California Wee Kirk Conference 2008: Workshop Descriptions

The following are a few of the workshops that will be offered at the 2008 California Wee Kirk Conference (October 21-23, Mt. Hermon, CA). Click here for a brochure.

1) "Listening and Speaking - Understand and be Understood" (by Nancy Moore):

Description: Our communities are becoming increasingly populated with people who are somehow different than we are. Here we are some Scriptures, tools, stories, and activities to help us communicate with one another.

Recommend Books:

Eric Law, The Wolf Shall Dwell With the Lamb. Chalice Press, St. Louis, MO, 1993.
Curtiss Paul deYoung, Coming Together. Judson Press, Valley Forge, PA, 1995.

2) "Biblical Reflections on Marriage" (by Tremper Longman):

Description: The Bible offers God’s wisdom when it comes to human relationships of all kinds, including marriage. The workshop will study Genesis 1-3, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ephesians, and other texts to learn how to improve and enrich the most intimate of all human relationships.

3) A Conversational Homiletic: The Congregation as Partners in Preaching, Part 1 – Theological Foundations:

Description: This workshop will explore the notion that contrary to popular opinion, preaching at its best does not simply require an eloquent speaker standing alone in a pulpit, but also involves the preacher facilitating a process in which people in the congregation listen to the Word together and prayerfully discern the meaning of the text in community – a process for which the Wee Kirk is uniquely suited!

4) A Conversational Homiletic: The Congregation as Partners in Preaching, Part 2 – Practical Considerations:

Description: This workshop will explore the myriad of practical considerations for implementing a conversational homiletic and inviting the congregation to be partners in preaching.

5) How to Spend Daily Time with God:

St. Jerome said, “The Word of God is shallow enough that little children will not drown in it, deep enough that scholars will never touch the bottom.” D.L. Moody suggested, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.” In this workshop, we will explore varied ways in which you can spend meaningful time with God each day – time that will enrich your life immeasurably.

6) "Worship and the Whole World" – Emily Brink

Whenever our local congregations gather for worship, we gather as part of the one Body of Christ, joined with Christ and with our brothers and sisters around the whole world. This session will explore resources for praying for and with Christians around the world, where God is building his church in amazing ways that can engage, enlarge, and encourage our hearts in worship. The resources will include visual, spoken, and sung gifts, including some slides of recent trips to several countries in Asia (especially mainland China) and Africa.

7) “Anyone Can Lead Worship Music” – Paul Detterman

YOU ASKED FOR IT--AND IT'S HERE!

At last year's Wee Kirk Conference I put out the challenge that I could teach ANYONE how to lead great congregational singing in a couple hours' time. YA'LL were skeptical! Come see if you can prove me wrong! I doubt it!

Congregational worship/music leading made simple, easy, and fun! Are YOU up for the challenge?

8) “A ‘Going’ Concern – Turning Your Church Inside Out” – Tom Theriault

I’ve served in three congregations spread up and down the west coast, two smaller in size and one larger. In all of them we’ve wrestled with the challenge of the gospel to “GO into all the world!” I’d like to bring some of the insights from the Bible that have inspired my own efforts in getting God’s people out and about. I’ll tell stories from my own struggles and successes and hope to stir up stories, dreams and visions from among the assembled saints. We have much to gain from and much to give to each other.