BLESS In Living Color

October 20, 2022 | 10 am–3 pm CST

 

Plenary speakers Efrem Smith and Michelle Sanchez will cast a vision for making and deepening disciples in living color—whatever your context might be! 

We are also excited to debut our 2022 featured resource: the BLESS in Living Color Sermon Series, a five-week series of sermon outlines you can tailor for teaching and preaching about multiethnic evangelism and sharing the gospel across boundaries of difference. 

In our Generations track, we will center our conversations on disciple-making among children, young adults, and 60+ adults (in partnership with Crescendo). You’ll also hear more about practical outreach tools such as the Alpha course and Shalom Circles (an initiative of Love Mercy Do Justice). 

The BLESS Conference is an interactive experience where you can ask questions and interact with presenters. Please join us as we lean in together to see more disciples, among more populations, in a more caring and just world.


Plenary Sessions


Plenary #2 | 12:00–12:45 pm CST

Beloved Evangelism: 
The Power of Beloved Community to BLESS Our World

As disciplemakers, our goal is to become and to build beloved community. Popularized by Martin Luther King Jr., the term “beloved community” refers to a diverse, reconciled, and reconciling community grounded in God’s love. Beloved evangelism is meant to build beloved community, which is all about holistic, multidirectional reconciliation. Beloved community restores us to an intimate relationship with Christ, reconciles us in relationships with one another in the body of Christ, and empowers our ability to advance the kingdom of God in a broken world.

 

Efrem Smith is a pastor, consultant, speaker, and author. He serves as a catalyst for African American and multiethnic church planting, revitalization, disciple making, and metropolitan missional movements. Efrem was the founding pastor of the Sanctuary Covenant Church, a multiethnic Covenant church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He served as the superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. He also served as the president of World Impact, an urban missions organization. Currently, Efrem is the co-lead pastor of Midtown Church and co-owner of Influential LLC. Efrem is the author of The Hip Hop Church, The Post-Black and Post-White Church: Becoming the Beloved Community in a Multiethnic World, and Killing Us Softly. Efrem is married to Donecia and they have two daughters, Jaeda and Mireya.

Plenary #1 | 10:00–10:45 am CST

Color-Courageous Discipleship

Sometimes people are tempted to view the idea of being “color-blind” as a virtue. Yet did you know that new research demonstrates that colorblindness actually leads to racial inequity? That is why disciplemakers need to move away from being color-blind to become color-courageous. Color-courageous disciplemakers choose to see color for the sake of dismantling racism and building beloved community anchored in the love of Christ. Grounded in reflections from her forthcoming book, Color-Courageous Discipleship (November 2022), Michelle will take us on a biblical, research-based journey to demonstrate that God has always called disciplemakers to be not color-blind but color-courageous.


Michelle T Sanchez serves as executive minister of Make and Deepen Disciples for the Evangelical Covenant Church. She is the author of Color-Courageous Discipleship, Color-Courageous Discipleship Student Edition, and the picture book God’s Beloved Community, all releasing this November 2022. After studying international business at NYU, Michelle worked as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, ministered to international students with Cru, and completed degrees at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She has served in various capacities with the Institute for Bible Reading and the Lausanne Movement for world evangelism. Michelle is a frequent conference speaker and a regular columnist for Outreach Magazine. Find her at MichelleTSanchez.com.


Breakout Sessions


Available at Morning + Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Helping You BLESS in Living Color: Exploring Covenant Sermon Series, Tools, and Resources

Discover our 2022 featured BLESS resource: the BLESS in Living Color Sermon Series, which is a five-week series of sermon outlines you can tailor to teach and preach about multiethnic evangelism and sharing the gospel across boundaries of difference. Also hear more about other Covenant-approved resources designed to help you BLESS in living color, including the BLESS in Living Color 10-day devotional, the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), Intercultural Intelligence (ICI) coaching and cohorts, and the Becoming a Beloved Community resource suite.


Christina Burrows is a licensed Covenant pastor, spiritual director, coach, and adjunct faculty for North Park Theological Seminary. She develops missional learning resources for Covenant churches and serves as an intercultural agility coach for pastors and congregations. Originally from the United Kingdom, with Korean and British parents, Christina brings experience as a teacher, spiritual director, and global missions practitioner and trainer.

