DMC Main Session Videos & Breakout Sessions Recordings

Most ministry leaders are squeezed into a mold of measuring success by what happens at church on the weekend.

What if your church was known more for multiplying disciples than adding worship attenders? At the 2023 Disciple-Making Conference, you will be inspired and equipped to become a church on mission to win, build and send missional disciples.

Breakout Session 1: 10:30 a.m. 

SendNC Church Planting Track 1: Implementing a Kingdom Disciple-Making Strategy in Church Planting
Ryan Rice

Church planters desire to make disciples who make disciples and to see multiplication in the churches they plant. However, many planters lack the strategy, systems and structures to ensure this takes place. This breakout will help leaders learn what strategy, systems and structures they can implement to ensure a healthy disciple-making culture in their church plant.

Create Your Dream Disciple: How to Change the Scoreboard
Vick Green 

How does your church measure success? Most churches measure success around program activities: worship attendance, Sunday School attendance, volunteer team numbers, etc. In this session, we’ll show you how you can create a dream disciple that busts the Engagement Myth (that activity equals transformation) and creates a new scorecard that is based not on program activity but on individual transformation. 

Multiply Everything: Building a Sending Culture
Jonathan Yarboro and Andrew Hopper

While many churches struggle with a scarcity of leaders in a changing culture, some churches send leaders out from a position of abundance. What if your church could multiply so many leaders that you have no choice but to send them? This breakout session will focus on the tactical ways Mercy Hill Church has built a strong sending culture and will conclude with a workshop that will give you practical next steps in building your own sending culture. 

Leading Change Without Losing Your Ministry
Chris Aiken

Like every organism, every organization requires change to thrive. Leadership has never been more complex or more vital to the health and growth of the local church. For the church to thrive in a changing world, leaders must embrace the high calling of leading others to change. This breakout will be packed with insights, principles and practical instruction to help leaders move others toward the mission of God and to do so in a manner that facilitates flourishing.

Building Culture Through Tensions
Tom Howe

Values shape culture, but even good values can create a negative culture. Truth is a great value, but no one wants a culture of truth without love. This breakout will help you understand the importance of defining competing values and using those tensions to develop and disciple your leaders.

Discipling Internationals in North Carolina
Ralph Garay, John Messiah, Jean Munyambabazi, Peter Maung Bond

God has brought the nations to North Carolina to be discipled so that they can make disciples. In this session, you will meet and hear from international disciple-makers and learn best practices in discipling people from Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic and atheistic backgrounds.

Go2: Creating a Sending Culture in College Ministry
Wes Smith

How to create a culture in your college ministry where going is normal.

Discipling Students
Daniel Rose

In this session, you will learn how to implement a practical plan to reach and disciple students. How do you train your volunteer leaders to do the same by multiplying yourself as a leader? 

Making Measurable Disciples
Rick Hughes and Terry Long

The landscape remains full today of churches that are struggling for direction and growth after COVID-19. Many pastors and leaders started working or volunteering to make a difference in peoples’ lives, but now they find themselves only managing programs and responding to complaints. In this breakout session, come learn some tools to help you develop a model for measureable disciples that God will use to rekindle your heart for the lost and for those currently in your ministry. Let’s be on mission together!

MasterLife Together: A Discipleship Experience for Small Groups
Matt and Allison Willis

Matt & Allison Willis have co-authored MasterLife Together, a simplified revision of MasterLife written by Matt’s grandfather, Avery Willis. Hundreds of thousands of people were discipled through MasterLife, but fewer people today are able to commit to the seven-month, in-depth process of the original. This breakout session will introduce you to the updated discipleship resource for groups that takes half the time with half of the content.

Destroying Silos and Building Alignment: How to Organize and Align the Disciple-Making Ministry of Your Church
Steven Ackley

The discipleship ministry of a church is the engine that powers almost everything, and often we get so caught up in building each ministry that we neglect to strategically build and maintain alignment. In this session, we’ll talk about the reasons our ministries are often isolated and how to most effectively move toward alignment, teamwork, collaboration and clarity in all areas of disciple-making.

