Planting churches

Liberty’s CMT holds its annual conference

Liberty University’s Center for Ministry Training (CMT) held its annual Church Planting Conference Feb. 23-24 where students had the opportunity to learn from pastors and connect with churches and other ministries.

Maria Marsico, the operations coordinator for the CMT, said the event helped bring Liberty students and church planters together, as they all strive to serve their local churches.

“(Our purpose) is to give church planters and our ministry partners an opportunity to connect with students and offer internships, volunteer positions, staff positions and residencies,” Marsico said.

“Part of it is (also) to help all Liberty students of all career paths (know) it’s not just for professionals or school of divinity students but that every Christ follower has a role to play in the local church.”

The main event of the conference was dinner and a panel discussion Tuesday night led by Dahati Lewis, the pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Adelina Longoria, a government consultant who is also a worship leader at Iglesia La Red in Washington, D.C., and Dan White Jr., who develops urban ministries in Syracuse, New York with V3 Missional Movement.

They each spoke about how they minister in their respective areas. Lewis said pastors must know how to best communicate the gospel to diverse groups of people without compromising the truth of the message.

“Contextualization is communicating in a way where the receiver can understand the message in his or her heart’s language, while maintaining the integrity of the content,” Lewis said. “The goal of contextualization needs to be reconciliation (with God).”

Longoria focused on missional living. She said she became a Christian because someone shared their faith with her at her workplace, so now she encourages believers to evangelize wherever they are.

“If you want to properly minister to and reach people, you have to be out in the world,” Longoria said. “You can’t expect that people are just going to come to your doorstep and your church. At my job I see this all time. Not only are there tons of nonbelievers, there are tons of people who are against anything that has to do with church and Christianity.”

White encouraged church leaders to not equate the size of their ministries with its impact.

He said culture has taught that “we should go home if we don’t go big.”

“We have an obsession with impact having to be big if we’re going to call it impact,” White said. “I think the church is caught up in this idolatry. Most millennials, and even the successive generations that will be raised, are raised … and nurtured to do big things, not to do small things. … They are scared to death of being ordinary.”

He said church members should form communities by spending “more time around tables rather than stages.”

The event ended with a Q&A by the panelists, where they explored topics such as balancing ministry and family, how a church’s model affects its culture, and how Christians should approach the divide between the sacred and the secular in today’s culture.

On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon at the Jerry Falwell Library, students attended breakout sessions with leaders such as Jon Langford, the pastor of The Gathering, a ministry dedicated to reaching those in the hospitality industry in Orlando. Lewis taught a session titled “Six Burdens for Urban Ministry,” and Jason Roberts, the founding pastor of Crosscurrent Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, led a breakout titled “How to Lead the Church Without Destroying Your Soul.”

Jeremiah Brinkman, a Liberty University Online graduate and pastor at Life Church Elizabethtown in New York, said his training from Liberty helped prepare him for his work and that he came to the event to support ministry students.

“What brought me down here this week was the opportunity to connect with church planters and church leaders and also to network with students, to help cast vision for future ministry opportunities for them,” Brinkman said.

CLARKE is a copy editor.