IM Pastors’ Conference Behind the Scenes

Our Middle East Pastors Conference structure is based on past conferences and input from local IM leader Pastor Magdi. Once the content is chosen, I am charged with preparing an expositional outline for the conference sessions, which Magdi reviews and together we assign the teaching sessions for the daily sessions. John takes each evening to preach a message of encouragement and exhortation to the pastors.

Choosing to do a series through 2 Timothy for this year’s Conference was a change from last year’s thematic conference on the Trinity. This was strategic, however, as we want to offer both doctrinal teaching and a model of biblical expository preaching. Since this book was both short enough to cover well and focuses on pastoral responsibility and character, it was a choice that met all our aims. Were we successful? If you read the testimonies elsewhere in this letter, you will be encouraged. Two pastors came up to John and me and said, “We have never heard of preaching verse by verse through a book before. This is wonderful. We want to do this.”

A theme we stressed was mentoring the next generation of leaders in good news ministry, using Paul and Timothy and 2 Tim. 2:2 as touchstones. This is a great need in this region and we are praying that this conference will be a catalyst for change.

Craig Miller, Director of Ed Development