Breakouts 2012
Keep Checking Back for More Updates Including Time and Date!
Featured Breakout Speakers
Dr. Gordon Anderson
President North Central University
"Penecostals Are Prophetic"
Dr. Anderson will decribe how the primary function of the Penecostal world will bear prophetic witness of Jesus Christ- both on a personal and Corporate level.
Joe Anderson, Surrender Story
Peter Haas
Lead Pastor Substance Church
"How to Share Offensive Truth Without Offending"
Whether you're teaching on Hell, Homosexuality, or Money, proclaiming truth can be a mine-field. Thus, many leaders either ignore tough subjects or simply become insensitive. So how do we take on tough issues while adding a spoonful of sugar? Get ready for crazy stories mixed with Bible insights on how to get sinners running towards inconvenient truth.
Peter experienced a radical conversion to Christianity while working in a nightclub as a DJ. He and his wife Carolyn altered their lives towards leadership in the body of Christ. Straight out of college they launched numerous youth ministries, a two-year ministry school and outreaches that have reached over 100,000 people. By 24 years old, they were senior pastors at a sizable church in Wisconsin. Recently they planted Substance Church, and within a few years it has become a thriving multi-site congregation with an attendance of 2,000 people: a church known to focus on the unchurched. He regularly consults with church planters all over the globe as he serves on the A-Team of the Association of Related Churches (ARC). He is also the author of the new book, Pharisectomy: How To Remove Your Inner Pharisee & Other Religiously Transmitted Diseases. ( http://store.influenceresources.com/products/pharisectomy)
Keith Kerstetter
Lead Pastor at Willmar AG
"What Helps Us Not To Quit When We'd Like To"
God's ironic sense of humor is on display in Willmar - a large church in a small town led by an introverted Pastor who hates people (okay, maybe not hates, but you get the idea.) We will share the five scriptural principles of relationship that transformed our ministry hearts and keep the UPS application in the drawer.
Keith and Cindy Kerstetter have been Senior Pastoring in Willmar for ten years. Prior to that they were on staff at Cedar Valley Church in Bloomington. They have four children: Sam (21); Mike (18); Tom (16); and Anna (8).
Administration
Madison Groves
Senior Risk Consultant, Bearence Management Group
There are at least two good programs available to help your congregation navigate through today's "got-to-have-it" climate and the resulting financial stress into which many have found themselves. This session will provide a brief orientation to both Financial Peace University and the Crown Ministries programs.
Madison Groves is a Senor Risk Consultant with Bearence Management Group in Minneapolis. He works with businesses and churches on their employee benefit and compensation plans. Madison, Marlene and their family attend Cedar Valley Church in Bloomington where they have been the past 30 years.
Sharon Kiel
Bio Coming Soon
Dave Leininger
CPA, LeiningerCPA, Ltd.
LeiningerCPA, Ltd. provides a wide-range of audit and risk management services ro churches and non-profit organizations, financial institutions, mortgage originators and other financial related companies. Steve England, from Principal of Faith Financial Consulting, will be joing Dave during this session. Steve has worked through numerous accounting reviews and has an extensive and practical understanding of the financial and administrative needs of churches.
Deanna Olson
Office Manager ECC
"Coordinating Weddings & Funerals"
This workshop is to help in the plans and preparations for two very important and sacred events held at the church – weddings and funerals.
Wedding Coordinating - Once a couple is engaged, their first contact should be the church where the ceremony will be held. Policies and procedures are very important, so it is important to have guidelines established to help the couple with practical details of the ceremony and pre-marriage counseling. Well-defined plans can make the difference between a perfect day, or a day filled with unexpected mishaps and disappointment. Funeral Coordinating - When a family loses a loved one, there are many matters to arrange and many decisions to be made. We will talk about what your church can do to help the family plan a personalized tribute to their loved one.
Deana has been on staff at Emmanuel Christian Center for 21 years as an Administrative Assistant/Office Manager and has coordinated many weddings and funerals as well as many other roles. She works full time at the church, is married with two children, and enjoys scrapbooking and outdoor activities.
Gordie Schmitz
"Church Administration That Works"
It’s a course on everything business at church; from policies, to procedures, to employee issues and all those gray areas in between. Be part of the discussion by bringing your stories and questions.
Gordie Schmitz is a graduate of The University of St. Thomas with a degree in accounting. As a C.P.A. he worked for a large regional public accounting firm before leaving public accounting to be the first CFO for Amcon Construction Company. For 30 years he has led Amcon to be one of the area’s largest and most successful commercial general contractors. He has attended Emmanuel Christian Center since 1982 and has been active in most ministries including 2 terms as a Deacon and the church Treasurer since 2003. In 2010, he assumed the business administrator position at ECC on a “temporay” basis.