Developing Leaders for the Mission
Chris Autry 

Every member is made for the mission. Our goal as pastors is to disciple them to become leaders for the church and for the community. This session provides a simple process that will give leaders a basic framework to help your church develop and deploy leaders for the mission of reaching your communities for Christ.

What’s Love Got to Do With It? Emotional Hindrances in Church Change
Ben McRoy

Church revitalization is difficult work. Pastors attempting to lead a church in revitalization can face dilapidated facilities, outdated ministry methods and shrinking budgets, and often they make these needs their primary focus. But effective ministry is built on relationships. Pastors must build trust with those they lead if they want to see their church experience renewal. This process requires emotional intelligence — the ability to recognize and manage one’s emotions while also being aware of and interacting with the emotions of others. This breakout will examine the importance of emotional intelligence in church revitalization and offer practical ways for pastors to grow in this essential skill.

Biblical Exposition for Women
Julia Higgins

Jesus commissioned His followers to go and make disciples, teaching them all that He commanded. Women must take this call seriously and should be equipped to teach the Scriptures. Come learn a process for studying and interpreting the Bible so that you can teach the commands of Christ, discipling faithfully in your local church.

Hope for Struggling and Dying Churches
Michael Barrett and Mark Gray

Do you serve a church that is losing members and trying to figure out “what’s next?” This breakout will offer “pathways of hope” for the struggling church with examples of each possibility for a preferred future.

Context Matters
Hez Cunningham-Bey and Antoine Lassiter

God has called us to unity, not uniformity. Ephesians is a blueprint for the church to see cultural differences shared, valued and enjoyed while living on mission together. Disciple-making must be explored within this lens. This breakout session will explore the context of Scripture, contextualization (the application of Scripture), and the necessity for the body to conform to the image and character of Christ.

Finding Clarity in Uncertain Times
Jae Richardson

Times are changing rapidly in our world today, and it can be very challenging to get a handle on things when we have no idea what comes next. How prepared are you and your church to learn and lead in these uncertain times? This session will help participants know how to find clarity as a leader in the face of uncertainty and how to define success for their church as they continue to serve and advance the kingdom of God.

On Mission Together Across Our State and Around the World
Baptists on Mission Staff

This breakout session will show you ways your church can be personally involved in missions across our state, nation and around the world. Led by Baptists on Mission staff, this session will discuss how your church can participate in missions through the mobile dental/health screening ministry, disaster relief, mission camps, the Florence rebuild centers, national and international partnerships and more.

Caring for Those We Send
Janet Packard

Just as God calls us to reach the nations, He also calls us to care for those we send. Join us as we dig deeper into what it means to send, care for and receive our missionaries well from the perspective of the missionary, the church and the sending agency.

Principios de desarrollo del Liderazgo / Leadership Development Principles
Ricardo Sanchez

As ministry leaders, one of our top priorities is to raise up leaders, but for Hispanic pastors and planters, it can sometimes be difficult to raise up leaders. In this session, you will learn the biblical principles of how to develop leaders through four simple steps: learn, model, disciple, lead.

How to Equip Your Church to Share the Gospel With the Nations in Your Community
Sammy Joo

God is bringing the nations to North Carolina, but church members are often ill-prepared to share the gospel with them. In this session, you will learn how to effectively equip your church members through simple and visual tools to share the gospel with the nations that are moving to your community. You can use these tools for ongoing community outreach and international mission trips. 

Preparing to Preach or Teach
Matt Capps

In this breakout session, we’ll explore an intentional process to develop a biblically accurate, theologically shaped and Christ-centered exposition. 

Mobilizing Your Church for Mission
Eric Mullis

We talk a lot about churches being on mission, but what does that mean? In this session, we will explore practical ways to take your next step in being on mission together.

Becoming a Sending Church Through Disciple-Making
George Ross

Sending churches are disciple-making churches. Learn how developing a disciple-making process can prepare your church to become a church-planting, disciple-making beacon for your community.

