Come and experience empowering worship services, inspiring examples of congregations in transformation, sharing of ideas, and formation of a network of congregations and leaders actively engaged in transformation in congregations in the Southeast U. S.

For more information visit Disciples Home Mission

When will the event be held?
The event will be held from 7:00 PM Friday, January 23 until 12 Noon on Sunday, January 25.

Where will the event be held?
The Crowne Plaza-Atlanta Airport Hotel
1325 VIRGINIA AVE.
ATLANTA, GA 30344
Tel: 1-404-768-6660

The registration includes conference materials, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, lunch on Saturday, all breaks, and other needed materials.

Is the room included in the registration fee?
No. You may reserve a room by calling the Crowne Plaza at the telephone number above and make sure you request the conference rate for the weekend at $92.00 a night. Rooms can be shared.

Is this event just for clergy?
No. In fact, Lay members are encouraged to attend since transformation in the local congregation greatly depends upon lay leadership and participation.

My Region is not a part of SERF. Can I still attend?
Yes. While we encourage you to try to attend the event for your Regional Fellowship, we also realize that some dates and locations work better for some.

Registration:
Register online at: www.discipleshomemissions.org

Or download the REGISTRATION FORM (pdf 133k) for more information.

About the Speaker:

Bill McConnell will be the keynote speaker at the southeastern Transformation event, January 23-25 in Atlanta.

For the last 35 years, Bill McConnell has been the Lead Pastor of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Harrison, Ohio where he has led the congregation through major transformation. Here is why spending time with him is important:

• If you have ever wondered why Transformation is so difficult or even “scary” (and yet worth it), he has something to tell us.

• When you have people in your congregation who:

  • Say they want to be transformed (but have not counted the cost and don’t really mean it); or

  • they only wish 1955 would return, when they should know that “what got you here won’t get you there”; or

  • if you have ever heard those in your congregation easily dismiss needful transformational processes as just “so much of the latest management theory,” without any spiritual nourishment…well…Bill’s counsel is a welcomed relief.

• You may be wondering if Transformation is for you? Or what might be the difference between a “New Church start” and an “Old Church start.”

• Endorsers describe his presentation as: “practical and profound” and an “excellent resource for leaders,” written in a down - to - earth, even “folksy” style, and with a great, self-effacing, sense of humor. (*William H. Edwards, Disciples Regional Minister in Ohio).

• Unlike many other books in this field, Bill speaks especially for Disciples congregations, with many poignant examples.

• In reading McConnell, I could not help but think of Walter Bruggeman’s use of Paul Ricoeur, in quite another connection, the exegesis of texts instead of congregations.

There is a deep reluctance to let loose of a world that has passed away and take on a capacity to embrace a new world being given by God, as a gift. The movement of our life is orientation, disorientation, and reorientation, and in our daily pilgrimage we use much of our energy for this work. We could remain stuck, yearning for the old orientation and grudging its loss, all the time a new creation is being hinted at by all that the future and God is calling us to do and be. We may look back in anger or to the future in hope. (*Walter Bruggemann, The Psalms and the Life of Faith (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), pp. 24ff.

And then there is this:
“The past fourteen years spent in revitalizing a church has been an awesome experience. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. But I am not sure I want to do it again, either.” (Page 5)

It would be worth attending this event, just to find out what this is all about.