Description: In the EFCA, credentialing is critical because it is one of the primary ways of safeguarding doctrinal/theological integrity and denominational alignment. Additionally, credentialing is also one of the ways of ensuring accountability of pastors and ministers, especially in today’s culture where doctrinal integrity is questioned, and misuse of the pastoral role has caused harm. In this session, we will learn about credentialing, the process, and its importance, both for pastors and ministers and the church. All are welcome, as there is much to learn about credentialing in the EFCA. 

Trainer: Greg Strand 

Title: Executive Director of Theology and Credentialing 

Bio: Greg serves as Executive Director of Theology and Credentialing for the EFCA at the national office in Minneapolis, MN, a role in which he has served for twenty years. Greg provides oversight to the Board of Ministerial Standing, serves as chair of the Spiritual Heritage Committee and the Theological-Missiological Advisory Council, plans the annual Theology Conference, and helps pastors, leaders and churches think through issues biblically, theologically and pastorally. He also serves as adjunct professor of Pastoral Theology at TEDS and as a board member on the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding. Greg is husband to Karen, and father to three, father-in-law to three, and grandfather of eight. Greg likes to run, bike, hike and camp. He is a member at Northfield EFC, Northfield, MN. 

Description: Most churches agree that disciplemaking is important. Yet few churches have a shared picture of the kind of disciples of Jesus they are designed to develop and deploy– that their local community desperately needs more of. Without this clarity, ministry activity and program participation become the unintended scorecard of mission success.  

In this workshop, we’ll explore how having a shared picture of your dream disciple can become a linchpin to: 

• Focus  your leadership team 
• Energize your congregation 
• Inform your disciplemaking pathway 
• Shape your training culture 
• Maximize your collective gospel impact 

Trainer: Shane Stacey 

Title: Co-Founder, Clarity House 

Bio: Shane is the Co-Founder of Clarity House, a training and consulting organization that equips church teams across the country to lead with a shared vision fueled by disciple-making clarity. For the past 28 years, Shane has served in and alongside local churches as a pastor, coach, and consultant. 

Before launching Clarity House, Shane served as the Executive Director of Denominee, where he helped over 40 denominational and network teams lead with greater synergy, bringing increased value to the churches they serve. He also spent a decade with the Evangelical Free Church’s national team, helping local and regional leaders build disciple-making cultures rooted in a way of life in Christ. 

Shane is currently a non-vocational leader at River City Church in Minneapolis, MN, where he lives with his wife, Heather. Together, they have three young adult children: Isaac, Gavin and Ruth. 

Description: Retirement--whether it is in your near future or decades away, there is great value both for you and those with whom you serve to think and work ahead. At this workshop we'll look at how to make the most of transitions, talk about contribution and legacy, highlight realities that come with retirement and aging and consider next steps. 

Trainer: Terri Miller 

Title: ReachGlobal Europe Area Leader--Resourcing and Training 

Bio: Terri Miller serves as a member of ReachGlobal’s Europe Divisional Leadership Team and as the Global Church Representative of the National Association of Evangelicals. She has called four different continents “home”, having lived in Minneapolis, Johannesburg (South Africa), Wheaton (IL), Hefei (China) and Moscow (Russia). Terri enjoys teaching and training, exploring new cities, a great conversation and a good book. She lives with her husband, Matt, a professor of history, in Minneapolis and has three adult children. 

Description: Vision isn’t hard, but cultivating a shared vision fueled by disciplemaking clarity can be. Most church teams are hindered by undeveloped clarity and an undefined ministry model. The Great Commission has functionally been reduced to: Go into all the world and make worship attenders, baptize them into the name of small groups and teach them how to volunteer several hours a month. In our hearts, we know that reaching a post-Christian culture requires more and that the people of God empowered by the Spirit of God are capable of more. 

In this workshop, we’ll explore how the Funnel Fusion master tool can help to diagnose current reality as well as identify necessary shifts to empower your people to be a gospel influence beyond the confines of your ministry environments and into the places where they live, work, study and play. 

