The 2009 21-C conference will be Jan. 30-31 at First Baptist Church of Woodbridge with the theme “Pushing the Envelope.” This phrase originally referred to test pilots who were willing to risk exceeding existing limits with new aircraft in order to achieve advances in aviation.

“The same is true for churches,” said Wayne Faison, leader of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's courageous churches team. “The only way for churches to change performance is to risk pushing beyond the existing boundaries, to risk pushing the envelope to advance the Kingdom.”

21-C 2009 will focus on pushing beyond existing boundaries in five areas: evangelism, discipleship, worship, church planting, and missions.

On Friday afternoon, each participant will select a focus group in one of these five areas. The focus groups will offer a forum for dialogue, networking, and group discussion facilitated by church leaders from around the world who have pushed beyond existing boundaries in their respective ministry fields.

The five focus group facilitators will be: Mike Breen (Evangelism), Neil Cole (Discipleship), Tom McCain (Worship), Paul Kim (Church Planting), and Shadrack Monageng (Missions).

The speaker for the Friday evening worship service will be James T. Meeks, pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago and a senator in the Illinois General Assembly. Considered a dynamic religious and civic leader, Meeks will challenge participants with examples of how his church has been “pushing the envelope” to minister to a wide variety of people in Chicago's Roseland community.

On Saturday, all 21-C participants will gather for several plenary sessions. Meeks and some of the facilitators will identify some current boundaries to ministry and explore ways to push beyond them. There will also be a panel discussion with five Virginia Baptist churches that are “pushing the envelope.”

Additional 21-C information and online registration are available at www.21-c.org.

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