Real Life Theology | Hard Conversations
RENEW.org Leaders Unpack the Real Life Theology that Fuels Disciple Making
Main Stage Speakers
Shodankeh Johnson
Shodankeh Johnson is part of the Core Team of New Generations. He is responsible for the mobilization of intercessors across all regions and the training of Disciple Making Movement (DMM) leaders in the ‘pioneer places’ where the gospel has never been or has never flourished. In addition, Shodankeh provides DMM training for movement-minded ministries around the world. Shodankeh is also the leader of New Harvest ministries in Sierra Leone, West Africa. New Harvest is an indigenous DMM organization that plants churches throughout the region and incorporates a wide-spectrum of ministries such as compassion, business development, leadership development, skills training and advanced education.Jim Putman
Jim is the founder and senior pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho. Prior to his role as senior pastor, he served as a youth minister in two small churches. In college, Jim won three All American titles in wrestling and went on to become a successful wrestling coach. Real Life Ministries began as a small group in 1998 and has grown to a membership of more than eight thousand. Ninety percent of its fellowship is active in small groups. Outreach Magazine continually lists Real Life Ministries among the top one hundred most influential churches in America.Tina Wilson
Tina Wilson is a pastor’s wife and mom of seven. Alongside her husband Matt, she has committed her life to serving King Jesus as a church planter, Bible teacher, author, and advocate for all-in family ministry. She also serves on the board for the Christian Standard. She is passionate about making Christ and his church famous in South Carolina and beyond.Matt Wilson
Matt is the planting and lead pastor of Ekklesia Christian Church in Conway / Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. His passion is leading in audacious, faith-filled moves to make Christ and His Church famous in SC and beyond. He loves seeing God work in unconventional ways so that His name is glorified. Matt and his wife Tina have been married for twenty years and have seven kids whose names all start with “R.”Orpheus J. Heyward
Dr. Orpheus J. Heyward is Senior Minister of the Renaissance Church of Christ. He is considered one of the most dynamic and scripturally sound gospel preachers among churches of Christ today. Having received his Masters of Arts in Theology, Masters of Arts in Biblical Studies and doctorate degree in Theological Exegesis, he is a constant student of the Bible.Kimberly Beam Holmes
Kimberly Beam Holmes is passionate about saving marriages and strengthening families. During her six-year tenure as CEO of Marriage Helper, she has led the company to 6x financially and grown to more than 300,000 followers per month across multiple platforms. Because of their unique process, Marriage Helper has a 70 percent success rate in saving marriages. A frequent speaker at women’s conferences and marriage events, Holmes holds a master’s degree and is currently completing her Ph.D. in Psychology. She co-hosts Relationship Radio, a Top 100 podcast in Apple’s Society and Relationships as well as hosting her own podcast on attraction which has received more than 400,000 downloads. She lives in Tennessee with her husband of 11 years and her two children adopted from India.David Young
David Young serves as the senior minister for the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He has worked for churches in Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee, taught New Testament at several universities, and travelled widely teaching and preaching. He is the former host of the New Day Television Program, a board member for the Renew Network, and the author of several books, including A New Day (NB Press), The Rhetoric of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, (Fortress Press, co-authored with Michael Strickland), A Grand Illusion (Renew Publications), and King Jesus and the Beauty of Obedience-Based Discipleship (Zondervan). He holds the B.A. from Freed-Hardeman University, the M.A. from Harding School of Theology, and the M.A. and Ph.D. in New Testament from Vanderbilt University. David and his wife Julie have two married children.Over 20 Breakout Speakers (click images for bio)
Dave Clayton
Dave is a disciple, husband, and dad to 3 young boys. Along with his wife, he planted and helps lead Ethos Church, a young, urban church in Nashville, TN that is passionate about reaching the lost, serving the poor, and releasing ordinary people to plant churches all over the world. In addition, he is the founder and lead visionary for Onward, a global family of leaders who are committed to making disciples and planting churches across the world and Awaken Nashville, a city wide movement unifying churches in strategic initiatives of prayer and fasting in the greater Nashville area.Anthony Walker
Anthony Walker has been preaching the gospel for 20 years. He has been actively involved in the church as a song leader, youth worker, preacher, and any other role God calls him. He attended Lipscomb University in pursuit of an Art Education Degree. For 12 years, he has been the full-time minister of the Highway 231 Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, TN. He and his wife Jenny are the proud parents of 2 young children: a son, Remington, and a daughter, Reign.Joe Beam
Dr. Joe Beam is an internationally-known inspirational speaker and best-selling author. He founded Marriage Helper, INC and serves as its chairman. He has spoken to millions of people worldwide in personal appearances as well as appearances on television and radio, including ABC’s Good Morning America, Focus on the Family, the Montel Williams Show, NBC’s Today Show, The Dave Ramsey Show, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, and magazines such as People and Better Homes and Gardens. After earning his bachelor’s degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Southern Christian University, Dr. Beam did graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at the University of Evansville. He earned his Ph.D. in health science from the University of Sydney, consistently rated one of the top fifty universities in the world. Dr. Beam has authored many magazine articles, corporate training programs, and is the author of several books:Buddy Bell
Buddy is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. After working in campus and preaching ministry at churches in Alabama and Florida, Buddy returned to Montgomery in 1996 to serve as senior minister of Landmark. Buddy leads Landmark through preaching, overseeing the small groups ministry, and, with the Elders, casting vision for the church. He is married to Stephanie and they have four children and two son-in-laws: Laura (Charlie), Lindsey (Ben), Luke, and Lincoln…AND he is the proud Grandbuddy to 5 precious grandchildren.Joel Singleton
