Friday Schedule

Breakout A100

Russ Robinson
Some small group leaders thrive, leaping from adventure to adventure. Others are barely hanging on. The difference between enjoying and enduring has to do with calling.

Learn how to embrace your leadership position by living out your calling in response to each person, every meeting, and every opportunity that presents itself.

Russ Robinson has held a variety of ministry roles in the past several years. Russ served on the Willow Creek Community Church staff beginning in 1995, first as Director of Small Groups, and then as Executive Director of Ministries and Small Groups. Prior to his staff role, he also served as an Elder for four years. From 2002-2004 he was also Senior Pastor at Meadowbrook Church in North Haledon, N.J. As Director of Ministries and Small Groups for Willow Creek in South Barrington, I.L., he championed much of the transition to Willow becoming a “church of small groups.” That meant connecting over 18,000 people into 2,700 small groups, where he led over 200 staff and 4,000 volunteer leaders.

Russ is the co-author (with Bill Donahue) of Building a Church of Small Groups, The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry and Walking the Small Group Tightrope.

Hear Russ Robinson in Breakouts A100 (Featured) and PL2071.

Breakout B140

Don Everts
How do people come to Jesus in today's postmodern culture? Over the last decade, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp have listened to the stories of two thousand postmodern people who have come to follow Jesus. While the stories are diverse and varied, certain common themes emerge, which they describe in their new book, I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus. Come hear Don give an overview of the "Five Thresholds" that most postmodern skeptics cross on their way to faith in Jesus.

Don Everts recently began serving as Minister of Outreach at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, after working with university students for over 14 years as a campus staff worker and Area Director with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. A poet and preacher at heart, Don speaks at conferences and churches across the country inviting skeptics and believers alike to gaze at the person of Jesus and be thrilled.

Don has written nine books, including Jesus with Dirty Feet, God in the Flesh, and the One Guy's Head Series of postmodern apologetics. His latest book, co-authored with Doug Schaupp, is I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus.

Hear Don Everts in Breakouts A103, B140 (Featured), and D195.

Breakout C160

Mindy Caliguire
The Christian life is not a solo sport. That's why we invest so much time into small groups! But beyond side products like pastoral care, assimilation, or friendship-building, we mainly want small groups to offer transformation.

In this breakout, we explore basic spiritual formation and then consider the unique place small groups—and small group leaders—have in soul-level development.

Mindy Caliguire and her husband, Jeff, planted a church in the Boston area, where she served in a variety of leadership roles for 10 years and launched Soul Care, dedicated to helping people restore health to their souls. She served in the area of spiritual formation at Willow Creek Community Church from 2001 to 2004, concentrating on membership, the ministry of prayer, small group curriculum, and “soul care” for individual staff teams. In 2005, she re-engaged with Soul Care, serving churches and organizations through leadership consulting and retreats. Mindy also serves as the Midwest regional director for the Spiritual Formation Alliance, building partnerships and creating formational events. Whether formally or informally, Mindy mentors leaders, focusing on re-establishing their spiritual vitality as the primary step towards a lifestyle of sustainable ministry and leadership.

Mindy's books include Discovering Soul Care and Spiritual Friendship.

Hear Mindy Caliguire in Breakouts C160 (Featured), and PL2077.

Breakout D190

Dave Gibbons
Using an eastern parable about, well, a monkey and a fish, this breakout eyeballs the misconceptions and assumptions that result in unhealthy small groups, along with the strengths that cause small groups to flourish.

Find ways to deal with these challenges and embrace these strengths within the individual contexts of your small groups and church.

The fringe, the misfits, artists, the poor, the students, business executives, community development specialists and church leaders are the domains Dave Gibbons intersects with in many of the major cities of the world. He is the CEO of Villocity.com, a new cause driven, east/west social movement. He is the Lead Pastor of the NewSong Global Alliance (Third Culture communities in Irvine, North Orange County (CA), Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Dallas, India, Seoul, and Bangkok) which catalyze churches with multiple forms and styles. Dave serves on the Board of World Vision US and is also the Chief Visionary Officer of Xealot, a community development organization that develops movement leaders.

Zondervan/Leadership Network is publishing Dave’s new book, The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third Culture Church, with a foreword by Jeff Brazill, a Pulitzer Prize Recipient.

Hear Dave Gibbons in Breakouts D190 (Featured), and PL1057.