Children's Ministry
Randy Christensen
Children's & Family Specialist
"Leading the Young In Praise & Worship"
Biblical perspective and concepts plus practical insights are shared that will challenge and aid leaders in leading children during times of corporate worship.
Randy Christensen is a three decade veteran of effective family and children’s ministry. He is known for his creative presentations that pack a spiritual punch. Randy and his family will be our featured children’s evangelists at the Lake Geneva AG camps this June.
Ginger Olson
Early Childhood Director at Emmanuel Christian Center
"Early Childhood Ministry Essentials" We will be looking at an overview of Early Childhood Ministry. We will cover large group service, lesson planning and preparing, classroom management, and parent communication.
Ginger is the Early Childhood Director at Emmanuel Christian Center. She is a firm believer that ministering to young children is a unique opportunity to share God's love that resonates to the core of their belief system.
Dan Rector
Professor North Central University
"Creative Ways to Teach Bible Verses"
This session offers a variety of methods to teach a scripture to children, in interesting and eye catching ways.
Dan Rector is regarded by many as a leading authority of children's ministry. Dan has many years of experience as Children’s Evangelist, Pastor and Educator. Professor Rector holds a master's degree in education from the University of St. Thomas and has taught at North Central University for more than 25 years as an adjunct and full-time faculty member. He remains very active as a children's evangelist, speaking all over the world.
Kristie Kerr
Polka Dot Girls
Kristie Kerr is a writer, speaker, and worship leader but more importantly she is the mother to one sweet boy and three beautiful girls. She has written several women’s Bible studies, and in 2011 she co-founded a ministry to reach the next generation called Polka Dot Girls. Their mission is for girls of all ages to know their value and walk confidently into everything God has planned for them. Polka Dot Girls offers a variety of resources for churches, leaders, parents and girls themselves! Visit us at Polkadotgirls.org. Kristie and her husband Jeff reside in Farmington, MN.
Olga Vigil
National Girl's Ministry Leadership Development
Bio Coming Soon
Creative Arts
Mark Alan
Emmanuel Christian Center Worship Team
"Working With A Rythm Section"
Larry Bach
Panel Discussion
Dr. Dave Collins
"How Did We Get Here"
Topic – Biblical and Historical Foundation of Worship Leadership. We will do a quick “fly over” of the history and theology of Christian worship, then discuss the ups and downs of music-driven worship.
Dr. Dave Collins is a faculty member and the chair of the College of Fine Arts at North Central University in Minneapolis, MN. He was a music pastor for 25 years and has been teaching at NCU for 9 years. Dave’s education includes a B.S. in Church Music from NCU, a Masters in Music from the University of Minnesota, and a Doctorate in Worship Studies from the Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, Fl.
Dave and his wife, Linda, have four grown children and four grand children. They love the local church and are on staff on a part-time basis at River Valley Church in the area of worship arts.
Ryan Williams
River Valley Worship Team
"Finding A Song For Your Church"
Discipleship
Pamela Nelson
"America's Next Top Model"
Modeling the Christian Life To Women Through the Power of Dynamic Mentoring and Discipleship.
- Uncovering Every Woman's Unique Life Experience, and Purpose as a Mentor
- Equipping and Releasing Women Who Believe the Lie That They Have Nothing To Offer
- Answering a New Believer or Young Woman's Prayer to be in an Authentic Relationship with Other Women on the Journey Towards Christ.
Pam Nelson has been a Women's Mentor and small group Bible study leader since her early 20's. Through Growing in Christ Ministries, her role as a Worship Director for 6 years, a Missionary with YWAM, and a faith-based Life Coach Pam challenges women to make their lives accessible for ministry in whatever ways God has uniquely purposed them. Over the last 5 years she has seen women from 14 different churches take place in quarterly community Bible studies and mentoring programs simply because "lay-women" have stepped up and made their lives available to other younger women in the faith. Pam will give you tools to effectively model the christian life through informal and formal mentoring and discipleship programs. Real life happens between the big events…we need to effectively model courageous living in the practical day to day! www.designedforpurposecoaching.com
Steph Peterson
Young Adults Director
"Young Adult/College Ministry 101"
If you feed them (or make good coffee) …they will come!" The only requirements for being a Young Adult/College Leader is to love Young Adults/College students and provide a a place for them to have community. Do you have a passion for Young Adult ministry to begin/develop in your church? Hear how to begin and continually develop a thriving Young Adult Ministry that will ensure your church continues to THRIVE (not just survive) and be relevant to the community in which you live and minister.
