, like many cultures and religions throughout history--and this chapter is often cited as evidence. However, upon closer examination, we see that the Apostle Paul has a very high view of women and that, in reality, the Bible promotes a level of equality and respect unprecedented for its time.

Stephen's Defense

Ben Foust

Acts 6:8-7:60

Just before his stoning by the religious leaders, Stephen answers their charges in an eloquent speech, showing through the scriptures two themes from Israel's history that continue to the present day: that holy ground is wherever God is, and that God's representative is often rejected by His people. We are challenged to examine our own heart before God and not be hardened.