KANSAS CITY – The Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) annual Engage Conference, Feb. 21-23, will feature Eric Bryant, a member of the leadership team at Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, and author of Not Like Me – formerly titled, Peppermint-Filled Piñatas.
Bryant’s book challenges Christians to engage the diverse people that surround their churches, genuinely relating to them, guiding them to faith and developing them into leaders who share the church’s values and convictions.
According to Matt Kearns, MBC leadership development team leader, Bryant and other speakers at the 2014 Engage Conference will equip Missouri Baptist leaders to create such an ethos or culture – a set of values and convictions – that will draw diverse people together for ministry.
“What we hope to accomplish at Engage,” Kearns said, is to “help them know how to create environments and implement strategy to live out their values or accomplish their goals. … How can people embrace the values of this organization, be it the church or the place where I work or the campus ministry, without having to talk about it every week? What are the ways that you can graft that into the DNA of who you are as an organization?”
Gene Austin, MBC leadership development team strategist, said that Bryant is both a good communicator and practitioner of developing culture within the church.
“He has a lot to bring. He is going to help leaders understand the importance of culture and not letting it just happen accidently,” Austin said, adding, “What is good about culture is that once it gets ingrained into the ministry or the church, it happens automatically.”
To learn more or to register for the Engage Conference online, visit www.mobaptist.org/leadership-development/events.