Joel Singleton is the Lead Minister of the San Jose Church of Christ in Jacksonville FL. Joel is married to Alison and they have two children, Truitt and Quinn. Joel has served in full time ministry for the last 14 years and in that time he has written several resources devoted to disciple making and family. His desire first and foremost is for Christians to relearn how to make disciples in the home and in the church.Paul Huyghebaert
Scott Sager
Scott is vice president for church services at Lipscomb University, where he also teaches in the College of Bible and Ministry. Prior to Lipscomb, Scott served for 15 years as senior minister of the Preston Road Church of Christ in Dallas, where he founded Christ’s Family Ministries, a fully functioning health clinic that serves the working poor. He serves on the board of Christ’s Family Ministries and the Christian Relief Fund where his focus is on supporting AIDS orphans in Africa. Sager earned a D.Min. in evangelism from Southern Methodist University as well as undergraduate and master's degrees from Abilene Christian University.Daniel McCoy
Daniel is happily married to Susanna, and they have 3 daughters and 2 sons. He is the editorial director for Renew.org as well as a part-time professor of philosophy for Ozark Christian College. He has a bachelor’s in theology (Ozark Christian College), master of arts in apologetics (Veritas International University), and PhD in theology (North-West University, South Africa). Among his books are the Popular Handbook of World Religions (general editor), Real Life Theology Handbook (with Andrew Jit), Mirage: 5 Things People Want From God That Don't Exist, and The Atheist's Fatal Flaw (co-authored with Norman Geisler).Guy Hammond
Guy Hammond started Strength in Weakness ministry which has helped thousands in 58 countries. He has taught over 100,000 people in churches, universities and faith based groups globally, has written 6 books and had a documentary movie made about his life and ministry called Finding Guy. Before becoming a Christian, Guy lived an active gay life until he was 24 years old. After becoming a Christian, he left that life behind forever. Guy is a news junkie, loves anything political, loves to read, and is an avid hockey and baseball fan.Chad Harrington
Chad is owner and publisher at Harrington Interactive Media and serves as a deacon of teaching at Harpeth Christian Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He holds degrees from Ozark Christian College and Asbury Theological Seminary and is a coauthor of The Revolutionary Disciple and Dedicated and the author of Your Spiritual Formation Plan.Brett Andrews
Brett is the founding pastor of New Life Christian Church in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. Since launching in 1993 New Life has grown to be multi-site and has helped support 240 new church plants. They’ve also built a national church planting ministry Passion for Planting that has impacted countless other church plants by providing Assessment, Training, Project Management and Coaching, and by shaping Exponential into what it is today. New Life also runs the nZone, an indoor recreational facility, which allows over 400,000 Washingtonians to experience the love of God every year before they know it’s God’s love they are experiencing. Brett’s greatest blessing on earth is his wife of 29 years, Laura, and their four children. He enjoys sailing, coaching baseball, and his beagle, who will eagerly greet you by wetting the floor.Andrew Jit
Andrew was born and raised in New Zealand and has served in various ministry roles in youth ministry and missions in New Zealand and the United States. He is the founder of MiT Global that has a focus of making passionate purposeful disciples who are living on mission for Jesus. His passion is teaching and training disciples to live on mission daily to have a global impact. He loves to challenge disciples and inspire the next generation to live passionately and radically for God. He has trained numerous churches in their missions strategy. He has traveled extensively around the world teaching, leading and training disciples. He holds an undergraduate degree in Human Geography from the University of Auckland and a Masters in Christian Education and a Certificate in Leadership and Teaching from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Missions Abandoned: Re-Establishing Missions as a Priority in Our Lives and Churches and Missions in Focus: 10 Essential Conversations for Effective Sending. He is married to his beautiful bride, Jamie, and blessed with two daughters, Hannah and Ella.Michelle Eagle
Michelle currently quarterbacks the Discipleship Ministry at Harpeth Christian Church in Franklin, TN. Prior to joining the ministry team at Harpeth, Michelle was a Physician Assistant working with HIV infected mothers and their children in Jacksonville, FL. After a family move to TN in 2008, Michelle began volunteering in the home groups ministry at Harpeth which led to a staff administrative position. A lot of experience has been gained over the years and she takes great pleasure in coordinating and educating home group leaders, as well as matching church members to groups. Much of her experience has been gained through supporting women while they work the 12 steps of Celebrate Recovery. Michelle finds great joy in helping women grow in their relationship with Christ.Christ Church Nashville, Nashville, TN 37211
This is the RENEW.org National Gathering you do not want to miss!
In today’s cultural reality there are hard conversations that Christians face. Content and tone in these conversations matter. Do you want help?
We believe a focus on a theology that fuels disciples and disciple making is the key. Our lineup will include the usual rapid fire mix of TED-style presentations, worship, prayer, and discussion time.
We will explore the hard conversations around Real Life Theology that fuel disciple making.
Schedule of Events (Central Time):
11:30am Registration & Check-in Opens
12:30pm Introduction & Bobby Harrington
1:15pm David Young & Jim Putman
2:15pm Breakout #1
3:15pm Tina Wilson & Matt Wilson
4:15pm Kimberly Beam Holmes
4:45pm Breakout #2
5:45pm Light Supper
6:30pm Orpheus J. Heyward & Shodankeh Johnson
8pm Closing Remarks & Prayer
Main Stage Speakers and Topics:
Bobby Harrington – Real Life Theology Hard Conversations and Hope
Keynote by David Young – Hard Conversations in Light of Eternity
Jim Putman – Hard Conversations Require Relationship
Tina Wilson – Hard Conversations Require a High View of Scripture
Matt Wilson – Hard Conversations on Masculinity Today
Kimberly Beam Holmes – Hard Conversations on Saving a Marriage
Orpheus J. Heyward – Hard Conversations on How to Resist Culture
Shodankeh Johnson – Hard Conversations with God
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