[1]BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) — The 2019 Pastors’ Conference has announced eight of the speakers for its Birmingham meeting June 9-10 in advance of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, with other names expected soon.
“Kingdom Character” is the conference’s theme, to offer insight from the Beatitudes to help pastors and church members live faithfully in “today’s news cycle and current events,” according to sbcpc.net.
“The Beatitudes will be a needed reminder to all of us about the character of Christ-followers. Our conduct grows out of our character, and in order to be the people of God advancing the Kingdom of God, we need to have Kingdom character,” said the conference under the leadership of Danny Wood, pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham.
“With the large number of character issues that we have faced these last couple of years both in the SBC and ministry in general,” the website proclaims, “it is appropriate to remind pastors of Jesus’ vision for the Christian life.”
Speakers announced to date are alphabetically:
— Dhati Lewis, lead pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta and vice president of the North American Mission Board’s Send Network.
[2]— Ben Mandrell, lead pastor of Storyline Fellowship, a four-year old church plant in northwest Denver.
— Russell Moore, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
— David Platt, pastor-teacher at McLean Bible Church in metro Washington, D.C., and immediate past president of the International Mission Board.
— Jimmy Scroggins, lead pastor of Family Church, an 11-campus ministry in West Palm Beach, Fla., and vicinity.
— Robert Smith Jr., the Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham;
— Jay Wolf who with his wife Katherine founded Hope Heals, an Atlanta-based ministry spawned by his wife’s near fatal brain stem stroke at age 26.
— Martin Young, senior minister of Rising Brook Community Church in Stafford, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex is the meeting’s venue, with sessions scheduled June 9 from 6–9 p.m., and June 10 from 9-11:30 a.m., 1:30-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Speakers for individual sessions were not indicated.