This conference proposes that we allow the worlds imagined in the essential biblical narratives to dramatically shape our preaching and lives. We believe that preaching reconstitutes biblical paradigms when it engages Scripture’s vision by representing what is absent and making present what is inaccessible to the end that followers of God will live into a God-shaped reality.

We identify biblical paradigms through the emphases Israel and the church gave them or by the claims made by the texts themselves. What Paul calls “of first importance” and Jesus describes as “weightier” suggest a hierarchy of values—that some parts of Scripture have greater claim than others. These pivotal texts which echo through Scripture should craft the Christian experience as well.

With a vision deeply rooted in biblical studies and a homiletic that seeks to live in the world Scripture envisions, this year we ask: What is a life well-lived in the world that Wisdom fashions?

Join us as we move into this world with the desire that our preaching, our lives, and the congregations we serve might better engage the essential realities.