The 150 or so National Convention attendees that chose to attend Friday afternoon workshops gave high ratings to the presentations they heard. Hour-long workshops were scheduled twice, with new topics covered in each time slot.
Based on attendance, the most popular workshop was led by keynote speaker Natasha Crain, who talked about teaching apologetics to children and youth. “I appreciated Natasha’s concrete ideas for training up the next generation to know, follow and worship God,” wrote one person in their evaluation. Crain also provided a second workshop during which she answered questions from the audience.
The workshop led by Multiply staff member Nasser al’Qahtani, who spoke about reaching Muslims in your community, was also well attended. “Nasser did a great job of sharing how people from different cultures are not to be feared, but to be seen as Jesus sees them, to be approached as Jesus would approach them and to be valued as Jesus values them,” wrote one attendee.
A workshop on calling younger generations, led by Kyle Goings, USMB NextGen director, was another popular topic. “Kyle really helped with thinking through ways to encourage the younger generations,” wrote one attendee in their evaluation.
Other workshop topics and leaders included reaching neighbors led by Jason Quiring, pastor of Greenhouse Community Church, Saratoga Springs, Utah; the value of camaraderie for pastors led by Curt Vogt, pastor of Buhler (Kan.) MB Church; praying for your children led by Kelsey Ensz and J.L. Martin; being vulnerable in difficult times led by Chandelle Claassen, a spiritual director from Newton, Kan.; and the role of Christian higher education led by David Janzen, president of Tabor College, and André Stephens, president of Fresno Pacific University. MB Foundation launched a new stewardship resource aimed at millennials and their children during their workshop.
Attendees appreciated that workshop sizes allowed for frank and helpful discussions. Participants noted they left workshops with practical ideas, benefited from personal stories and illustrations and grew in their appreciation for those who presented.
Connie Faber joined the magazine staff in 1994 and assumed the duties of editor in 2004. She has won awards from the Evangelical Press Association for her writing and editing. Faber is the co-author of Family Matters: Discovering the Mennonite Brethren. She and her husband, David, have two daughters, one son, one daughter-in-law, one son-in-law and three grandchildren. They are members of Ebenfeld MB Church in Hillsboro, Kansas.
