The Lipscomb Faith and Leadership Forum

Friday, July 31, 2026 3:00 PM-Saturday, August 1, 2026 2:30 PM

Lipscomb Shinn Center, Swang Chapel (Ezell), Ezell 163, 301, 363

Theme: Leading the Church with Discernment and Courage In a Cultural Moment of Renewed Openness

The Faith and Leadership Forum is the inaugural gathering of church leaders who are committed to reading the times wisely and responding faithfully. In a cultural climate marked by exhaustion, polarization, and spiritual searching, many are experiencing something unexpected: renewed openness. The secular confidence of the past generation has softened. Old certainties are fraying. A new willingness to reconsider faith is emerging. Many see this as revival, but even if not, it is certainly a rare and opportune moment.

Leading the Church with Discernment and Courage in a Cultural Moment of Renewed Openness invites ministers and church leaders to reflect deeply on how to shepherd congregations in this fragile and promising season. Drawing from theological scholarship, cultural research, and pastoral experience, Lipscomb faculty will offer thoughtful analysis and practical frameworks for cultivating clarity, depth, and resilient faith. We will explore how to lead in a time when people are spiritually curious but institutionally cautious, when polarization tempts reaction, but the Spirit calls for discernment, and when renewed interest in the church requires renewed seriousness in discipleship.

This forum is not about chasing trends or predicting the future. It is about faithful leadership in the present. Through keynote sessions, breakouts, and candid conversation, participants will be refreshed, challenged, and equipped to guide their congregations with wisdom and courage. If this moment truly holds possibility, the church must be prepared to steward it well.

The cost is $50 per person and includes meals and all materials during the workshop.

Registration Information Coming Soon!

Keynote Sessions

Keynote 1 (Day 1 Opening)

Reading the Restlessness: Discerning the Moment Before Us
Presenter: Dr. Leonard Allen, dean, Lipscomb University College of Bible & Ministry

Purpose: To interpret the cultural mood with sobriety and hope. Leaders are sensing renewed openness, but they also distrust, exhaustion and confusion. This gives language for the moment and helps leaders avoid two errors: triumphalism (“revival is here!”) or despair (“everything is collapsing”). It calls for the spiritual work of discernment, not mere trend analysis.

Draws from:

Cultural exhaustion and disillusionment
Decline in the confidence of secular narratives
Rising spiritual curiosity and renewed openness
Polarization fatigue and desire for sanity
The difference between openness and genuine discipleship

What it gives leaders:

A clear, shared vocabulary for what many are sensing
A calm theological framework for interpreting cultural change
Relief from overblown narratives
Confidence to lead with steadiness rather than reactivity

Keynote 2 (Day 1 Evening)

The Formation Crisis Beneath the Opportunity
Presenter: Dr. Kris Miller, assistant professor of theology and director of Lipscomb’s Institute for Christian Spirituality

Purpose: To name the deeper issue beneath many ministry challenges: formation. Renewed openness is not the same as depth. If people come with curiosity but without formation, the church can easily respond with shallow approaches and lose the moment. This keynote is the “gravity talk” of the forum. It exposes algorithmic and digital formation, ideological siloing, emotional fragility, and shallow catechesis as realities that are shaping congregations.

Draws from:

Algorithmic discipleship and digital formation pressures
Polarization as a formation issue, not merely an opinion issue
The decline of attractional shortcuts
The “we may not be ready for revival” theme: openness can collapse without depth • Congregational fragmentation and leadership exhaustion

What it gives leaders:

A diagnosis that explains what leaders are experiencing
The courage to prioritize depth over performance
A way to talk about digital formation pastorally
A sober but hopeful sense of what needs strengthening

Keynote 3 (Day 2 Morning)

Forming a Church Ready for What God May Be Doing
Presenter: Dr. Earl Lavender, professor of Bible

Purpose: To move from diagnosis to construction. If the Spirit is indeed opening hearts in a restless culture, churches need to be ready to steward that openness. This keynote offers a constructive vision of what “readiness” looks like. It focuses on discipleship pathways, embodied practices, theological clarity, and leadership habits that can sustain renewal rather than merely receive a short-lived uptick.

Draws from:

Renewed openness and spiritual curiosity
The hunger for seriousness rather than spectacle
The limits of attractional models in the current moment
The need for resilient discipleship systems
Embodied community as a growing value

What it gives leaders:

A tangible vision of a “ready church”
Practical ways to evaluate discipleship health
Permission to shift from performance to formation
Concrete practices leaders can take home and implement

Keynote 4 (Day 2 Closing)

Steady Leadership in a Restless Culture
Presenter: Dr. Carlus Gupton, director of the Doctor of Ministry Program

Purpose: This is the commissioning keynote. The goal is to send leaders out strengthened and steady, not emotionally inflamed. Courage is framed as calm, non-anxious Spirit-formed faithfulness over time. This talk names the pressure leaders feel, calls them back to a grounded center, and gives them a strong sense of resolve for the moment they are returning to.

