Tag Archives: Church of Christ

March 16, 2011

World Discipleship Summit 2012

By Adam Gonnerman

The World Discipleship Summit is scheduled to take place in San Antonio, Texas on July 5-8, 2012. Later that same month the World Convention of Christian Churches, Churches of Christ and Disciples of Christ will be held in Goiania, Brazil. Needless to say, it’s going to be a busy month!

The World Discipleship Summit is a major event for the International Churches of Christ (ICOC), bringing together multiple distinct conferences (The ILC, Youth and Family,  Teens, Campus, Singles, Marrieds, Spanish, Worship and Deaf) into one location.

The ICOC Evangelists Service Team last December 2010 decided to name the event 2012 World Discipleship Summit. They have added the Lila Cockrell Theater (2300 capacity). It will serve as the home for the Spanish Track of the conference. The Lila Cockrell will be the venue each night for different concerts. They also upgraded into the larger Exhibit Hall C (8000) and Ballroom C (4000). These will be the homes for the marrieds and singles (Exhibit hall C) and the campus conference (Ballroom C).

While they are publicly expecting around 10,000 to attend, they are prepared for 20,000, with no additional venues needed. They are working on Exhibit hall B as a big carnival or block party area.

Mike Taliaferro is the Director of the 2012 World Discipleship Summit, and there is a designated coordinator for each of the conferences.

Registration is now open at www.icocconference.org. Billed as “The Spiritual Woodstock of Our Generation,” excitement is building and an enormous turnout is expected.

General Schedule

THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2012

OPENING SESSIONS

  1. Morning Opening Sessions – 10:00 am  (Gonzalez Convention Center)
    Leadership Conference Begins
    Singles Conference Begins
  2. Afternoon Opening Sessions – 1:00 pm  (Gonzalez Convention Center)
    Marrieds Conference Begins
    Campus Conference Begins
    Teens Conference Begins
    Worship Conference Begins
    Spanish Conference Begins (Hilton Palacio Del Rio)
    Deaf Conference Begins (The Westin Riverwalk)
  3. Classes for Leadership Conference – 1:00pm   (Grand Hyatt)
  4. Evening Worship – 5:30pm    (AT&T Center)

FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2012

  1. Morning Sessions
    Classes  9:00 -10:00am
    Classes  10:30 -11:30am
    Kids Zone  8:30 -11:30am
  2. Afternoon Sessions
    Classes  2:00 -  3:00pm
    Kids Zone  1:30 -  3:00pm
  3. Evening Worship – 5:30pm    (AT&T Center)

SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2012

  1. Morning Session 1 –  9:00am
    Women’s Program
    Campus Men’s Program
    Single Men’s Program
  2. Morning Session 2 – 11:30am  (Gonzalez Convention Center)
    Married Men’s Program
    Teen Men’s Program
  3. Evening Worship – 5:30pm    (AT&T Center)

SUNDAY, JULY 8, 2012

Sunday Worship Service – 10:00am  (AT&T Center)

For more on World Convention, the other Stone-Campbell Movement event taking place in July 2012, check out these other posts:

A Gathering in Goiania

About World Convention

World Convention 2012 – Registration Information

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December 20, 2010

December 2010 Mission Update – Uberlândia, Brazil

By Adam Gonnerman

The following is the latest update from my brother-in-law, Marcelo Lima, on the mission work in Uberlândia, Brazil. My wife and kids were born in this city, it’s where I served a brief while as a missionary, and is the city to which I hope we can return in a few years. Although my focus will likely be more in the area of community development (and perhaps youth ministry), Marcelo does excellent work in evangelism, counseling and discipleship training. Take a look and perhaps add Uberlândia to your prayer list.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Uberlândia, Uberlândia Evangelism/Church Planting

September 13, 2010

About World Convention

By Adam Gonnerman

In the United States the independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ have the North American Christian Convention and National Missionary Convention as well as various state and regional conventions, to get people of like faith together.  The a cappella Churches of Christ have the Tulsa Workshop as well as the college lectureships.  The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has General Assembly and the International Churches of Christ have numerous conferences seminars and other gatherings, including Jubilee 2010 the annual International Leadership Conference.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some truly worldwide gathering of this broad fellowship of churches.  There is one, and it has a perfectly reasonable name: “World Convention.”

This international gathering takes place every four years at a different location around the world each time.  The current executive director is Dr. Gary Holloway, a professor and minister from an a cappella Church of Christ background.  As a global assembly, this non-delegate, non-legislative get-together welcomes people from branches and denominations of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement worldwide.  This fact, the diversity, may be unsettling to many.  It is my hope even still that with the guidance of God through His Spirit and the Word, this next World Convention may bring together more people with the courage to love those who hold even to vastly different views, without necessarily glossing over the differences.

What I’m suggesting here would require an enormous change from past ways of dealing with differences in the church.  There always has seemed to be either debate and division or complacent acceptance (in silence) of divergent viewpoints.  Neither of these options make us better or stronger.  For these reasons the World Convention really isn’t for everyone.  It is my hope and prayer that God will raise up people with the patience and will to meet others, cross old boundary lines and really discuss not only our differences, but also what we can share in common mission and ministry.  Ultimately, World Convention needs to be about coming together to better participate in God’s mission in this world.

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. – John 17:20-21 NRSV

See Also:
A Gathering in Goiania

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

November 25, 2009

Church Website

By Adam Gonnerman

Using simple online tools and a $10 domain, I’ve got a functioning website up for the Igreja de Cristo em Newark. This is the congregation my family has been a part of since moving to New Jersey. Of all groups you’d think Christian churches would strive to have the most updated, informative sites out there. I mean, don’t they want to attract people? Static websites that aren’t regularly updated are unappealing to people nowadays and, rightly or wrongly, leave an impression that the church is inactive. Worse still are floater sites that someone set up before moving on, leaving no one with access or expertise to continue maintaining them.

Check out the new church website. You’ll notice it’s in blog format. This facilitates keeping the site active with fresh information, as multiple people have access with posting privileges. The rather odd mix of Portuguese, Spanish and English you’ll see on the church site is representative of our congregation. We are a Brazilian congregation and a Hispanic congregation sharing the same building. The first Sunday of every month we worship together in Portuguese and Spanish. Most of the youth seem more comfortable with English than the language of their parents. This is who we are.

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September 28, 2009

Children’s Bible School and 16 Years in New Jersey

By Adam Gonnerman

This past Saturday, September 26, 2009, the Brazilian Church of Christ in Newark completed 16 years of service in New Jersey. Though it was a coincidence, this was also the day the women of the church offered Bible School for the children. It’s Vacation Bible School, except without the “vacation”!

The video above is from the closing presentation. They had classes and activities all day, from 10am until 4pm. My wife, Christiane, helped out and was thoroughly exhausted when she got home. For more pictures from the Bible school, click here.

The church kids also sang a special song the following day after the service ended. It was an adaptation of one of our hymns, rewritten to tell the story of the congregation. It was cleverly-worded and the children sang it well.

Kids singing in celebration of church's 16th anniversary.

Kids singing in celebration of church's 16th anniversary.

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