New Life Conferences

Let's be honest - no one wants to have tough conversations with their team mates. However, opportunities for growth and maturity often presents itself when working side by side in ministry. As a leader, we must have the courage and insight to guide our staff through tough transitions. This talk addresses the need for honest communication and the importance of hard, but necessary conversations.

At the heart of thriving churches are passionate people that volunteer in every imaginable capacity. It?s these people that bring to life what would otherwise be nothing more than nice ideas about what a local church could bring to its community. In this talk, Brad Baker explores what it looks like to steward volunteers and look beyond their mere function and begin to truly invest into their formation.

Meals are mile-markers. They carry memories and help us locate where we are in the journey. For Christian?s, the Lord?s Supper is a place where we remember Christ?s death and resurrection, anticipate the great feast when creation is made new, and encounter the Spirit here and now. As a practice, coming to the Table in our weekly worship services keeps Jesus as the center and the Gospel as the story.

As pastors, we are almost always leading. Yet taking the time to stop? whether by a sabbath or a sabbatical? can help us become truly present to the Lord, to ourselves, and to our families. It can also help us cultivate a kind of holy indifference, remembering that we are not in ministry because we love the church or the cause, but because we love Jesus.

There is an ongoing fear for ministry leaders that their kids will become disillusioned and disconnected from church life in their adult years. How we make sure that our kids are engaging in serving the local church and don't leave? This talking point highlights some key statistics and a personal story of how there is hope for those of us raising kids while working in the church.

Seeing children rise to become Christ-like influencers at home, at school and around the neighborhood is the dream of every children's ministry leader. When a child realizes they have a role to play in showing others what Jesus is really like, beautiful things begin to happen. But how do we get there? It certainly doesn't happen by default. It begins by digging down to the foundation and examining the underlying, often unspoken, philosophy from which our children's ministry emerges.

More than melodies. More than lyrics. We are called to bring a sound that changes atmospheres. Songs that defy the darkness. Songs that confront culture. Songs that proclaim more than just good ideas or nice opinions. This breakout is all about breakthrough through the power of worship.

We believe that the local life-giving church can change the world! Together, we can create a culture of personal outreach and unlock the passion of the people in your church to live beyond themselves and deeply impact the lives of those in need - both in your local community and around the world. Let's be the church that goes after the one, and let's change the world together!

Join members of the New Life Worship and New Life Creative Arts teams as we discuss the heart and vision behind our worship ministry as well as how we practically implement this vision. From rehearsals, to scheduling, to how we run sound on a Sunday Morning, find out how and why we do what we do.

Jesus said people would identify us as his disciples by our love for one another yet often our church bodies feel more like a gathering of sports fans cheering for the same team than they do the family that we see in Scripture. NLC Pastors Jeremiah Parks and Jon Plotner will share stories of how Section Communities are shifting our church culture into a family growing "with one another" and becoming more attractive to the unchurched in our city.

Can you imagine your city flourishing? Where people of all ages, races and status are serving the most vulnerable among us and God is glorified? In this breakout we will marry the biblical ideas of prophetic imagination with our passions to see our cities transformed. Biblical promises and pictures of flourishing cities abound. But how do we begin in our own city with a vision so large? How can we practically impact our own city? How can we remain faithful to the biblical vision of mission to our own cities? We will combine a simple framework with fresh insight and very practical discussion (but no formulas!) to help you embrace a vision and develop unique plans to bless people in your own context.

Churches are full of teams...staff teams, worship teams, elder teams, ministry teams, kids teams, etc. So the question is, "Are they healthy?" There is a huge difference between a functional team and a healthy team and the fruit they produce. As church leaders we must pay attention to the state of our teams. Let's talk about what healthy looks like and helpful tools to get there.

Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago (the home of Vertical Church Band) runs 7 Campuses a weekend and holds a huge weight on that event being the furnace that fuels the rest of the church's weekly activity. Our team will unpack the philosophy and 'Vertical' system behind planning our weekly worship services and explore variations of service ideas and forms.

New Life Church Men's Ministry has taken a very unique approach to gathering men in a close relationship with God and each other. Using concepts derived from our military, our Men's Ministry encourages men to form small groups, called Fire Teams, that draw men together as comrades to love God, live life and care for one another. Join Pastors Gabe Jenkins and Colen Willis as they offer insights into this unique approach to Men's Ministry.

My first five years of ministry in Austin have been both exhilarating and perplexing. Join me for a frank and vulnerable discussion about our church journey of making disciples in an urban setting, letting go of old paradigms, and the 21st century application of 1st century practices.

Pastors and leaders have a sincere desire to engage in their city and the world. What we should do, where we should do it and with whom we should partner with are usually hurdles that either stifle our engagement or minimize our impact. This workshop will help you craft a simplified missions engagement document that will streamline your overall church participation.

Many pastors and leaders feel the call to write. Perhaps there is a desire that stirs within you to steward the message God has given you through writing. Where do you start? How do you craft your message? Should you write a book? If so, how do you navigate the publishing industry? These are a few of the questions Gabe Jenkins and Allen Arnold will discuss in their session, "The Call to Write." Gabe has served on the pastoral staff at New Life for the past ten years and is the author of the book, "Deep Waters: God's Invitation To Go Deeper." Allen currently oversees all of the content and resources for Ransomed Heart ministries, and previously spent 20 years as an executive at Thomas Nelson Publishing

Some teach by topics; others by text. But all of us want to preach Christ above all. Yet in a world that is moving beyond the secular, how can we preach Jesus without succumbing to the trap of trendiness or the pitfall of, well, preaching only to Christians? Pastor Glenn Packiam will spend the first 20-minutes helping us discern a model that begins with what moves people deeply and is shaped by the Gospel itself. Then Pastor Daniel Grothe will help us think about a model of preaching that goes beyond the mere transference of information to the full engagement of one's imagination. We will wrap up with 20-minutes of discussion.

Always a favorite and fun session, you'll hear from a group of experienced songwriters about the great gift of song. Though each writer in this group may have a different approach, they have a deep commitment to God-songs and church songs.