National New Church Conference

Orlando, Florida – The 2006 National New Church Conference is sure to be one of the largest ever gatherings for the purpose of focusing national attention on church planting.  Hosted near the hometown of Disney World, “Risk the Ride” is an appropriate theme for the 2006 conference.  The five pre-conference seminars, twelve national church planting leaders and over thirty workshops, are sure to inspire, equip, connect and challenge church planting leaders.

The twelve participating national leaders have over 200 years of combined experience in church planting on the front lines.  Participating leaders include Gene Appel (Lead Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church), Ed Stetzer (North American Missions Board), Bob Roberts Jr, (Founder of GlocalNet), Mark Driscoll (Founder of Acts 29 Network), Dave Ferguson (Founder of New Thing Network), Ron Sylvia (Director of Purpose Driven’s Church Planting Activities), Neil Cole (Founder of Church Multiplication Associates), John Burke (Founder of Emerging Leadership Initiative), Larry Osborne (Founder of North Coast Training Network), Bob Logan (Founder of CoachNet), Steve Andrews (Founder of Vision 2020), and Dave Nelson (Founding Pastor of K2 The Church in Salt, Lake City UT).

Ed Stetzer, Research Team Director for the North American Missions Board and author of Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age noted that "the National New Church Conference will be both groundbreaking and synergistic.  It is groundbreaking in that there has never been a conference of this magnitude-- focused on reaching North America with an incredible diversity of presenters and paradigms.  It will also create a powerful synergy of conversation-- planters learning and interacting together for the sake of expanding the reign of God through North America and the world." 

Bill Easum, founder of Easum, Bandy and Associates, and a lifelong friend of church planting noted that “the 2006 National New Church Conference is going to be the largest gathering of church planting leaders in U.S. history.  It is one event that you dare not miss if want to be involved in one of the most important movements of our time.”

Dan Donaldson, Senior Pastor of Journey Christian Church in Apopka, Florida, is this year’s conference president and host.   Dan, an experienced church planter, noted that “planting a new church is always a faith journey. It's scary. It's overwhelming. It requires RISK! There's no way around it. To plant a church you must relinquish control and embrace the unknown. This year's RISK the RIDE conference is a time when God will speak to you and call you to step out and take fresh risks for Him.”

Whether you’ve already planted, your thinking about planting, or you’d simply like to be encouraged by the stories of risk-taking leaders, you will not want to miss this historic event on April 24-27th, 2006.   Coordinated by Passion for Planting (www.church-planting.net) and sponsored by numerous leading organizations who are committed to church planting, the price is intentionally being held low to make it affordable for everyone.   Super early bird, early bird pricing, and student rates are available. 

To register online or to learn more about this historic event, check out www.startingchurches.com or call 866-342-5264 (toll-free).