Discipleship Principles for Worship Teams and Choirs
Ron Skinner

Would you like to both grow your worship ministry and create disciples through each rehearsal and service? During this session, participants will learn both biblical principles and practical ways to implement discipleship into every fiber of the worship ministry. The information in this breakout is designed to simplify the process of discipleship for both full-time and bi-vocational worship leaders.

Digital Communications: Social Media, Mass Email & Graphic Design
Kathryn Carson, Daniel Spivey, Whitney Goulding

A digital communications strategy is vital to the way a church engages with its members, guests and community. This session will focus on aspects of effective digital communication using social media and mass email as trackable delivery methods. Focusing on basic and practical principles of layout, we will delve into why good graphic design can elevate your message in these digital spaces.

Breakout Session 2: 12:30 p.m.

SendNC Church Planting Track 2: Implementing a Kingdom Disciple-Making Strategy in Church Planting
Ryan Rice, NAMB

Church planters desire to make disciples who make disciples and to see multiplication in the churches they plant. However, many planters lack the strategy, systems and structures to ensure this takes place. This breakout will help leaders learn what strategy, systems and structures they can implement to ensure a healthy disciple-making culture in their church plant.

Design Your Discipleship Pathway: How to Develop Disciple-Makers
Vick Green

Over the last three years, we have yet to find a church that prefers to use the same strategy they had before 2020. The staff knows that their congregation needs more equipping, but their people are committing less time than ever before. In this session, we will help you bust the Equipping Myth (that teaching equals training) by showing you how you can create a realistic Discipleship Pathway that empowers your people to make disciples where they live, work and play. 

Leading Change Without Losing Your Ministry
Chris Aiken

Like every organism, every organization requires change to thrive. Leadership has never been more complex or more vital to the health and growth of the local church. For the church to thrive in a changing world, leaders must embrace the high calling of leading others to change. This breakout will be packed with insights, principles and practical instruction to help leaders move others toward the mission of God and to do so in a manner that facilitates flourishing.

Building Culture Through Tensions
Tom Howe

Values shape culture, but even good values can create a negative culture. Truth is a great value, but no one wants a culture of truth without love. This breakout will help you understand the importance of defining competing values and using those tensions to develop and disciple your leaders.

Discipling Internationals in North Carolina
Ralph Garay, John Messiah, Jean Munyambabazi, Peter Maung Bond

God has brought the nations to North Carolina to be discipled so that they can make disciples. In this session, you will meet and hear from international disciple-makers and learn best practices in discipling people from Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic and atheistic backgrounds.

Discipling Students
Daniel Rose, Summit Church

Learn how to implement a practical plan to reach and disciple students. How do you train your volunteer leaders to do the same by multiplying yourself as a leader?

Making Measurable Disciples
Rick Hughes and Terry Long

The landscape remains full today of churches that are struggling for direction and growth after COVID-19. Many pastors and leaders started working or volunteering to make a difference in peoples’ lives, but now they find themselves only managing programs and responding to complaints. In this breakout session, come learn some tools to help you develop a model for measureable disciples that God will use to rekindle your heart for the lost and for those currently in your ministry. Let’s be on mission together!

Destroying Silos and Building Alignment: How to Organize and Align the Disciple-Making Ministry of Your Church
Steven Ackley

The discipleship ministry of a church is the engine that powers almost everything, and often we get so caught up in building each ministry that we neglect to strategically build and maintain alignment. In this session, we’ll talk about the reasons our ministries are often isolated and how to most effectively move toward alignment, teamwork, collaboration and clarity in all areas of disciple-making.

What’s Love Got to Do With It? Emotional Hindrances in Church Change
Ben McRoy

Church revitalization is difficult work. Pastors attempting to lead a church in revitalization can face dilapidated facilities, outdated ministry methods and shrinking budgets, and often they make these needs their primary focus. But effective ministry is built on relationships. Pastors must build trust with those they lead if they want to see their church experience renewal. This process requires emotional intelligence — the ability to recognize and manage one’s emotions while also being aware of and interacting with the emotions of others. This breakout will examine the importance of emotional intelligence in church revitalization and offer practical ways for pastors to grow in this essential skill.

