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Conversational Evangelism Conferences helping Alpha Churches
by Todd Hunter
 Last March I gathered together respected leaders and evangelists who value the same principles of evangelism that shape Alpha: conversation, listening, community, respect for process, and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Together we piloted our first Conversational Evangelism Conference in Orange County CA. The response was overwhelmingly positive; 96% of the attendees answering our conference survey recommended that we take the Conference on the road. We continue to receive reports of the long-term impact of the Conference for churches and Alpha teams including this from one of our Alpha Pastors in LA.
A team of people involved in our Alpha Ministry attended a CEC together and came away with a new vigor and commitment to reach others for Christ. The speakers, the interaction with other attenders and the materials made available during the conference spoke to us in powerful and translatable ways. We began immediately to pray and strategize regarding how we could more effectively communicate the Gospel to friends, colleagues, neighbors and family members. We eventually developed a new strategy encompassing all aspects of our church life called, “REACH ‘08”, which has the goal of mobilizing our church family to “reach” at least one person for Christ by the end of 2008. We will continue to send our people to attend a CEC at every opportunity made available in our area.”
Roger Bosch
Associate Pastor of Missions and Evangelism
Lake Avenue Church
Pasadena, CA
Encouraged by this feedback we have scheduled two more Conversational Evangelism Conferences, one at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, Menlo Park Ca. Feb. 29-Mar 1, and one in the Twin Cities at Hosanna Lutheran Church, Lakeview MN May 16 & 17. We’ve also increased our speaker faculty to include Becky Pippert, Mark Mittelberg, Garry Poole, John Ortberg, Rich Richardson, Dan Kimball, and Richard Peace; all trailblazers who have made enormous contributions to the task of reaching our rapidly changing culture with the timeless truths of the gospel. They will be speaking at either one or both of these Events. . More 2008 CE Conferences are in the planning stages. I hope many Alpha churches will be able to bring teams to one of these events. You can find out more by checking the Conversational Evangelism website for the latest information on current and future CE Conferences. |
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