USMB Gathering 2022, the biennial national pastors’ conference and national convention, is coming to Kansas City, July 26-30.
The theme is “Increasing Impact: Reaching the Lost” and will focus on outreach and evangelism. Church multiplication and evangelism is one of USMB’s collectively-discerned three core commitments.
“I think the majority of us would say that we need to do a better job of proclaiming the gospel to those around us who don’t yet know Jesus,” says USMB national director Don Morris. “Jesus himself said, ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’ (Luke 19:10). If that’s why he came, then we need to do all we can to join with him in that, to see more people come to know him and become true Jesus-followers.”
With a full lineup of speakers, workshops, worship and business, USMB Gathering will provide an opportunity to gather with and support others in the USMB family, experience community and be encouraged, challenged and resourced.
Speakers
Five featured speakers will highlight the event, including Gary Comer, author, professor and founder of Soul Whisperer Ministry.
Comer will provide six sessions during the pastors’ conference July 26-28, including interactive sessions based on his newest book, ReMission. Comer will also kick off Session 1 of the national convention Thursday evening, focusing on material from his book, Soul Whisperer, which offers a new way for the church to view evangelism.
Other speakers include Hillary Morgan Ferrer, apologist and founder of Mama Bear Apologetics; Don Morris, USMB national director; and two USMB pastors—Jeff Hubrich, pastor at Lakeview Church, Grantsville (Utah) Campus, which launched on Easter Sunday 2021, and Jeff Bell, lead pastor of Mosaic in Littleton, Colorado.
“We have a lot planned for those who attend Gathering 2022—great speakers, workshops, testimonies and worship—to help us learn how we can be better at evangelism, both as individual followers of Jesus and collectively as churches,” Morris says. “I’m very excited for this pastors’ conference and convention and what we’ll learn together. Plus, it’ll be great to actually meet in-person again—to talk, worship, share, learn and laugh with one another. We need that.”
Schedule
The pastors’ conference will begin with dinner followed by Session 1 on Tuesday, July 26, and conclude at noon on Thursday, July 28. Comer will speak during the six sessions. Pastors and spouses are encouraged to attend.
Registration for the convention will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, with the event beginning with dinner and Session 1. Lunch and dinner will be provided on Friday. The convention will conclude at noon Saturday, July 30. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Business will be split between two sessions Friday and Saturday mornings, with items on the agenda to include the election of new board members and representatives, affirmation of the 2022 budget and renewal of the Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission memorandum of understanding with USMB.
Workshops will be offered in two blocks Friday afternoon. Topics will include evangelism in rural churches, pastoral finances, engaging in global mission and evangelism and evangelizing the next generation, among others.
Kim Bontrager and a team from Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas, will lead worship.
Children’s and youth activities will be available for the pastors’ conference and national convention.
Congolese pastors and leaders will gather Saturday afternoon through Sunday for a mini-summit.
Accommodations
USMB Gathering 2022 will be held at the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center in Independence, Missouri, which is a suburb of northeast Kansas City about 45 minutes from Kansas City International Airport.
USMB Gathering 2020 was initially planned for this venue before the convention moved to an online format because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The conference center is attached to the hotel and is on one level. The venue is located near Crackerneck Creek Falls, a small lake, a park and a 2-mile walking trail, as well as restaurants and shopping.
Delegates and guests will need to make hotel reservations by June 25, 2022, in order to receive the discounted room rate of $112 per night, which includes a complimentary breakfast buffet, Internet and parking.
Registration
Registration fees are $119 per person for the pastors’ conference, $169 per person for the national convention, $99 for youth ages 12-18 and $89 for children ages 3-11. For more information or to register, visit www.usmb.org/gathering2022.
Area attractions
Free time is built into the schedule on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons and will give attendees an opportunity to explore a number of area attractions.
Located minutes from downtown Kansas City, Independence is Harry Truman’s hometown and is one of a limited number of cities with a presidential museum and library. Independence was also the beginning of the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails in the 1800s. Other area attractions include the Arabia Steamboat Museum and the National WWI Museum and Memorial. Independence is six miles east of the stadiums of the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals. For a list of attractions, visit www.usmb.org/area-attractions-2022.
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and an Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals award in 2022. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
