schedule - The Daystar Journal

COSTS
$140 (postmarked after April 15, 2015)
$40 College Age and Millennials
(b. 1985 to 2005)
FAITH
$30 Banquet Only
communication
missions
next generation
Welcome
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana
August 2-4, 2015
SCHEDULE
ministry
dialogue
$110 (postmarked by April 15, 2015)
$40 Day Tripper (per day)
OUR CHILDREN’S CHURCH:
A State of the Church Conference
Please join us for...
missions
dialogue
OUR
CHILDREN’S
CHURCH
FAITH
next generation
communication
Welcome
OUR
CHILDREN’S
CHURCH
Optional lodging cost is $85 per room per night
(hot breakfast included) at the Country Inn and
Suites, 2020 LaPorte Aveue, Valparaiso, IN
46383.
Reservations may be made directly by calling
the hotel at (800) 830-5222. Ask for the
“Church Conference.”
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2015
MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2015
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2015
8:30am WORSHIP FOR EARLY
ARRIVERS
Valparaiso University Center for the Arts
(VUCA)
BREAKFAST ON OWN
BREAKFAST ON OWN
8:30am FELLOWSHIP AND LATE
REGISTRATION
8:30am FELLOWSHIP AND LATE
REGISTRATION
9am SERVICE OF THE WORD,
DR. FREDERICK NIEDNER
Chapel of the Resurrection
9am SERVICE OF THE WORD,
DR. ROBERT SCHMIDT
Chapel of the Resurrection
10am PRESENTATION #1:
DR. BOB NEWTON
VUCA Auditorium
10am PRESENTATION #4:
DR. MATTHEW BECKER
VUCA Auditorium
11am BREAK-OUT SESSION #1
VUCA classrooms
11am BREAK-OUT SESSION #3
VUCA classrooms
12pm LUNCH ON OWN
12pm LUNCH ON OWN
2pm PRESENTATION #2:
DR. CHAD LAKIES
VUCA Auditorium
2pm PLENARY SESSION:
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
VUCA Auditorium
3pm BREAK
3:30pm PRAYER BEFORE TRAVEL
AND DISMISSAL
ministry
3pm - 5pm REGISTRATION
Harre Union
5pm HAPPY HOUR
Ballroom A, Harre Union
6pm BANQUET WITH KEYNOTE
PRESENTATION: DR. DAVID H. BENKE
Ballroom A, Harre Union
8pm EVENING PRAYER,
PASTOR JIM WETZSTEIN
Ballroom A, Harre Union
3:15pm BREAK-OUT SESSION #2
VUCA classrooms
4:30pm AFTERNOON PRAYER
Chapel of the Resurrection
5pm DINNER ON OWN
7pm PRESENTATION #3:
DR. ELIZABETH A. GOODINE
VUCA Auditorium
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, IN 46383-6493
POST-PRAYER FELLOWSHIP ON OWN
missions
dialogue
ministry
FAITH
next generation
communication
8pm EVENING PRAYER,
DEACONESS LISA POLITO
Chapel of the Resurrection
OUR
CHILDREN’S
CHURCH
Le
ar
n
ing
cit
ex
ur he
t o ll t
ou ..a e!
ab e. id
e nc ins
or e
m nfer tails
co de
“OUR CHILDREN’S CHURCH”
This Lutheran conference
will discuss ideas and
best practices regarding Christ-centered, people-focused
ministry models intended to strengthen congregations
as they hand down a missional faith and praxis to
succeeding generations. The sessions are open to
everyone, from Lutheran and other denominations,
wishing to discuss issues of Christian faith and mission
in the 21st century, especially in relation to the so-called
“Millennial Generation.”
ministry
PRESENTERS:
Dr. Matthew Becker, Associate Professor of Theology, Valparaiso University
Dr. Elizabeth A. Goodine, Professor of History, Loyola University, New Orleans
Dr. Chad Lakies, Assistant Professor of Theology, Concordia University, Portland
Dr. Bob Newton, President, California-Nevada-Hawaii District, LCMS
“Our Children’s Church” will provide a safe place for
professional church workers and lay leaders to address
various issues of the faith and Christian mission in
relation to younger generations. We will examine best
practices for teaching the core of our faith as well as
engaging some disputed topics within the church and
related to its purpose.
PREACHERS:
Dr. Frederick Niedner, Professor of Theology, Valparaiso University
Dr. Robert Schmidt, Emeritus Professor of Theology, Concordia University, Portland
communication
BREAKOUT SESSION LEADERS AND TOPICS:
Pastor Jock Ficken: Missional Communities among the Millennials
Carol Schmidt/Dr. Elizabeth A. Goodine: The Ordination of Women: Can We Talk?
