Identifying challenges and exploring solutions to finding and recruiting potential elders, preparing elders, and the ongoing discipleship of elders.

The Causes and Cures of Pastoral Burnout help ministry leaders understand the key factors that lead to emotional, spiritual, and physical exhaustion in ministry. It examines common causes such as overextension, unrealistic expectations, isolation, and misplaced identity, while also helping participants recognize early warning signs in themselves and others. Alongside diagnosis, it offers practical, gospel-centered pathways toward renewal, including healthy rhythms of rest, strengthened relationships, and a renewed grounding of identity in Christ. The aim is to equip leaders to not only avoid burnout but to cultivate sustainable, life-giving ministry over the long term.

God ordains seasons for planting. This workshop helps planters and sending pastors discern when that season has come, and move forward together with clarity, confidence, and shared gospel ambition.

Children form lifelong beliefs about God during their early years, yet it’s easy for a children’s ministry to become focused on programs, schedules, and keeping kids occupied. This workshop will explore how to build a culture of intentional discipleship in Kids Ministry through gospel-centred teaching, relational leadership, and volunteer development. 

The need for missionaries is still great, but how do churches move from conviction to action? In this moderated panel discussion, church leaders will reflect on the practical realities of recruiting, training, and sending missionaries. Together they will share lessons learned, address common concerns, and offer guidance for churches seeking to develop faithful, effective pathways for sending workers to the nations.

In this session you will discover five ways to create more resilience in both your ministry and your home life. We will look at how a pastor cares for his own soul and finds life giving rhythms that move him from surviving to thriving.

Managing your church database? This workshop is for you!

The deepest friendships develop through a spiritual connection between people. We need to know the Scripture personally before we can point others to the hope it brings. Suggestions will be given on how to incorporate the Bible into our friendships.

Meetings! Messages! All that is urgent! While losing our minds about what we need to do, we can lose our prayer lives. None of us want this, but it happens. This workshop is taught by a Pastor who is in recovery from this scheme of the devil. God wants to put some daily bread on your table.

Many overcommitted people are attracted to the idea of setting relational boundaries. Yet some approaches to boundaries are less than biblical. The overall message I want to convey is that we shouldn't go from pleasing people to pleasing ourselves. We need set relational boundaries with the primary aim of pleasing God. We will deal with the broad principles and make specific applications.

Attendees will learn practical strategies for maximizing 403(b) contributions, leveraging housing allowance benefits in retirement, tax planning and personal budgeting, as well as how to build a financial foundation that supports both their calling and their family. Walk away with a renewed sense of financial freedom, so you can focus on the ministry God has entrusted to you.

As a ministry leader, you no doubt encounter gossip in the life of your church. Perhaps you even struggle with gossip personally! This session will help you understand why gossip is such a challenge and how you can lead with resilience in the fight against gossip not only in your own life, but in the life of your church.

Gossip involves sharing personal or private information about others, often without their consent. While it can seem harmless or even entertaining, gossip can be damaging. It spreads rumors, distorts the truth, and can harm reputations, relationships, and trust. Gossip often leads to misunderstandings, conflicts, and even oppression, creating an ungodlyenvironment. Moreover, participating in gossip can also backfire, damaging the gossiper’s own credibility and relationships. "

Whether you’re an associate pastor, church planter, ministry leader, elder, or occasional guest preacher, preaching without carrying the weekly preaching load presents unique opportunities and challenges. How do you faithfully serve the church’s broader preaching vision while bringing your own voice and convictions to the pulpit? How do you prepare, collaborate with lead pastors, understand the congregation, and maximize the impact of the opportunities you’re given? This workshop offers practical wisdom for developing as a preacher when you’re not preaching every week, helping you steward each opportunity with faithfulness, clarity, and confidence.

"What is your vision? Is it fuelled by the eternal glory, both for yourself and the people you lead? What is this weight of glory that our vision must be focused on?
This workshop will guide you in the process of finding answers to these questions."

Money stops more church plants than theology ever will. This breakout names the fears that keep planters from launching and churches from sending, and replaces them with a faithful, practical way forward.

Best practices for youth leader engagement and recruitment with practical applications for adding new youth leaders, communicating with youth leaders, and being part of a healthy, thriving youth leader team. This workshop is not just for youth directors but for any youth leaders who desire to support the growth and development of the youth leader team they serve with.

A Practical Conversation About Helping Your People Live on Mission.

Many churches want to impact their community but aren’t sure how to help their people take real steps toward everyday mission. This session offers a down‑to‑earth look at how to gently shift a congregation from passive participation to active engagement with the needs around them.

