OSAGE BEACH – During the afternoon and evening sessions of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) annual meeting, Oct. 28, the CORE Conference will welcome keynote speakers Jeff Iorg and Lance Ford, who will engage messengers through teaching and a Q&A session.
The CORE Conference exists to encourage the values of discipleship, missional living and leadership development. This year, Iorg and Ford will provide practical insight for developing leaders.
“I believe CORE will be a great time of challenging thinking, inspirational music and creative communication that will help us consider how we may better follow Jesus while helping others do the same,” Matt Kearns, MBC leadership development team leader, said. He added that speakers like Iorg and Ford may bring a different perspective to Missouri Baptist, helping to “sharpen our thinking and drive us to consider how we may better ‘entrust the things we have heard’ to other followers of Jesus.’”
Iorg, a former Missouri pastor, currently serves as president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California. He has published six books, including The Painful Side of Leadership, The Character of Leadership, Is God Calling Me?, The Case for Antioch, Seasons of a Leader’s Life and Unscripted. He has also written numerous articles, as well as teaching curriculum, and he provides leadership resources on his website, www.jeffiorg.com.
Ford, who will speak about why Missouri Baptists must “reimagine leadership,” is co-founder of the Sentralized Conference in Kansas City and author of Unleader and Right Here, Right Now: Everyday Mission for People (co-authored with Alan Hirsch). He is a writer, coach and consultant with a passion for equipping churches and leaders as they develop missional lifestyles. He also blogs at www.sentralizedgathering.com.
During the CORE Conference, Missouri Baptists will also enjoy edifying entertainment from spoken word poet David Bowden, who performed at the 2013 annual meeting in Kansas City, and musical guests Danny Dukes and Candi Pearson-Shelton.