One church, multiple locations, one mission — but it is easy for each location to quietly start running its own race. In this session we will make the biblical and strategic case for multi-site, name the silos that form between our locations, and talk honestly about what unity costs each of us. You will leave with a clearer picture of how your location strengthens every other location, and why “we” will always beat “us and them.”

Front stage is whatever part of your serving people actually see — preaching a sermon, holding a door, running a camera, teaching four-year-olds. Back stage is everything they don't. This session addresses the gap that forms between the excellence we present publicly and the spiritual, emotional, and mental condition we carry privately, because the ministry you offer is only ever as healthy as the person offering it. We will talk candidly about the pressures that come with serving at any level, the warning signs that the gap is widening, and the rhythms that keep your private life strong enough to sustain your public role. Come ready for an honest conversation about caring for your own soul while you spend it on others.

What we believe about humanity shapes how we preach, how we counsel, how we parent, and how we lead. This year’s theological focus is the doctrine of man: who God made us to be, what sin did to us, and what redemption restores. We will work through the Scriptures together and then connect that doctrine to the practical ministry decisions you make every week, so that every location and every ministry is teaching from the same foundation. Whether you teach from a stage, a classroom, or a living room, you will leave with language you can use with confidence.

The hardest transition in ministry is the move from doing the work yourself to building people who can carry it with you. If you have outgrown what your own two hands can accomplish — or your team only really runs when you are in the room — this session is for you. We will cover how to spot someone with potential, how to hand off real responsibility without losing quality, and how to coach a person through their first failure instead of quietly taking the job back. You will leave with a named next step for at least one person you should be developing right now.

Friction is not proof that something has gone wrong — it is proof that people are working together. What matters is what happens next. This session offers a biblical framework for conflict along with practical tools for the conversations most of us would rather avoid: the volunteer who will not follow through, the teammate who feels overlooked, the tension that builds between two locations. We will walk through how to go directly, speak clearly, and pursue restoration rather than victory.

You cannot lead people somewhere you are not going yourself. This session is a practical guide to personal time in Scripture — not another guilt trip, but methods you can actually sustain in a demanding season of ministry. We will cover approaches to study and devotion, then turn the corner to how you teach those same habits to the people you lead, so your volunteers and your family are feeding themselves rather than depending on you. Bring your Bible and your honest questions.

Discipleship does not stop when the lights come up on Sunday. The River produces and points to more resources than most of our people know exist — podcasts, sermon archives, apps, reading plans, and more. In this session we will walk through what is available, show you how to put the right resource in the right person’s hands at the right moment, and build the habit of always pointing people to a next step beyond the weekend. You will leave knowing exactly what to recommend the next time someone asks, “What do I do now?”

Most of us use a fraction of the tools we already have. This hands-on session is a working tour of the systems that run our church week to week: Planning Center for people and scheduling, the volunteer and Growth Community portal, and the website and app. We will spend real time on communication — how to reach your group or your serving team, what to send where, and how to keep the conversation going through the week without anyone falling through the cracks. Bring a laptop or phone and leave with the shortcuts that save you hours every month, and a clear answer to "where do I find that?"

Every one of us can tell somebody about Jesus — most of us just want a way to start that does not feel forced. This session gives you simple, repeatable ways to share your faith in ordinary conversations at work, in your neighborhood, and across your own kitchen table. We will practice out loud, then talk through how to hand the same tools to your team so that evangelism becomes a team habit instead of a staff assignment. You will leave with words you can actually use this week.

A guest decides how they feel about our church long before the message begins. This session walks the entire arrival experience through the eyes of someone coming in for the first time: the parking lot, the front door, the hallway, and the moment they are left standing alone. We will name the small things that say “you belong here” and the small things that quietly say the opposite, and we will talk about why every team — not just guest services — shapes that first impression. You will leave with specific changes your location can make this weekend.