Trainer: Shane Stacey 

Title: Co-Founder, Clarity House 

Bio: Shane is the Co-Founder of Clarity House, a training and consulting organization that equips church teams across the country to lead with a shared vision fueled by disciple-making clarity. For the past 28 years, Shane has served in and alongside local churches as a pastor, coach, and consultant. 

Before launching Clarity House, Shane served as the Executive Director of Denominee, where he helped over 40 denominational and network teams lead with greater synergy, bringing increased value to the churches they serve. He also spent a decade with the Evangelical Free Church’s national team, helping local and regional leaders build disciple-making cultures rooted in a way of life in Christ. 

Shane is currently a non-vocational leader at River City Church in Minneapolis, MN, where he lives with his wife, Heather. Together, they have three young adult children: Isaac, Gavin and Ruth.

Description: God's people are comprised of all kinds of people "from every tribe, tongue and nation." God desires unity among this multiethnic people, but how can we find our way in our era of polarization? In this session we will discuss how the Bible guides su to take diversity seriously, including considering how our current climate presents great opportunity for modeling a truly "good news witness."

Trainer: Vincent Bacote

Title: Profession of Theology and the Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College

Bio: Vincent Bacote desires to help Christians build bridges between faith and life. He is Professor of Theology and the Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. He is the author of books including Reckoning with Race and Performing the Good News: In search of a Better Evangelical Theology (2020) and The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life and he has contributed to books including Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (2019), The Church's Social Responsibility (2015), and Black Scholars in White Space (2015). He lives in the Chicago area with his family.

Description: The screen-based digital world is posing significant discipleship challenges for Christians and churches. In this workshop session, Brett McCracken discusses principles for growing in spiritual health and Christian wisdom in a rapidly changing technological landscape. 

Trainer: Brett McCracken 

Title: Senior Editor and Director of Communications, The Gospel Coalition 

Bio: Brett McCracken is a senior editor and director of communications for The Gospel Coalition. He is the author or editor of several books, most recently Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age (Crossway, 2025) and The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World (Crossway, 2021). Brett lives in Santa Ana, California with his wife Kira and three children.

Description: It's no secret that our culture's view of Jesus Followers and the Church are no longer positive or even neutral. Join Pastor Larry Osborne and he explores what we can do as individuals and a as a local church to reach an increasingly secular culture for Jesus and the truth. 

Trainer: Larry Osborne

Bio: Larry Osborne is a Kingdom Ambassador and Teaching Pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, CA. During his tenure as lead pastor, North Coast grew from 70 adults to over 13,000 in total weekend attendance with 7 local campuses – And now 11 campuses.

His rare mix of theological and practical wisdom has made him a mentor and major influencer to thousands of pastors, including many of the largest churches in the nation. Many of the  

innovative concepts he pioneered at North Coast Church are now common practice, including sermon-based small groups, teaching teams, video venues, and multisite campuses.  

His ten books include Sticky Church, Sticky Teams, Lead Like A Shepherd, Thriving in Babylon, and Accidental Pharisees.

Larry and his wife, Nancy, reside in Oceanside, CA. And consider their greatest in life that all three of their kids love Jesus, married up, and live nearby with their eight grandchildren. 

Description: In this session, we will be exploring the missional gap between where your church is and where you want it to be when it comes to the priorities of evangelism and church multiplication. Using scripture, diffusion of innovations theory, and other resources we will explore ways to embrace and intentionally move your church in the direction of positive change. At the end of this session, you will receive a list of resources that can keep you moving on this journey.

Trainer: Scott Sterner

Title: Executive Vice President of National Ministries for the EFCA

Bio: Scott Sterner has more that 20 years of pastoral experience within two EFCA churches, as well as more than a decade of service in church planting and leadership roles with the EFCA Forest Lakes District and ReachNetwork—the collaborative, district-based church planting effort of the EFCA. Scott holds a master's degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and attends Door Creek Church (EFCA) in Madison, WI. Scott and his wife, Carrie, have five children and four grandchildren.

