SPRINGFIELD – Speakers at the Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference, Oct. 26, will challenge Missouri Baptists to pray for revival and spiritual awakening. The conference, which precedes the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting, is open to the public and will take place at the Springfield Expo Center here.
The conference will open at 8:50 a.m. on Oct. 26, with musical worship led by the worship team from The Church at Pleasant Ridge. The Pleasant Ridge worship team will also lead worship throughout the day.
Opening worship will be followed by a series of TED-style talks throughout the morning, according to Pastors’ Conference President Malachi O’Brien, pastor at The Church at Pleasant Ridge. O’Brien added that the conference will include focused moments when Missouri Baptists will join in prayer together.
Morning speakers include, at 9:05 a.m., Jeremy Roberts, pastor, Church of the Highlands, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Chris Williams, campus pastor at the Fellowship of Greenwood; at 10 a.m., Brandon Park, pastor, First Baptist, Raytown; at 11:15 a.m., Steve Dighton, senior pastoral advisor and formerly pastor of Lenexa Baptist Church, Lenexa, Kan. Other speakers may be announced during the coming month.
During the afternoon session of the Pastors’ Conference, Missouri Baptists will hear from featured speakers both during individual presentations and during a panel discussion. Speakers include, at 2:10 p.m., Byron Paulus, president of Life Action Ministries; at 3:20 p.m., Alvin Reid, professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; and at 4 p.m., Michael Catt, pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., which created movies such as Fire Proof and Courageous. The Kendrick Brothers, a company that grew out of the film-making ministry based at Sherwood, recently released War Room, a film that has topped the box office and that, like the Pastors’ Conference this year, promotes the need for prayer.