Father Kevin McCarthy: What’s Working with Millennials in Our Parish
Deaconess Marie Meyer: The Biblical Worldview of Man and Woman
Dr. Paul Mueller: Deacons for the 21st Century
Dr. Frederick Niedner: Preaching in the 21st Century
Deaconess Lisa Polito: Peer Ministries Among Millennials
Pastor Jim Wetzstein: Campus Ministry to the Millennial Generation
Recognizing the need for congregations to attend to
these concerns, “Our Children’s Church” provides
diverse opportunities for discussion, brainstorming and
resources. The conference will serve as a model for the
LCMS and other national church bodies to empower
and equip congregations as they maintain and promote
intergenerational understandings of faith and practice.
PLENARY
PRESENTATIONS
next generation
missions
Dr. David H. Benke, President, Atlantic District, LCMS
FAITH
dialogue
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:
Keynote: DR. DAVID BENKE
Dr. Benke was elected President of the
Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church
– Missouri Synod in June 1991, and has
served in that capacity until the present. He
plans to retire as “bishop” at the end of the
Triennium, June 2015, and is excited to begin
new opportunities to engage the world with
the Gospel of hope (and spending time with
wife, Judy).
DR. MATTHEW BECKER: “Open
Discussion in Your Children’s
Church”
An ordained pastor in the LCMS (since
1989), Dr. Becker has taught theology at
Concordia University, Portland (1993-2004)
and Valparaiso University (2004-present).
He addresses the need for open theological
discussion in today’s church for the sake of a
healthy and responsive mission to millennials
and others. Just how does a biblicallygrounded, confessing church maintain its
confession, while at the same time engaging
the wider culture on issues of importance to
both church and individuals in that culture?
DR. ELIZABETH A. GOODINE:
“Why the Disconnect?”
Working first in nursing and health education,
Dr. Elizabeth A. Goodine served with her
husband, David, as a missionary among
the Izi people in south central Nigeria. In
2004 she earned her Ph.D. in Religion at
Temple University. She then taught at Loyola
University-New Orleans, Concordia College
– New York, and recently returned to Loyola
University to the Department of Religious
Studies. Her research interests include the
use of Bowen Systems theory in examining
movements of power within relationships,
particularly in regard to gender discrimination
in the Christian context. She is active in local
LCMS congregations and currently serves as
the President of Ordain Women Now, an
LCMS group dedicated to the furthering of
justice for all people. Theologians of good
faith support vastly different interpretations
of scripture regarding the proper relationship
of women and men to God and to one
another in the Church. Given these differing
positions, the discernment of whether one’s
theology is of God or is rooted, instead,
in traditional long-held cultural values is
essential. The Church’s current position
on this issue impacts the future Church.
Studies show that Millennials care deeply
about their neighbor; their tolerance across
gender, racial, class and religious lines is
unprecedented. They often express great
love and enthusiasm for Jesus – but not for
the Church! Why the disconnect? And what
might be done about it?
DR. CHAD LAKIES:
“Millennials: Beyond the
Therapeutic Church”
Rev. Dr. Chad Lakies is Assistant Professor of
Theology at Concordia University in Portland,
Oregon. His work focuses on the intersection
of Christianity and culture, investigating
questions concerning how the practices
of American life and the Christian life
function to form particular kinds of people.
While a student at seminary in St. Louis, he
worked with one of the largest churches in
the area to start a young adult ministry to
connect with a growing but often overlooked
population. A millennial himself, Chad came
into the church as an atheist with a list of
burning questions. He met Jesus in and
through the people around him who provided
welcome, space to ask questions, and truth
in answering them.
DR. ROBERT NEWTON: “A
Missional Church: Reflections
on the Early Church”
A 1977 graduate of Concordia Theological
Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Robert
served as an evangelistic missionary to
the Kankanaey people in the Philippines
from 1977 to 1983. Upon his return to the
States he did graduate work in missions at
Fuller Seminary. While there he assisted the
Pacific Southwest District in developing a
cross-cultural leadership training program.
After receiving his doctorate from Trinity
Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois, he served as
a professor of world missions at Concordia
Theological Seminary from 1985 to 1998.
For the 1996-97 academic year he was on
sabbatical with his family serving the Gutnius
Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea under
the Board for Mission Services. In 1998 he
accepted a call as senior pastor to First
Immanuel Lutheran Church, an urban, multicultural congregation in San Jose, California
and continued in that ministry until being
elected president of the California-NevadaHawaii District in 2003. Twenty-first century
America looks increasingly like the firstcentury world of the New Testament –
hostile to Christ’s Church and derisive of
its preaching of the Cross. What might we
learn from the missionary faith and life of
those first-century Christians that informs
and encourages us in our missionary service
today?
For questions or further
information, contact
Dr. Matthew Becker at
matthew.becker@valpo.edu
or 219-464-6695.
We hope to see you there!