We’ll talk honestly about the challenges, the small wins, and the simple practices that help believers see their neighborhoods with fresh eyes. You’ll walk away with practical ideas, realistic next steps, and a renewed vision for helping your church move from the seats to the streets, not through pressure or programs, but through a culture that notices, cares, and responds.

This case study will explore how a community group leader would work with other soul care providers to come alongside a hurting marriage. The goal will be to use specific soul care tools to equip leaders who are providing care as well as establish steps of care along the way.

Some women are married but live with the painful reality that they have lost close fellowship with their husbands. This workshop gives practical and biblical suggestions for change. Finally, the gospel brings encouragement to these women.

In moments of despair and seasons of intense trial, what is the faithful response? Do we grumble, complain, or simply pretend all is well? The Bible points us toward lament—a sacred expression that faces suffering honestly while clinging to hope in God. Join us as we explore how lament holds sorrow and faith together.

Many church leaders don't feel gifted or equipped to counsel their members. Many churches refer counseling to the "professionals" who may not approach problems biblically. Scripture teaches that church leaders are responsible to shepherd the sheep which the Lord has entrusted to them, and that we will give account. How can we do a better job of fulfilling this calling and involving the entire church in soul care?

Building Teams That Flourish in Mission and Ministry

What separates a staff team that merely works together from one that thrives together? How can church leaders cultivate teams that are both highly effective and deeply dependent on the Holy Spirit?

In this interactive session, we'll explore the essential ingredients of high-performing church staff teams—clarity, trust, accountability, feedback, healthy communication, and shared mission—while grounding everything in a distinctly ministry-centered framework. We'll examine how Spirit-empowered leadership shapes culture, strengthens collaboration, and helps teams navigate the unique opportunities and challenges of church ministry.
This is not just a conversation about leadership theory. Participants will engage with practical tools, actionable insights, and real-world applications that can be implemented immediately within their staff teams. Whether you're part of a large ministry team or serving on a small church staff, you'll leave with concrete strategies to foster greater alignment, effectiveness, and spiritual vitality.

Because great church staff teams don't happen by accident—they are intentionally built, faithfully led, and continually empowered by the Spirit.

The leaders you need are the disciples you already have, but the key to discovering them is building a pathway for their development. In this workshop, you'll be equipped to build a leadership pathway grounded in theological conviction, ordered in biblical clarity, and prioritized as a cultural commitment.

The right core team builds the right culture. This workshop helps sending pastors discern whom to release and how many, and helps planters know whom to look for and how to gather them.

Kids and youth ministry can be one of the greatest places to see God at work and changing lives in a church. But this ministry field can also be discouraging, overwhelming and even seem impossible some times. Come here the lessons the Lord has been teaching Karl Whittingstall in this field for over 22 years. He is hoping this time will be refreshing, encouraging and even help to challenge us on what faithful, resilience for Kids and Youth ministry looks like.

Step into the production spaces of Hope Bible Church Oakville. Hosted by Technical Director Gerben Vanden Heuvel, this workshop is a practical, visual tour. We will explore how our church uses audio, video, lighting, and streaming throughout the building. You’ll get an up-close look at our weekend workflows, equipment choices, and tech philosophy, giving you actionable insights to elevate production in your own church.

Every pastor faces seasons of hardship, discouragement, and uncertainty. Hear candid stories from international church leaders about how God has sustained them through challenges and what has helped them remain faithful over the long haul.

This case study will explore how a church can wisely respond to a case of domestic abuse. The goal will be to explore how to develop an infrastructure for wise care within the church, how to assess the order of priorities, how to faithfully respond to each individual, and how to leverage community and counselling resources.

As the wife of a pastor or elder, as a woman committed to serving in your local church, do you ever wonder how you measure up? In this workshop for women in ministry, we will explore the skill of hearing God's voice over expectation, evaluation and demand. Gathering insight from the book of Ephesians, we will consider together what walking in step with the gospel looks like and how this fosters resilience and fuels faithful ministry.

Ministry faithfulness isn't sustained by giftedness, passion, or constant activity — it requires intentional spiritual, relational, emotional, and ministry rhythms that allow leaders to endure faithfully while shepherding well. Drawing from Paul's charge in Acts 20:28 — "pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock" — this interactive workshop helps leaders honestly assess where they're depleted, explore four key areas of sustainable rhythm, and walk away with a practical framework (and one concrete commitment) for long-term ministry health.

Satan was just as busy in Genesis 4, when Cain killed Abel, as he was in Genesis 3 when our first parents fell. Perhaps the first case of biblical counseling took place when the LORD Himself counseled Cain when he was angry when his offering was rejected. Satan is a liar and a murderer who continues to attack parents and children in various way. He also is an accuser, especially of parents whose children choose to be wayward. Jesus warned that the gospel will divide families. How can parents endure when parenting is hard?