Echo | Church Media Conference

We often focus on the Great Commission, but what about the First Commission Jesus gave his disciples? Matthew 10 records the final locker room talk before the disciples head out on their inaugural mission. The advice Jesus gave was timeless and priceless. In fact, it may hold the key to your ministry future.

Mark Batterson serves as the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. One church with multiple locations, NCC meets in movies theaters at metro stops throughout the DC area. NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, Ebenezers Coffeehouse. Focused on reaching emerging generations, 73% of those attending NCC are single, twenty-somethings and 70% were unchurched or de-churched before attending. Mark is also the author of ID: The True You and In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.

Todd is the Pastor of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, one of the most innovative and exciting new churches in America. He is a graduate of both the University of Missouri and Dallas Theological Seminary. Todd has extensive experience in both church and para-church ministry, having served on both Young Life and K-Life staff as well as 10 years at Kanakuk where he last served as Assistant Director at K-2. After leaving Kanakuk in 1990, Todd has been leading in the local church.

MPT grew up in rural Maryland with his parents, three sisters, a beagle, and 107 laying hens. He eventually landed in Nashville, at Belmont University where he received a BBA in Music Business. Matthew worked for CCM Magazine for two-and-a-half years before leaving to pursue writing as a full-time career. His first book, The Christian Culture Survival Guide, received a good amount of media attention, and in all, Matthew has written or contributed to more than fifteen books in the short span of four years. In 2008 he will release his first hardback Jesus Needs New PR.

Why do some people’s lives make sense and others don’t? Don argues that the same reason a day or week or year feels like a satisfying experience are the same reasons a good movie feels satisfying. There are principles that guide good stories. The same principles screenwriters and novelists use to edit their stores can also be used to guide and direct our lives. In this session Don talks about the power of story, and how planning and executing our days, weeks and years, using the principles of story, guide us into a more fulfilling experience.

Donald Miller is the author of Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, Through Painted Deserts, and To Own a Dragon. He is a frequent speaker at colleges and conferences across the country, addressing the relevancy of Christian spirituality to explain and heal the dynamics of the human heart. Don has addressed a wide range of audiences, from young men who grew up without fathers to students at Harvard University. He lives in community in Portland, Oregon.

We are in the midst of a transition on a global scale from an era in which the vast majority of people lived with a sense of clarity, continuity, and consistency about their identity—their notion of who they are and how others view them—to an era in which identity is increasingly problematic across all levels of human organization, from the individual person to entire nations or civilizations. The result of this identity crisis is that companies and organizations have now become suppliers of individual and collective identity, and it's funking our souls.

Brad is the assistant vice president and director of communications at the central offices of The Foursquare Church where he oversees publications, video, web, events, promotions and communication to the U.S. Brad is also president of Personality™, a marketing and communication consultancy he founded in 1998. Additionally, Brad serves on several boards including the Center for Church Communication, the non-profit organization behind Church Marketing Sucks.

How do we truly have a hand in using story to transform a culture that is constantly shifting? How do we know if we are fit to be God’s artistic voices for these changing times? Author and Filmmaker Mark Steele delves deep into what it means to become a parable maker – and how authenticity is the key to great art that transforms a world for Christ.

Mark Steele is the president and executive creative of Steelehouse Productions where he creates art for business and ministry through the mediums of film, stage and animation. He has produced, written, and directed award-winning commercials and film shorts for over 17 years. Mark is the author of Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself and the upcoming book, Half-Life / Die Already which will be released in April 2008.