Do you wrestle with discontentment or feelings of shame? Are deep friendships with other women hard to come by? Can women make an impact in the Kingdom? If any of these questions sound intriguing, come hear some perspective and biblical principles on how to be a woman who is surrendered to and sold out for the Lord.
2017 Breakout - Living in a World that Doesn't Like You by Mike Polley
The culture around us, whether at school or in our future workplace, is becoming increasingly post-christian and anti-christian. The Bible calls us to be wise as serpents but innocent of doves. So how do we do that? What if a friends asks you to come to his same-sex wedding, or to film it, or to stand in it? What if a family member asks? Your new job asks you to lie to protect your boss. Come learn how to navigate these tensions and how to love people who may not like you.
2017 Breakout - Walking with God in Pain and Suffering by Reid and Nikki Jilek
This world is hard. Have you experienced disappointment, death, abuse, or other forms of suffering? We can know in our head that God is good, but why would he allow these things to happen and how do we believe that He is good with our hearts? How do we faithful walk forward with God, when we are angry with Him and where do we put the emotions we feel? Come here our story and how we have navigated a difficult season in our life to God's glory.
2017 Breakout - Helping People Make the Turn from Disciple to Disciple Maker by Jeff Beckett
If you are leading people that are walking with Christ and want to help equip them to help others walk with Christ this is the place for you!
2017 Breakout - Emotional Intelligence by Stefan Sauder
Emotions! We all have them and they are changing daily, often controlling us both in good & bad ways. The problem is that it's hard to process your own emotions correctly, let alone emotions from other people. This seminar is designed to help you process your emotions from a biblical perspective and have stability even when emotions are running wild.
2017 Breakout - Making Godly Decision by Lucas and Ariana Cecka
What is Gods will for my life? What major should I choose? Who should I live with? Should I participate in this activity? What should I do with my life after college? Should I date him or her? What should I do with my summer? How should I spend my money? These are the many questions we ask ourselves. This seminar will help you navigate through how to make Godly decisions. We will tell you specifically what Gods will is for your life!
2017 Breakout - Millenials > Every Other Generation by Zach Simmons
Let's be honest, you've checked your phone twice since you've read the title of this talk...and I've checked mine a whole lot more while writing this. We both have a unique problem that no other generation has experienced, but it's not all bad. In a world currently experiencing chaos, we have more potential to change the course of the future than any generation that has ever lived. But the unique challenges we face daily really are holding us back from doing what we've always truly wanted to do: make meaningful impact in the world. Come hear a biblical perspective on what to do with our noble aspirations and ignoble distractions.
2017 Breakout - What's so Great About Jesus by Nirmal and Ann Mekala
Perhaps you're at this conference but you're not entirely sure what you believe. Maybe a friend brought you and you're trying to figure out what exactly Christianity is and why all these people are so excited about it. Come and hear Christianity explained simply and learn why Jesus is so great for us today.
2017 Breakout - Establishing Disciples by Nate Holt
If you have lead someone to Christ, or have a group of young Christians that you are leading, this seminar will help you with some practical next steps on how to establish young Christians in their faith
2017 Breakout - So, You Want to Have GREATER Significance? by Nate VanZee and Harmon Squires
Both Christians and non-Christians struggle with the question, "Does my life really matter?" As a Christian is this even a question that I am allowed to ask? This seminar will address living a significant and impactful life in the midst of a world that defines success as what you earn in money, respect, beauty, social media likes, etc.
2017 Breakout - Walking by Faith, Taking Risks, and Trusting God by Kenny Hayes
Fear paralyzes, faith gets you moving. Fear blinds, faith enlightens. Fear enslaves, faith sets free. Stop trying to control and start letting go. Sounds easy, right? Not exactly. Come learn what it's like to walk in a lifestyle of prayer and faith. Who knows, you may begin to test the limits and dream bigger!
2017 Breakout - Intimacy with Christ by Connor Dimick
Whether you recently became a Christian and are wondering what the Christian life is all about, or whether you have been a Christian for some time now but are starting to feel like you're plateauing and just going through the motions - this seminar is about returning to the heart of the Christian life: enjoying a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ.
2017 Breakout - Anxious for Something by Eric Lonergan
If you require air to breathe, water and food for sustenance, and have a pulse, then you probably have experience with anxiety. But is anxiety always a sin? If it's in some ways intrinsic to being human what do we make of it? Come hear some biblical perspective on anxiety and how to cope.
