Ralph Neighbour is sponsoring a cell symposium in Waco, Texas on June 23-25, 2009 that you won’t want to miss. Ralph heads up the cell church component for the doctor of ministry program at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary. The cell church symposium is connected to the D.Min program. Check out the website and you’ll notice that key cell church leaders from around the world will be speaking. I asked Ralph the following questions:
Ralph, what will be different about this cell symposium than other cell seminars?
Our D.Min. cadre has discussed the impact we desire to see from the Symposium. In order for this to be more than “just another meeting,†we are praying for an impartation through you to the community of 300 delegates who will be present. Participants have already registered from foreign countries including Nigeria, Switzerland, Korea, etc. but most will be from the USA or Canada.
Ralph, what will be the focus on those who are presenting in the main sessions?
We do not desire to “parade†the seven Presenters.
We are asking them to approach the Symposium as missionaries to us:
“Why is America and other parts of the world being left out of the significant harvests you are seeing in your areas of ministry?â€
Jesus spoke of the soils and how it receives the seed. We are asking these worldwide cell church leaders to answer the following questions:
Is the dearth of cell group churches in parts of the world a condition of the soil, or are there other factors to be considered?
Ralph, what will be the specific themes of each of the main speakers?
Each of the Presenters have been invited because they speak to us from different soils:
Eddie Leo: how the cells rooted in the soil of Islam.
Bill Smith: how the cells and “basic Christian communities†(sometimes called ‘house churches’) rooted in the soil of Restricted Access Nations.
Robert Lay: how the cells rooted in the soil of hundreds of traditional churches in Brazil.
Dion Robert: how the cells rooted in the soil of a demon-infested society.
Harold Weitz: how the cells rooted in the soil of South Africa and elsewhere through a powerful emphasis on equipping all believers for the work of ministry with a strong focus on prayer.
Mario Vega: how the cells rooted in the soil of a nation suffering from revolutions and poverty.
Jimmy Seibert: how the cells rooted in the soil of a college community with a passion to send church planters to the nations.
Ralph, could you give us more insight into what will be shared at the conference?
Each will share the Principles, Values, and Theology that drives their communities that will speak into the USA, but also to the world. (We do not want you to slip into “How To’sâ€. The afternoon Breakouts with speakers are designed to focus in that area.)
The D. Min. cadre has suggested that we follow the pattern of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), an invitation-only event (with a fee of thousands of dollars), where the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration. Each of the Presenters will be given 12 minutes to summarize the insights they bring to the Symposium.
On the first morning, the Presenters will summarize the passionate centers of what they bring to the Symposium, using no more than 12 minutes each.
Ralph, could you share more about the schedule?
MORNING SESSIONS: The balance of the mornings will be spent by my chairing a discussion between the Presenters related to these specific topics: PRAYING, EQUIPPING, PLANNING, EDIFYING, PASTORING, EVANGELIZING. The 300 delegates will reflect on their insights to what the presenters bring to these areas.
EVENING SESSIONS: The evening sessions will be a “free-for-all†discussion with Eddie, Robert and Harold interacting with the delegates on Tuesday night; Dion and Mario on Wednesday night; and Bill and Jimmy on Thursday night.
Initial questions will be submitted in advance in writing but we will leave the evening open for discussion.
Again, please check out the website: http://www.cellsymposium.com/
Comments?
Joel Comiskey
Well, even though distance and cost prohibit attendance, one would like to purchase edited transcriptions or recordings of main discourses and dialogues.
I agree I hope this will be available on CD’s so we all can benefit! I sure wish I could be there! Wow, what a great time you will have!
I think we should begin to collect a list of those who wish to secure streaming videos of the conference. The editing will be an enormous expense but I wish we could make them available free of charge. I have learned the hard way that if there is no interest in a presentation, it is foolish to invest the time and money to produce it. So I am going to begin to collect a list of those who would be interested in securing a link to the videos. If you want to be included in the list, please email me at ralph@touchusa.org. If we get several hundred responses, it would show there is enough interest to go forward. I will respond by sending you a link to “opt in” to emails about what will be offered, and pledge this information will not be sent to others.
Email to Uncle Ralph has been sent!
E-mail sent as well