Southeastern Seminary hosts annual conference for Associational Mission Strategists

For the past six years, Southeastern has had the privilege of hosting the AMS conference, which gives associational leaders the opportunity to connect with one another and be strategically equipped to serve local churches.

“You’re in a situation where your job is trying to steward vitality in your churches,” said speaker Keelan Cook, Southeastern’s George Liele director for the Center for Great Commission Studies. “Well, how do we do it? How do we serve our churches in such a way that we enliven them?”

This year the AMS conference was hosted in partnership with the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, and the Southern  Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders. Keynote speakers included Keelan Cook; Jeff Ginn, IMB vice president of mobilization; and Rick Curtis, NAMB assistant to the president for convention and associational relations. Southeastern faculty, Chuck Lawless, Steven Wade, and Steven McKinion, challenged and encouraged attendees with devotions between sessions.

Each speaker approached missional vitality from a different angle, addressing the practical and strategic elements of building vibrant, unified associations of local churches.

Toby Neal, association mission strategist at Pee Dee Baptist Association, has attended the AMS conference for three years. “Each year has been beneficial in helping guide me through steps to help guide churches,” he said. “Especially this one with the discussions on missional alignment and engagement and deployment.”

Opening the conference, Rick Curtis guided attendees through the practical steps of missional alignment within their associations, which he called “a spiritual endeavor more than it is a logistical one.”

His lecture was built on by Cook who then addressed missional engagement and what it looks like to build an associational culture that desires and pursues unified engagement in missions.

In the second half of the conference, attendees heard from Jeff Ginn who spoke on missional deployment and the ways in which associations could partner with the IMB.

Jeff Mingee, attending this year’s conference for the first time as a regional strategist with the SBC of Virginia, commented on his experience.

“It’s been a tremendously helpful experience thinking through missional engagement and how to help pastors lead their churches well in the Great Commission. It’s been beneficial to connect with other associational, missional leaders who are doing this and to learn from them and from the speakers.”

Southeastern is thankful for the sponsors of the AMS conference, including the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Provision Financial Resources of NC Baptists, Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina, and Christian Adoption Services.

The AMS conference is a reflection of Southeastern’s heart to equip leaders and pastors to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission wherever God has called them. Southeastern is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this equipping and to send these leaders out, encouraged and enlivened as they return to pour into their associations and local churches.

To learn more about upcoming events and how Southeastern partners with the local church and its leaders, visit our website here.