2017 Rally #7 - Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson concludes our “Greater” conference with the subject of worship. He poses the question: How important is the subject of worship to you? Everyone is worshiping something and if worship is the most important subject, then the leader of our worship is our most important leader. Mike then dives into Psalm 103:1-4 to explain that each of us need to be our own worship leader.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
Mike then charges us to not just worship God with lip service, but to worship Him with our whole selves. When we recognize our souls wandering to something other than God, we need to bring our souls back to Him and His promises.
He then leaves us with these consequences of continually worshiping God with our whole selves:
Transformed lives
We become like what we worship
2017 Rally #6 - Paul Poteat
Paul continues our theme of “Greater” by explaining how Jesus has created a Greater Life for us. God has given us a great purpose in life; therefore our time here on earth has great impact for eternity. Paul expounds on this idea through Matthew 4:19-20:
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
This model exemplifies how we can fulfill this purpose with our lives.
Follow me (Jesus)
Die to self
Start Small
Paul left us with the challenge: “Who is 1 person you could pray for or talk to about Jesus?”
2017 Rally #5 - Paul Poteat
Paul Poteat shares what Greater Authenticity looks like by walking through John 4:27-30.
Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
There are three things we can see through this text about the faith we should have in Jesus:
Simplicity
Authenticity
Bravery
The woman at the well show cased all three of these attributes and Paul exhorts us to showcase authenticity in our walk with Christ.
2017 Rally #4 - Muche Ukegbu
In his final rally of the conference, Muche Ukegbu leads us through Matthew 6:9-15, the famous Sermon on the Mount.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
This example of prayer that Jesus gives us shows God as a personal, yet powerful being. That means we have the ear of the Creator inclined towards us. Jesus says that our response should be to desire the spreading of God’s name and good news throughout the earth.
Muche goes on to explain Matthew 4:23-9:36. After Jesus heals all of the diseased people around Him, He is not satisfied. He sees their need for a Savior and asks His disciples to pray for laborers to share the good news of the gospel. Muche then says that to apply this example to our lives is to disciple others through the outpouring of our lives.
2017 Rally #3 - Muche Ukegbu
During the third rally of the conference, Muche Ukegbu reminds us of our fleshly tendency to believe we are a better god than God is. We don’t look to God’s design, but try to make our own law. He combats these lies with Romans 16:25-27:
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Muche expounds on these verses with the reminder that God’s ability to strengthen presupposes our need for strengthening. If we were not weak, we would not need strengthening. He continues with 2 Corinthians 12:9 to say that God views weakness as an asset, not a liability, because He can show His power; it affords us the opportunity to receive and experience the grace of God. With this, the gospel strengthens us as God’s children with a new identity.
Muche leaves us with the questions: Where am I hiding weakness and relying on my own strength?
2017 Relationships Talk- Paul and Samm Poteat
Paul and Samm Poteat give us perspective on the need to see God as greater than all things, even in relationships. God has made us for something greater and we were not meant to be satisfied by anything other than him. They then give two main ideas for dating:
Community is your context for your relationship
Let the gospel be what grounds you
Paul and Samm also give some practical ways to fight for holiness in your relationship:
Make your life about knowing Jesus and His gospel
Develop strong friendships with your gender
Develop strong relationships with the opposite gender, especially in group context
Seek council
Initiate/respond accordingly
Seek council again and continually
Unfortunately this audio was corrupted, but the Poteats did the same talk a few years ago. You can listen to the talk here.
2017 Rally #2 - Muche Ukegbu
Muche Ukegbu begins the second rally of the “Greater” conference by focusing on God’s grace. He speaks on Psalm 103:1-5 to remind us of this grace and how that should shape us. Delighting in the grace He has for us should lead to worship and action. Muche explains that many of us perform in front of others because we are not experiencing the tenderness of grace. He further explains by saying, “Who you are in secret is who you really are.”
Muche then defines a doxology as a word of glory, a word that points to a specific attribute of God and calls us to action. He then uses the doxology in Jude 1:24-25 to expound on how we can experience the tenderness of God’s grace. One of the aspects of God’s grace that Muche focuses on is His ability to keep his people. He keeps His people through preservation, prevention, and provision. God prevents harm from happening to us, not by removing us from our situations, but by staying with us as we go through them. All of God’s restrictions are to prevent us from harm. God provides tremendous grace, alongside an identity in Christ and complete blamelessness through His blood.
Muche leaves us with some implications that these teachings bring:
The presence of mercy is the delay of judgement.
All the things in myself that I want to hide are covered by grace.
Our identity should be saturated by tenderness and grace because it is sustained by God’s tenderness and grace.
Unfortunately, the audio is not available for this talk.