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2019 National LCMS Campus Ministry Conference: “Witness”
January 2, 2019 - January 5, 2019
“Witness,” the 2019 National LCMS Campus Ministry Conference, is planned for Jan. 2–5, 2019, in Fort Wayne, Ind. The event for college-age students and campus-ministry workers will take place primarily on the campus of Purdue University Fort Wayne∗, and some activities will be at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne.
Participants will gain a familiarity with the Every One His Witness® Lutheran evangelism program as they discuss: What is witnessing? Why do we witness? How can the LASSIE approach — Listen, Ask, Seek, Share, Invite and Encourage — help us witness?
Participants will also have opportunities to explore witnessing in various areas that are applicable to their collegiate contexts.
Hotels
Hotel costs are included with registration, and there is one designated conference hotel:
Hilton Fort Wayne at the Grand Wayne Convention Center
1020 South Calhoun Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Please feel welcome to visit the hotel website, but please do not contact the hotel for room reservations. We will supply a housing list to the hotel as part of our negotiated contract, which allows us to offer conference attendees a lower price. Housing information will be gathered during online registration.
Venues
The conference will take place primarily at the Walb Student Union at Purdue University Fort Wayne, and a few activities will be at Concordia Theological Seminary.
Chapel services will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in downtown Fort Wayne and at Kramer Chapel on the CTSFW campus.
Primary plenary speaker
The Rev. Dr. Mark A. Wood serves as the director of LCMS Witness & Outreach Ministry and the LCMS Revitalization initiative. He is the creator of the Every One His Witness evangelism program and the re:Vitality revitalization program.
Prior to joining the LCMS Office of National Mission in June 2014, he served as the founding pastor of Lamb of God Lutheran Church, Lithia, Fla., a daughter congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Brandon, Fla., where he served as the evangelism pastor from 2000 to 2008.
A 2000 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Wood earned a Doctor of Ministry degree with an emphasis in Church Planting and Renewal from Reformed Theological Seminary in 2017.
Sectionals
In addition to receiving an overall theological and practical framework for witnessing, participants will have opportunities to explore witnessing to others in more specific contexts in breakout sessions led by experienced practitioners.
Sectionals will include topics such as witnessing to adherents of various world religions, atheists and agnostics, the “nones,” those who are dechurched, those with depression, people experiencing crises, social justice advocates and promoters of scientism.
Sectional speakers will be announced by Nov. 20, 2018.
About LCMS Campus Ministry conferences
“Witness” will be the fourth LCMS U biennial national conference. “Unwrapped” (2013) and “Taboo” (2015) were held at Saint Louis University, and “Liberty” (2017) took place at the University of Maryland.
An average of 425 college students and campus-ministry workers from around the country have attended each of the previous conferences, which focused on apologetics, marriage and sexuality, and religious liberty.
The collegiate campus is an ever-expanding mission field, and college-age students have more opportunities in their vocations as students to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ than ever before. The conference will provide a timely opportunity for them to receive a sound theological framework and the practical help necessary to do just that.
∗ Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne officially became Purdue University Fort Wayne on July 1, 2018.
