ORLANDO (BP) – The SBC Pastors’ Conference theme of “Together” will be evident through the addition of micro conferences for ministry areas, creating specific opportunities to serve those outside the role of lead pastor.
The Pastors’ Conference has always been an event for all, regardless of ministry position, and President Aaron Burgner says he has always enjoyed the event but he wanted to expand its reach for those in other church staff roles.
“I didn’t really know what that would look like,” said Burgner, pastor of Lakes Church in Lakeland, Fla. “I talked to other former presidents of the Pastors’ Conference and some of them had thought about doing it. Bryant Wright had done something like it many years ago.”
He’s right. The 2006 Pastors’ Conference in Greensboro, N.C., when the then-pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church near Atlanta served as president, featured numerous breakout sessions at a nearby hotel. Preachers, ministry experts and theologians led those sessions covering areas such as men’s ministry, women’s ministry, multi-campus churches and breakout churches.
The micro conferences will take place on Monday, June 8.
The 8:30 a.m. main session will feature preaching by Edgar Aponte and Heath Lambert, as well as a panel facilitated by Ken Whitten. During that time, attendees may attend micro conferences dedicated to worship, discipleship and student ministry. The afternoon session includes sermons by Dean Inserra, Willy Rice and HB Charles, alongside micro conferences on worship, discipleship and children’s ministry.
Herb Reavis and Stephen Rummage are the opening speakers for Sunday night. Monday evening will focus on worship, with recording artists Shane & Shane joining a choir made up of numerous churches to be led by Cliff Lea. Jimmy Scroggins will be the final preacher.
Registration is required to attend each micro conference and can be done so at the Pastors’ Conference website.
Shane & Shane were part of that 2006 Pastors’ Conference, joining others for a contemporary worship set during the Monday afternoon session. In 2014, Shane Barnard and Shane Everett founded The Worship Initiative. They will return in Orlando as The Worship Initiative joins SBC Worship and musical artist Robbie Seay to lead the micro conference focused on worship.
“We’ve been so honored by Pastor Aaron … handing us the baton … and getting behind his vision for having something for every person on a church staff,” said Andrew McKinney of The Worship Initiative on a recent episode of The Road to Orlando, joined by Barnard as they talked to host Jonathan Howe.
“As someone who has served on church staffs for 20-plus years, it’s really exciting. This is something you can take your team to and there’s going to be really incredible stuff happening.”
On the series’ most recent episode, Howe spoke with Chad Higgins, senior manager of Church Equipping for Lifeway Christian Resources, about the entity’s hosting conferences on discipleship and kids ministry.
“The overall theme for the Pastors’ Conference is ‘Together,’ and we wanted to lean into that fully,” said Higgins. “The ability for ministers to be able to talk around tables [and] learn together is such a valuable resource. And it’s also such a heritage for the SBC [Annual Meeting] of being together.”
The morning sessions, he noted, will feature longer addresses by presenters. Those presentations will be shorter in the afternoon, working in more time for discussion.
Orlando-based Student Leadership University, founded by evangelist Jay Strack, will lead the micro conference for student ministry.
“They have an incredible track record with youth pastors,” said Burgner, “and were really excited about the opportunity to lead something for that group.”
As word got out over the micro conferences, requests came in for others to cover more ministry areas. Since the Pastors’ Conference is self-funded, the financial need factored in to keep the number of micro conferences at its current figure.
“The more we added, the more expensive it was getting, so we stopped at those four things,” Burgner said.
“Ultimately, I want us to love Jesus more when we leave,” he added. “I want us to love each other more.
“Sometimes we forget that while our Baptist world seems big, it’s actually pretty small, and we need each other. A lot of guys operate in silos and on islands by themselves. One of the main objectives of the micro conferences is to show how we need our teams, and our teams need to be encouraged as well.”
For full details about the 2026 SBC Pastors’ Conference visit the event’s website here.
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