Draws from:

Outrage culture fatigue
Burnout and leadership anxiety
The temptation toward reactive leadership
The need for courage without partisan captivity
Hope rooted in Christ rather than cultural metrics

What it gives leaders:

Emotional and spiritual strengthening
A clear definition of courage appropriate for this moment
Confidence that faithful leadership is not loudness
A closing sense of commissioning and clarity

Breakouts

(Two Sessions, Five Options Each) - Two one-hour breakout periods: one on each day.

Day 1 Breakouts – Understanding the Pressure Points

Option 1: Building Intergenerational Depth in a Fragmented Age
Presenter: Dr. Wilson McCoy
This session is about community-building. It gives leaders practices for mentoring younger believers, forming intergenerational belonging, and integration into embodied, committed participation.

Option 2: Preaching Christ in a Restless Culture
Presenter: Dr. Scott Sager
This session equips leaders to preach clearly without partisan signaling, to speak to moral confusion without culture-war tone, and to proclaim the gospel to seekers who are spiritually curious but institutionally cautious.

Option 3: Leading Without Losing Yourself: Ministry in an Age of Exhaustion
Presenter: Dr. Walter Surdacki
This session addresses ministerial burnout and emotional fatigue. It helps leaders name the hidden pressures of ministry right now (decision fatigue, polarization pressure, constant expectation, digital overexposure) and offers a theological framework for sustainable leadership.

Option 4: Algorithmic Discipleship: How Digital Culture Is Forming Our People

Presenter: Dr. Carlus Gupton
Before congregants gather on Sunday, their attention, assumptions, and habits have already been shaped by digital environments, including social media, streaming platforms, and increasingly AI driven content. This session explores how these forces influence belief and equipping leaders to understand their impact and respond with thoughtful, pastoral wisdom.

Option 5: Leading in Times of Cultural Change: Wisdom from Scripture
Presenter: Dr. Philip Camp
In Scripture, God’s people faced cultural shifts that required discernment and courage, from exile to the early church’s witness in a pluralistic world. This explores biblical patterns for interpreting such moments and equips leaders to guide their congregations with steadiness, faithfulness, and hope.

Day 2 Breakouts – Strengthening the Church

Option 1: The Rising Generation: Understanding Gen Z’s Spiritual Hunger
Presenter: Dr. J. P. Conway
This session explains why Gen Z and Gen Alpha show both anxiety and openness, explores the shift toward spiritual seriousness, and helps leaders respond without pandering. It includes insight into emerging gender dynamics and the practical implications for ministry.

Option 2: Speaking with Clarity: The Church’s Voice Without Partisan Captivity

Presenter: Dr. Garrett Best
This session provides theological and pastoral frameworks for public witness. The goal is to help leaders speak with courage and clarity without becoming ideologically captured or triggering reactionary dynamics in congregations.

Option 3: Sustainable Leadership: Cultivating Emotional and Spiritual Resilience

Presenter: Dr. Deron Smith
This session focuses on constructive practices. It equips leaders to cultivate non-anxious presence, boundaries, restorative spiritual disciplines, and identity-rooted leadership.

Option 4: Forming Faithful Disciples in a Digitally-Saturated World
Presenter: Dr. Lauren White
This session addresses the digital culture as a pastoral and discipleship issue, not merely a technology issue. It explores ethics, truth, discernment, youth formation in a synthetic-content world, and how churches can form resilient disciples in accelerated change.

Option 5: When the Church Faced Turning Points: Lessons from Christian History

Presenter: Dr. Frank Guertin
Across church history, leaders have navigated seasons of upheaval and opportunity with wisdom, humility, and perseverance. This session highlights key historical moments and equips leaders with perspective and confidence to respond faithfully in today’s cultural moment.

Field Notes

Purpose: In these sessions, faculty members share insights drawn from their ongoing research, teaching, and engagement with the church. These are not thoughtful reflections offer participants a window into questions, themes, and discoveries that are shaping their current work. Attendees may choose the conversation that most interests them.

Presenters:

Dr. Alden Bass
Dr. Garrett Best
Dr. Philip Camp
Dr. George Goldman
Dr. Carlus Gupton
Dr. Mike Williams

Special Presentations

Day 1 (Friday) Dinner: A Message to Church Leaders: Revitalization for Our Current Era – Dr. Aaron Howard
Day 2 (Saturday) Lunch: Lightning Rounds
- The Small Town and Rural Church Initiative – Dr. Wilson McCoy
- TBD - Dr. Frank Guertin
Day 2 (Saturday): Closing and Commissioning. Strong, warm, and mobilizing o A spoken commissioning charge (faculty voices)
- A corporate prayer of dedication
- A brief liturgical sending
- A Scripture-based blessing spoken over leaders

Guided Table Conversations

Structured prompts to help leaders digest:

Where do you see renewed openness?
Where does your church need more depth?
Where are you personally under strain?
What is one adjustment you are considering?

Tentative Schedule

Day 1 (3:00 PM – 8:30 PM)

Day 2 (8:00 AM – 2:30 PM)

For more information, contact Carlus Gupton, director of Lipscomb's Doctor of Ministry program, at carlus.gupton [at] lipscomb.edu (carlus[dot]gupton[at]lipscomb[dot]edu).