Gene Calderon

Are you alarmed at the high percentage of people who walk away from the faith and away from the church? If you knew just teaching is not keeping people from walking away from the faith would you change your strategy? There is a difference between teaching and training. Teaching is imparting knowledge while training is equipping people to put into practice what they are learning. Learn principles that not only teach knowledge but equip people to engage with others.

James Klopfenstein

If you knew 76% of your friends didn’t mind you talking about your faith, would you become more active in sharing your faith? If you knew some ways to have authentic, real, and natural conversations, would you be more willing and able to do it? Would you be more likely to bring up spiritual topics if you knew most people are open to it and how to do it naturally? In this session, we will explore some basic approaches to outreach that can be used in your life right away after you return home from the Defenders Media Conference.

Andrew Foland

Would communicating your faith be more comfortable if you knew three simple questions to aide you in talking with skeptics? Would you be more encouraged to share your faith if you could engage skeptics in a disarming style even when people raise objections? This session will teach you how to maneuver naturally, comfortably and graciously as you share your faith with others. Learn how to navigate the minefields, stop challenges in their tracks, turn the tables and – most importantly get people thinking about Jesus.

We are all called to be ready to give reasons for the hope we have within us. Are you ready? You can be.

Dr. John Walton

In modern times the Genesis flood account has been probed and analyzed for answers to scientific, apologetic, and historical questions. It is a text that has called forth “flood geology,” fueled searches for remnants of the ark on Mount Ararat, and inspired a full-size replica of Noah’s ark in a theme park. Some claim that the very veracity of Scripture hinges on a particular reading of the flood narrative. But do we understand what we are reading? Dr. Walton urge us to ask what the biblical author might have been saying to his ancient audience. Our quest to rediscover the biblical flood requires that we set aside our own cultural and interpretive assumptions and visit the distant world of the ancient Near East. Responsible interpretation calls for the patient examination of the text within its ancient context of language, literature, and thought.

Ted Wright

The most vital hermeneutical principle for properly understanding any passage in the Bible is, context. In this breakout, Ted Wright of Epic Archaeology will be discussing the archaeological and historical context of Canaan as well as Canaanite culture, before and after the Conquest, with a special emphasis on the chronology and timing of the event. In addition he will also discuss what we can learn from archaeology as well as inscriptional evidence from this period, with the hope of bringing illumination and clarification of God’s command to Israel to destroy all of the Canaanites living in the land (Deut. 7:1-7).

Kurt Jaros

Why are these books in the Bible and not others? Did the early church intentionally exclude writings to suit their own agenda? What standard did they use to discover which books were divinely inspired? Come learn about the process through which the church fathers recognized which books belonged in the canon of Scripture.