Pastor Steph Peterson is a Campus Pastor at Winona State University. She is also on staff at The Edge, a new church plant in Winona, MN, right across the street from the University. Steph is a graduate of North Central University and has been in youth, college/young adult and worship ministry for 2
0 years. She is currently the Young Adult Director for the MN District of the Assemblies of God. Steph is passionate about reaching the students at our public universities and is convinced that if we as the church are purposeful about reaching college students and young adults we will see the next great revival. Since beginning the college ministry "Chi Alpha @ The Edge" two and a half years ago nearly 300 WSU students have made commitments to follow Christ. She has a lead team of 20 students that help her direct the ministry and run the coffee bar at “The Edge Student Center”.
Steph is married to Chuck, who is Lead Pastor at The Edge. They live in the beautiful bluffs of Winona, MN with their children Reid (15), Ellie (9) and Calvin (7).
Ron Roberts
Scott Womack
Men's Ministries Director
Pastor Scott has served as the district Men's Director since 2006. He is also currently the Lead pastor of Stone Church in Eagan Minnesota. Stone Church is a church plant that started in the fall of 2009.
Evangelism
Denny Curran
Lead Pastor River of Life Church
"Failure Is Not an Option"
Denny Curran is the senior pastor of River of Life in Cold Spring, Mn, a church he founded in 1993. Pastor Denny and River of Life have planted six churches in rural areas throughout Central Minnesota.
Steve Gartland
Alpha
Bio Coming Soon
Tom Truszinski
Outreach Pastor Cedar Valley Church
"Reaching Your World, Family, and Workplace for Jesus"
Topics that will be covered include: Personal styles of evangelism, traps and dangers, how can I share my faith: at work and with the family, and how can I effectively pray for the unsaved.
Tom Truszinski joined the staff at Cedar Valley Church as Outreach Pastor in 1999 after a 13year career in public finance. In 1995, Tom was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that radically changed his life. Through the events that followed the accident, Tom received Jesus and has had a heavy burden for lost souls ever since. Tom has been married to Carmen for 21 years and has four children.
Doug Vagle, Lead Pastor of The Waters Church
"God is doing a NEW thing.....How do I get people to jump on board?"
Is God calling you to be a part of a church plant? In our session we will be talking about how to get people to embrace your God given dream and how to involve others in making it happen! A God sized dream is bigger than you and it is bigger than me. Come learn how to gain momentum!
Doug and his wife Peggy, along with their three children moved to Sartell Mn about four years ago to begin the greatest adventure of their lives! The very thing that scared them the most is what God was asking them to do......leave everything that felt comfortable to them and start a brand new church. They started The Waters Church and it has been an amazing journey for their entire family! God has shown His faithfulness to them in ways they never could have imagined.
Media
Mark Brown
Reach Communications
"Hi-Def Video in Church Media Systems"
We will discuss the meaning of Hi-Def (HD) Video, how it differs from Standard Def (SD), and what is needed to achieve HD video within the framework of Media Systems typically found in churches. The discussion will deal with HD video within the context of video projection, video cabling & interconnection systems, and video switching- mixing-distribution electronics. The goal is to help church technical staff to better understand their options for shifting from existing SD-only configurations to HD-capable systems.
Mark Brown is the co-owner of Reach Communications, located in the Minneapolis area, and serves as a Sr. Systems Engineer. A major focus for Reach, and for Mark, is helping churches with technology systems for worship (e.g. audio, video, and lighting), including selecting and integrating the equipment that best suits these needs for each specific situation. Mark has a BEE degree from the University of Minnesota, and has worked in the areas of electronics, computers, and audio-visual systems for more than 30 years.
Luke Frederick
Sheepish Design
Reaching the online world with your churches story can be difficult. Learn how to unify and tell your story through your website, mobile website and social meida. This session will focus on best practice and tips to establishing a strong presences on a budget.
Missions
Justin Mack
Missions & Small Group Pastor River Valley Church
Justin's greatest personal desire is to learn more how to love God and love people. He is a 3rd generation ordained A/G minister. He has personally led mission teams to more than 50 countries on all inhabited continents and has helped organize several hundred teams for over 2500 short-terms. He is a graduate of Southwestern Assemblies of God University and is currently working on his Master’s Degree in Global Leadership from Fuller Seminary. He is married to State Representative Tara Mack.
Paul Hurckman
Venture Expeditions
"BEYOND BONO: Developing a Biblical Theology of Justice"
Human Trafficking, Famine, Displaced People… One for One products, Documentaries, Bags of Cement. What is justice, where does that definition come from, and how do we respond accordingly? Engage in a conversation that goes deeper than trendy taglines and effective branding techniques, toward developing a biblical theology of justice that can truly transform.
Paul has experience as a professor, pastor and non-profit leader. He was the Young Adult and Spiritual Formation Pastor at a church in Dallas, as well as a professor at North Central University. Paul is currently the Executive Director of Venture Expeditions.
