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The annual Acts 1:8 SENT Conference, sponsored by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, will mark its fourth year when the event is held April 17-18 at Houston’s First Baptist Church.
SENT is more hands-on than a typical missions conference, the music is oriented toward the youngers in the crowd, and the approach to missions begins at one’s front door and ends halfway around the globe?glocal, they call it.
That’s by design, said SBTC Missions Mobilization Associate Tiffany Smith.
“The SENT Conference is developed and geared to train and equip church staff and lay leaders, and especially youth and collegiate students and young adults, to mobilize in missions, to learn to live their lives missionally, whether locally in Texas, somewhere in North America or overseas.”
Smith said training the next generation of Baptist leaders to be missionaries no matter their geographic residence is crucial, and SENT draws a more youthful contingent than a typical denominational event.
This year the SBTC’s collegiate ministries will scholarship any college student with lodging, meals and conference registration fees.
A flyer for SENT beckons readers to “investigate your role in God’s plan to reach the people and the nations around you?at home and overseas. Learn how to walk the Christian journey with life skills that equip you to live out the greatest adventure God has designed for you as you share Christ with the people in the world.”
And increasingly, the world has come to Texas, Smith noted, creating the possibility for global impact at home as well as abroad.
Smith said there would be 38 speakers in plenary and breakout seminars and several dozen missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, Baptist Global Response and other Great Commission organizations.
“So there’s practical training for everyone, and there is ample opportunity to connect with missionaries, pray for them, plan short-term projects with them?to network with them face to face and start engaging the mission field even if the first step is praying for them,” Smith said.
Keynote speakers will include IMB President Jerry Rankin and LifeWay Research director Ed Stetzer.
Recording artist Joel Engle, pastor of The Exchange in Keller, a church plant begun in September, will lead in musical worship.
Workshops will include Bible-storying for oral cultures; “Becoming a Missional Church,” “Reaching Out to Muslims,” “Medical Missions,” “Using ESL in Missions,” “Reaching Your City” and other topics.
Also this year, special pre-sessions are available during the day on April 17 including Disaster Relief Phase 1 training and other topics such as spiritual warfare and building a short-term missions team.
About five spots for a Houston Vision Tour on April 16 remained open as of March 13, Smith said. The tour will offer a glimpse at the possible mission opportunities in Houston and will include prayerwalking, dinner at a homeless shelter, and visits to the Vietnamese Buddhist Center, Hong Kong Market and the Da’wah Islamic Center.
To inquire about the vision tour, e-mail Gayla Harris at gharris@sbtexas.com.
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