Description: This session will address various reproductive technologies available today, seeking to understand them in light of biblical principles and theological commitments regarding our bodies, marriage, and the needs of children. Attendees will be encouraged to come to a prayerful conviction regarding the use of reproductive technologies, particularly in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Trainer: Dr. Matthew Eppinette

Title: Executive Director of The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD)

Bio: Matthew Eppinette, MBA, PhD, is the Executive Director of The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD), a research center alongside Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity Law School. He has more than two decades of experience in the field, writing, teaching, and speaking on a wide variety of bioethics issues. In addition, he has co-written and co-produced six documentary films that address issues in bioethics. Matthew and his wife, Ginger, currently reside in Suburban Chicago.

Description: In our day, communities of believers are faced with a myriad of issues that pose deep and significant challenges to the practice of Christian community as well as our engagement with the world as people formed by the Gospel. But if missiologist Lesslie Newbigin is correct in his assertion that 'the local church is the only true hermeneutic of the gospel', we must discover a view of the church and the mission of God's people that stands the test. In this session you will become acquainted with three missiological tools — publics, thickness, and movement — which will help you lead your local congregation to more effective engagement with your community for the sake of the Good News.

Trainer: Mark Revell

Title: Director of Training, EFCA ReachGlobal

Bio: Mark Revell serves as Director of Training and Development for EFCA ReachGlobal. He is responsible for overseeing ministry training process for international missionaries with the EFCA. He also facilitates leadership development for ReachGlobal, and collaborates with teams and divisions to create a culture of learning across the organization.

Alongside his global role, Mark and his wife, Jodi, have made their home in Budapest, Hungary, since 2010. Over those 15 years, Mark served as ReachGlobal's local team leader, led a Hungarian non-profit that operations a community center in one of Budapest's most densely-populated neighborhoods, and had the joy of serving two established Hungarian churches and planting a third.

Alongside his work with EFCA, Mark is a research scholar at the Oxford Center for Christian Mission (UK), where his research interest is realted to church planting in Hungary.

Description: Deconstructing faith. How do we view and respond to this? We must not let fear or experience or culture alone shape our answer. In this training session, we'll see how the Gospel, rightly portrayed and communicated, provides the needed response to those in the process of deconstructing their faith.

Trainer: Dr. Gloria Grell

Title: Director of Prepared

Bio: Gloria has served as a pastor's wife, missionary, Ministry to Women leader, Director of Ministry to women with the Great Lakes District of the EFCA, and adjunct professor at Moody Bible Institute. She's currently the Director of Prepared, the EFCA equipping program for women in ministry. Gloria earned her Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She and her husband, Daniel, have five married children and fifteen grandchildren.

Description: The late-modern world is incredibly effective at "discipling" young people today. Local churches need to rethink how we impart the faith to the next generation in order to seek deeper transformation and renewal. This begins by capturing the imagination with the biblical story through creative hands-on learning opportunities that embody, embed, and enact doctrinal truths so that the glorious reality of the kingdom of God is vividly known.

Trainer: Brent Kompelien

Title: Senior Pastor at New Life Evangelical Free Church, Hastings, MN

Bio: Brent serves as the Senior Pastor of New Life Evangelical Free Church in Hastings, MN. He previously spent six years doing church planting and urban missions in San Francisco, CA. He is passionate about understand the challenges of ministry in the late-modern world. He is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (MDiv '12, DMin '24) and is ordained in the EFCA. Brent and his wife, Sarah, have two daughters.

Description: In this session, we'll explore how to engage others with the EFCA's Statement of Faith to promote spiritual growth and deepen understanding of essential biblical truths. Participants will learn how to use the statement as a tool to spark meaningful conversations, challenge assumptions, and foster a more robust faith. This workshop will equip leaders with strategies to help individuals connect theological concepts to their daily lives, encouraging a deeper and more personal walk with Christ.

Trainer: Keri Early

Bio: Keri has served in various ministry roles across public schools, churches, and Christian higher education. She is currently a member of the EFCA Prepared leadership team and an instructor for the program. In addition, Keri is an online adjunct professor at Moody Bible Institute. At her church, she is actively involved in adult ministries and also volunteers as a small group leader and teacher in student ministries. She and her husband, Brandon, have three sons and live in Clive, IA.

