Hear from the speaker who will deliver this year's convention sermon, Trevin Wax.

Trevin Wax will deliver the convention sermon at this year’s N.C. Baptist annual meeting, bringing a voice shaped by years of writing, teaching and cross-cultural ministry. He currently serves as vice president of resources and marketing at the North American Mission Board, where he oversees the creation of ministry resources for pastors and church leaders.

A prolific writer, Wax has authored more than a dozen books and has regularly contributed to outlets such as The Washington Post, Religion News Service, Christianity Today, World magazine and The Gospel Coalition. He is also a former missionary to Romania.

Wax is a respected voice on faith and culture in evangelical life today. Ahead of his sermon, Wax shared his thoughts with the Biblical Recorder on his approach to ministry, the cultural currents shaping the church today and what he hopes attendees take back to their congregations. His responses are below.

Your bio and experiences cover a lot of ground — researcher, author, editor, Bible teacher, missionary and professor. How do you describe what you do when someone asks?

I always start by saying, “I’m a writer.” That’s the throughline for my ministry. My preaching and teaching, my leadership and administration, my research and reading — it’s all connected to the regular discipline of writing. Writing makes me think, and writing forces me to be clear and compelling in how I communicate.

You currently serve as vice president of resources and marketing at the North American Mission Board. What does that role entail, and what are some trends you are seeing that ministry leaders should have on their radar?

I oversee a wonderful team that creates free resources for pastors, church planters and disaster relief volunteers. We also showcase stories that highlight our missionaries and chaplains. Several trends for ministry leaders to consider right now: the growing gender gap in politics and social media echo chambers; the spread of social media “therapy-speak” that leads to more loneliness and broken relationships; curiosity among younger Christians about traditions that are more liturgical — a desire for more rootedness in church history; and the morphing of a “be true to yourself” culture into something that’s more tribal, with group “identity politics” on the rise.

Much of your work focuses on helping Christians engage culture with theological depth rather than either retreating from it or blending into it. What does that kind of engagement look like in practice for a pastor or church member?

We need to be intentional about adopting and implementing practices that are not only formative, but counter-formative. We want to train ourselves to be counter-cultural, which means our habits and spiritual practices should shape us to stand out in the world — to counter and resist some of the cultural narratives that are so present these days. This is the heart behind the counter-catechism “The Gospel Way Catechism” that Thomas West and I have written for adults and for kids. It’s also the heart behind the liturgy for daily prayer “The Lord Is My Light” I’ve compiled.

You’ve written and spoken a lot about how “expressive individualism” has reshaped the way people — including Christians — think about identity and truth. Where do you see that showing up most in church life right now?

Expressive individualism is the idea that the purpose of life is to find yourself by looking deep inside to discover yourself by your deepest desires, and then to express that self to the world. Many people attend church thinking that’s the goal — the church is there to help you be true to yourself, to help you along in the project of self-actualization. That mindset causes all kinds of problems when the church is clear on sin and grace, and the gospel versus moralism. The church at its best challenges expressive individualism. God isn’t an assistant in our self-help project. He’s the point.

You spent time as a missionary in Romania. How did that experience shape how you think about missions in North America today?

Spending significant time outside of your home country makes it easier to see aspects of a culture that you just “took for granted” or thought were “common sense” growing up. Being able to see your culture from the outside-in helps you notice cultural elements — some good, some bad — that might be invisible to people who are swimming in those cultural waters. That has been invaluable to me when doing cultural analysis over the years.

We’re looking forward to having you deliver the convention sermon at this year’s N.C. Baptist annual meeting. What do you plan to share, and what do you hope attendees might take back to their churches?

I’m still praying about the sermon, but one of the burdens I’ve had over the past year has been this: The widespread therapy culture of our time has made it more, not less, challenging for spiritual healing to take place. Pastors are carrying the burdens of people in their congregation, and some believers over-identify with their maladies or wounds to the point the prospect of healing feels like a threat to their identity. I want to encourage pastors ministering in this environment.

By Chad Austin, BR Managing Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE — Trevin Wax is scheduled to deliver the convention sermon at the 2026 N.C. Baptist annual meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 10:20 a.m. This article originally appeared in the fall 2026 edition of the Biblical Recorder magazine.