Not all speaking events are alike. None is like Kerygma, which is held annually in Franklin Tennessee (just outside Nashville) at the Church of the City. Kerygma is an event shaped by the ministries of Lisa Harper, who loves the Bible and loves people and loves God. And her professors. And she was influenced as well by my friend Lynn Cohick, with whom I will be teaching at Houston Theological Seminary.
(Kelly D, Kris, Lisa, Karen, and one of the very very very few guys present)
We love Kerygma. This is an event for Kris and me. Kris gets to be with women she loves. Plus there’s wonderful music, worship, teaching, seminars, new people to meet, and I get to do some teaching. There were about 1500 persons in attendance — about 1490 women, who gather for empowerment in giftedness, who network into friendships and fellowships, and who learn from a list of wonderful teachers.
(The booth.)
This year included Lynn, Jim Howard, Dorian Coover-Cox, Eva Bleeker, Craig Keener, Craig Blomberg, and others — and you can see them all here.
I get to be in Lisa’s circle of speakers because she likes The Blue Parakeet. This year I gave an opening plenary about “The Jesus Creed,” which I wrote just twenty years ago. In addition, in an afternoon workshop I broke out some ideas from a book I’ve been working on for a couple years — on Jesus and the Pharisees. It was such an energizing workshop with great questions from the audience. Now hear this: I used PowerPoint for the first time in my life. Kelly did the slides and Karen orchestrated the right slides at the right time. It was cool. I must do that again sometime.
Which leads to Lynn’s and my students, and I can’t name them all because I know I would forget to name some. The best way to avoid that is to provide pictures of our students who gathered for dinner together at a home nearby and then who (above) “womaned” the table of books from the Center for Women in Leadership, where they provided books by Lynn and yours truly.
We love Kerygma because we love these people.
Lord willing and, as I learned somewhere, and the “crick don’t rise,” we’ll be back next year in early May. It is in this house the #1 speaking event of the year.
These are a wonderful capture of moments with people who have learned, grown, been affirmed and care for one another with the bond of Jesus as the center point. Thanks for sharing. What a time together, and, I would hope, a sense of satisfaction for your part in their lives. Side note: Power Point is my friend.
👏👏👏 congratulations on using PowerPoint for the first time , after 30 years of teaching I just started using PowerPoint.