Need- Oriented
Lois Breit
Missionary to Single Mothers
Lois has over 20 years of ministry experience as an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. She is now bringing her years of experience as a single mother, author and conference speaker to the mission field with her recent appointment as the first Assemblies of God U.S. Missionary to Single Moms.
Her goal is to raise awareness of the single mothers’ needs, provide churches with leadership tools, introduce methods of intentional outreach, and develop single parent curriculum (Bible studies, devotionals, etc)
Diane Dahlen
One-by-One Tutoring
"Reaching the Neighborhood One-by-One"
I hope to cast the vision of reaching the unchurched through the avenue of academic tutoring. I will provide the tools necessary to start a tutoring program.
Live in Bloomington, MN, member of Cedar Valley Church. Three grown children, one grandchild, recently widowed. Involved in church ministries through the years - music, children's church, home group leader, etc. Founder and director of One-by-One Tutoring, an outreach ministry of Cedar Valley Church for children grades K - 8. It is now in its 11th year.
Jodie Johns
Bio Coming Soon
Cori Leik
Bio Coming Soon
Mark Mellen
"In his mid twenties, Pastor Mark Mellen was a homeless drug addict who had a radical encounter with God that changed his life. He is now a devoted husband, father, and MDIV Student at Bethel seminary. He serves as an Associate Pastor at Substance Church, a multi-site church ranked the 21st fastest growing church in the nation. Pastor Mark leads ministry teams, small groups, and intern programs, while serving on the executive team. He has helped doubled the amount of small groups within Substance Church at 85% of church involvement and over 50% of volunteer involvement.
Jodi Ruch
"Church Involvement is not Community Involvement"
After being a pastor’s wife for almost 10 years, Jodi Ruch found herself without a role when her husband, Nate Ruch, joined the team at North Central University. The Lord led her to become involved in the public schools, ironically in the community in which her husband had pastored. Come hear Jodi’s story from Pastor’s wife to School Board member and the valuable lessons she learned along the way. She will also share her family's secret to bringing visitors to church.
Jodi Ruch is married to Nate Ruch and they have four school-age sons. She is serving her second term on the Spring Lake Park School board and works part-time. She is a licensed minister of the Assemblies of God.
Jeff Wendt
Bio Coming Soon
Prayer
Shirley Denyes
Co-Founding Pastor of Emmanuel Christian Center
"Called to Pray"
This workshop is not a “how to pray” session; it is about listening to God, pressing through dark and difficult places, confusing times and long waits. It’s persevering in prayer in the hour we live.
Among Shirley’s loves of her husband, children and grandchildren, she’s had a heart for prayer and the body of Christ. Prayer has sustained her through many difficult situations, and she loves to pray with and encourage others along the way.
Carolyn Tennant
"Does Prayer Do Anything?"
Carolyn Tennant will tackle some of the hard questions regarding prayer. What happens when it seems our prayers don’t get answered? How do we develop a presently lagging prayer life? What if we don’t feel or hear a thing? Let’s get real.
Dr. Tennant is ordained in the Assemblies of God and speaks across the United States and overseas in many different venues including churches, conferences, women’s retreats, district councils, revival services, pastors’ schools and family camps as well as consulting. She has been a professor at North Central University in Minneapolis for eight years where she teaches such classes as C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, Celtic church history, and Revivals. Having served at NCU for 19 years before that as a vice president, she is now spending more time in preaching and writing.
Youth
Dan Hunter
Friday Session 1: BIG TEAM, LITTLE YOU … ministry is not a one man show. Learn how to build, develop, and lead inspired, vision focused teams to success
Friday Session 2: WEDNESDAYS AT SEVEN …we all have a weekly service and we all could make it better. Look at the progression of planning, scheduling and enhancing your weekly service to an experience of excellence and effectiveness
Saturday Session 1: TURNING VISION INTO REALITY … getting a vision is easy, getting a vision to become reality is difficult. If we’re not careful our vision will remain just a dream and eventually die. Find the steps to
Saturay Session 2: LEADING WHILE FOLLOWING... Follow the leader is more than a kid's game; it's life. We must all learn to lead when we're not in the lead.
Dan and Rachel are the founding and Lead Pastors of Living Church. They have enjoyed over 17 years of marriage and ministry together. Dan has served those years in student ministry seeing thousands of students come to Christ. Those years were spent reaching students, raising students, and training leaders all while pastoring and leading locally, and resourcing, networking, and consulting nationally through conferences and products. He has also served many of those years as an Executive Pastor while overseeing young adult, student, and kids ministries. Together, they have worked hard to catalyze growth through equipping leaders, urging innovation, and helping people live for God. Dan and Rachel and their twin girls, Jordyn and Avery, live in Mansfield, TX, but frequent sushi bars, movie theaters, and booster chairs all over the world.