Morning Breakout Session

Exploring Alpha: Panel Discussion

For nearly 30 years, Alpha has effectively created inviting spaces for people who are far from God to discover the beauty of the Christian faith. Did you know that Alpha has been fully updated to appeal to younger and more diverse audiences? Participants can now join Alpha virtually, and tailored experiences are available for youth and couples. Best of all, Alpha is completely free. Join the Make and Deepen Disciples team as we explore Alpha and interview a panel of leaders who have offered Alpha in their ministry context.



Tim Ciccone (host) is the lead pastor at New City Covenant Church in the Minneapolis area. Previously, he served on the Make and Deepen Disciples team for the Evangelical Covenant Church for eight years. 

Harvey Carey (panelist) is the founder and senior pastor of Citadel of Faith Covenant Church in Detroit, Michigan. 

Ted Burrows (panelist) serves as the pastor of River Life Covenant Church in Sacramento, California. 

Joelle Hassler (panelist) is the executive pastor of discipleship at Crossroads Church in the Twin Cities. 

Jad Levi (Alpha representative) serves as vice president of strategic network advancement for Alpha, a global evangelization movement serving the church in its mission to help people discover and develop a relationship with Jesus.

Afternoon Breakout Session

Justice as Evangelism: Sharing God’s Shalom with the World

The word “evangelism” comes from the Greek word for "good news." We know that good news is always holistic and has the ability to create kingdom shalom in our hearts, our communities, and the whole world. Biblical justice is about making things right in a broken world. Evangelism and biblical justice go hand in hand as we seek to make Christ known to all people and all places. Please join us for this session on the connections between justice, evangelism, and building shalom. And learn more about Shalom Circles, an initiative of the Love Mercy Do Justice mission priority of the Evangelical Covenant Church.


Paul Robinson is the executive minister of Love Mercy Do Justice. He served as lead church planter of Grace Outreach Covenant Church in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, and as a senior community leadership consultant with Amherst H. Wilder Foundation of St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the former director of the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute.

Generations Track: Kids

Available at Morning + Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Beyond a Coin Toss: Beating the 50% Statistic

50% of high school students actively involved in their churches walk away from their faith after they graduate. This breakout will examine how churches and ministry leaders can partner with parents to see a generation of children confidently walking with Jesus into adulthood.


Sarah Cowan Johnson is a ministry trainer, consultant, and coach who works with church planters, pastors, and ministry leaders across the United States and Canada. She is the author of Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-Step Guide for Family Discipleship. She served as the executive pastor for Sanctuary Church, a Covenant church plant in Providence, Rhode Island, and previously was a staff trainer and area director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She and her husband have two sons and live in Providence.

Generations Track: Young Adults

Available at Morning + Afternoon Breakout Sessions

Not Done Yet: Reaching and Keeping Unchurched Emerging Adults

Nones claim no religion. Dones have become disillusioned and left the church. Research shows many young adults are landing in one of these camps. But that's not the end of the story. Many emerging adults, ages 18 to 33, are tossing aside the none and done labels and are instead embracing a transformative Christian faith. Whether you are a senior pastor or a youth minister, a parent or an educator, this breakout session will open your eyes to the generational barriers to vibrant faith while equipping you with insights to make your outreach to emerging adults more authentic and impactful.


Beth Seversen is the author of Not Done Yet: Reaching and Keeping Unchurched Emerging Adults and former associate professor of youth and Christian ministries studies at North Park University in Chicago. Previously she served as the director of evangelism for the Evangelical Covenant Church. She also worked at Wheaton College as associate director of the master’s in evangelism and leadership and the master’s in missional church movements. Beth served as associate pastor at Hillcrest Covenant Church in Kansas City, Kansas; and Elmbrook Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and in campus ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She earned her doctoral degree in intercultural studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Generations Track: Crescendo

Available at Morning + Afternoon Breakout Sessions

How to Mobilize a 60+ Missional Movement

Who is today’s 60+ person? What are their interests and needs? How do we connect and engage with them? This session will explore possibilities that create entry points into purposeful missional discipleship.


Alan Forsman serves on the Crescendo leadership team. As a Covenant pastor, he has worked in local churches, regional conferences, and the denominational office. He has also conducted management training in Fortune 500 Companies. He is the co-author, along with Evelyn Johnson, of the book that birthed Crescendo ministries in the Covenant. His doctoral dissertation was on aging.

Eunice Johnson serves on the Crescendo leadership team, encouraging the local church to mobilize persons of 60+ to create pathways of vitality through connection. She is also a coach with the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. She worked in the field of public-school administration, and she and her husband, Rev. Dr. Robert Johnson, helped pioneer the African American presence in the California Bay area and Kansas City, Missouri, Covenant churches. 

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