The Advance Conference offers something for everyone involved in Christian ministry. On March 4-5, Oklahoma Baptists will meet at Oklahoma City, St. John Missionary for great preaching and training on both evangelism and discipleship, under the theme of “Sent.”
“The conference has come together really well, and there will be quite a few Oklahoma pastors who will be speaking,” said Alan Quigley, Oklahoma Baptists associate executive director for church resources.
The list of Oklahoma pastors who will be speaking include Bryan Pain, pastor of Duncan, First; Collin Coffee, pastor of Inola, Calvary; Doug Melton, pastor of Oklahoma City, Southern Hills; Jeff DeGiacomo, pastor of Shawnee, Immanuel; Stephen Rummage, pastor of Oklahoma City, Quail Springs; Major Jemison, pastor of Oklahoma City, St. John and Anthony Jordan, retired executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists.
Earlier this year, Quigley announced Tony Evans, Fred Luter and Shane Pruitt will be among the speakers for the Advance Conference. Evans serves as senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and is a well-known evangelistic speaker. Luter, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is pastor of New Orleans, La., Franklin Avenue, and Pruitt is a favorite Oklahoma Baptists speaker who serves as the next-gen evangelism director for the North American Mission Board.
“Each of these men will be talking about what it means to be ‘Sent,’” Quigley said. “We are sent with the Gospel to advance the Gospel, and the advancing of the Gospel comes with both sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and then growing believers in Christlikeness. The Great Commission is evangelism and discipleship in its purest form.”
Scott Sullivan, discipleship leader for Georgia Baptist Mission Board, will be coming to speak on discipleship. Tarvoris Uziogwe, evangelism and apologetics ministry partner for Oklahoma Baptists, will make a presentation on personal evangelism.
On Tuesday morning, the conference will feature group breakout sessions, relating to all aspects of ministry. There will be breakout sessions for children’s ministry, youth ministry, discipleship, evangelism, African American Fellowship, women’s ministry, missions, Hispanic ministry, music ministry and church planting.
The opening sessions on Monday will have a lot of excitement, as this will be the first time St. John Missionary has hosted the Advance Conference. Quigley said attendees will want to come early to the Monday evening session, as there will be a pre-session concert at 6 p.m. featuring St. John Missionary Choir, led by Terry Spigner, and the Ambassadors Concert Choir, led by Sandra Thompson.
“We are expecting a packed house on Monday night with provisions for overflow,” Quigley said.
Complete information on the Advance Conference is available at oklahomabaptists.org/advance. This event is free with no registration necessary.
Free childcare will be provided for newborn to 5 years old, but pre-registration is required by March 1. Email keith@stjohnokc.org for pre-registration and visit the website for information that must be included when registering children.