Description: There is a lot of confusion in our world when it comes to understanding gender--and for increasing numbers of young people, significant pain in their experience of their own gender. How do we practically, compassionately, and truthfully come alongside young people around us who might be struggling with their own gender identity? In this training session, we will think through these complex questions and offer biblical clarity, compassion, and wisdom for parents and church leaders who want to care well for those struggling with gender dysphoria.

Trainer: Jennifer Kvamme

Bio: Jennifer Kvamme is a student ministries catalyst at Centennial EFC in Forest Lakes, MN, where. she has served for more than 20 years, and author of More to the Story: Deep Answers to Real Questions on Identity, Attraction, and Relationships. She is wife to Greg, mom to three, and passionate about helping young people see the beauty of the gospel and apply it to all of life.

Description: This session provides a concise overview of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, highlighting its complex roots and ongoing challenges. Participants will explore the unique opportunities and obstacles faced by Christian agencies operating in this context.

Trainer: Adam

Title: EFCA ReachGlobal International Leader, Middle East North Africa

Bio: Adam serves as International Leader for EFCA ReachGlobal overseeing missionaries in the MENA division (Middle East & North Africa). He holds an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and spent 15 years as an EFCA pastor in California. Adam currently resides in the Middle East with his wife, Libby.

Description: This session is designed for pastors and leaders who want to foster unity within their congregations or engage with Spanish-speaking communities. Join a panel discussion to explore the vibrant Hispanic culture, its diversity, and recent growth trends in the church. Understanding these dynamics will strengthen fellowship and enhance ministry within the Body of Christ.

Facilitator: Marc Ramirez

Title: District Superintendent EFCA Southeast

Bio: Marc, an experienced pastor with over 20 years of leadership in the church and corporate world, has a heart for people and a passion for church health. He currently serves the EFCA as the District Superintendent of the Southeast and now resides in Port Orange, FL. He previously served for 18 years as the associate pastor and then senior pastor of Fellowship Church in Dallas, PA, where he implemented a visionary strategy that led to significant growth in church attendance and staff development. Before entering full-time pastoral ministry, he gained valuable corporate management experience working for 12 years in the Supply Chain field. Marc is supported in his ministry by his wife, Stephanie, they have two married daughters living in PA and their son Marc Jr is finishing his senior year at Liberty University.

Panelist #1: Jonathan Pierson

Title: Jonathan Pierson, Campus Pastor

Bio: Jonathan has served the Hispanic community for many years — from the mission field in Venezuela to various Hispanic churches within the Chicagoland area before joining the Park Hills staff in 2023 as the campus pastor of their Winnebago campus. Jonathan graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 2007 with a BA in Biblical Studies and pursued further studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he graduated in 2016 with an MA in Theological Studies and is currently working on his DMin with ProMeta. Jonathan has a passion for teaching and preaching the Word of God and seeing people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. He is married to Erimar Pierson and they have two children.

Panelist #2: Alex Rivero

Title: Pastor Alex Rivero

Bio: Alex Rivero, a native of Venezuela, has been involved with the EFCA since 2002 serving as the Hispanic and the Executive Pastor at The Bridge EFCA in Newbury Park, CA. Joined the EFCA West team in 2014 serving as the All-People Ministries Director. Married to Nancy in 1991, three adult children, and two grandkids. He is a graduate of the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (M. Div.). Finishing his second Master's degree in Christian Leadership from ProMeta. Currently enrolled in a DMin program with Kairos University / ProMeta. Love playing pickleball.

Panelist #3: Gissella Concha

Bio: Gissella Concha is a dedicated servant of Christ from Santiago, Chile, with a deep passion for fostering unity within Hispanic communities. Having given her life to the Lord at 15, she and her husband, Hugo, were called to serve in the United States in 2003, where they became involved in ministry to Hispanic congregations. Over the years, Gissella has played a key role in connecting with and service the Hispanic community through her work with the EFCA, including supporting ESL ministries and translating resources into Spanish. Her experiences in both ministry and culturally engagement uniquely position her to speak on the vibrant and diverse Hispanic culture, as well as its growth and influence within the church.