Context Matters
Hez Cunningham-Bey and Antoine Lassiter

God has called us to unity, not uniformity. Ephesians is a blueprint for the church to see cultural differences shared, valued and enjoyed while living on mission together. Disciple-making must be explored within this lens. This breakout session will explore the context of Scripture, contextualization (the application of Scripture), and the necessity for the body to conform to the image and character of Christ.

Principios de desarrollo del Liderazgo / Leadership Development Principles
Ricardo Sanchez

As ministry leaders, one of our top priorities is to raise up leaders, but for Hispanic pastors and planters, it can sometimes be difficult to raise up leaders. In this session, you will learn the biblical principles of how to develop leaders through four simple steps: learn, model, disciple, lead.

Preparing to Preach or Teach
Matt Capps

In this breakout session, we’ll explore an intentional process to develop a biblically accurate, theologically shaped and Christ-centered exposition. 

Creating a Culture of Evangelism
JJ Washington

In this session, we will focus on helping leaders create a culture of evangelism within their ministry. This breakout will not only be relevant for pastors, but small group leaders, Sunday school teachers and other ministry workers.

Send Them Well: Launching High School Students Into College and Young Adulthood
Austin Gentry

The transition from high school ministries to college and young adult ministries can be jarring for students. How can your ministry lay the foundation for students to grow into mature, healthy college and young adult disciples? Join Austin Gentry, author of 10 Things Every Christian Should Know For College, to learn strategies to prepare your students (and their parents) well. 

Calling Out the Called
Scott Pace

How do you identify, prepare and equip students who are called to ministry leadership? In this session, we’ll survey the current landscape, explore our responsibility to raise up the next generation of ministry leaders, and consider practical ways to invest in them.

Organizing Adult Groups in Sunday School to Make Disciples
Paul Hill

Making disciples through adult Sunday School Groups or On-Campus Groups.

A Vision for Pastoral Ministry: The Pastor Leading Church Change Through Personal Disciple-Making
Sandy Marks

There is no greater calling than the calling to lead and shepherd a local congregation. However, in order to finish strong in our God-given calling, we must develop a vision for our pastoral ministry. This breakout will equip pastors to be effective, experience joy and persevere in their calling as a pastor.

Jeopardy, Family On-Mission Edition
Cheryl Markland

What is family discipleship? Jesus often responded to difficult situations by asking questions rather than stating the obvious. Let’s uncover six categories of questions that Jesus asked that can help parents form a plan for discipling their family.

Becoming a Mobilizing Church
Mike Sowers

The church is God’s “plan A” to reach a lost and dying world. As pastors and leaders, we have the incredible opportunity to be a part of engaging our churches in mobilizing God’s mission. Come join the conversation of how we can lead our churches in the next step of mobilization.

Leading Without Burning Out
Zeb Cook

There are few who understand the unique pressures of pastoral ministry. When we choose to ignore the internal warning signs of pastoral burnout and poor emotional health, we are potentially hindering the work of our ministry, likely doing a disservice to our family, and certainly we are not caring for our own souls as we ought. Every pastor should learn to pay attention to these warning signs because we know in order to lead well we must care for our own souls well. 

Becoming a Sending Church Through Disciple-Making
George Ross

Sending churches are disciple-making churches. Learn how developing a disciple-making process can prepare your church to become a church-planting, disciple-making beacon for your community.

Discipleship Principles for Worship Teams and Choirs
Ron Skinner

Would you like to both grow your worship ministry and create disciples through each rehearsal and service? During this session, participants will learn both biblical principles and practical ways to implement discipleship into every fiber of the worship ministry. The information in this breakout is designed to simplify the process of discipleship for both full-time and bi-vocational worship leaders.

Leadership Development in the Local Church
Jeff Long

The local church should be the primary source for future leaders. For these leaders to step into new areas of responsibility, they must be developed and trained. Development requires simple and reproducible strategies that can be implemented in any congregational context. 

Digital Communications: Social Media, Mass Email & Graphic Design
Kathryn Carson, Daniel Spivey, Whitney Goulding

A digital communications strategy is vital to the way a church engages with its members, guests and community. This session will focus on aspects of effective digital communication using social media and mass email as trackable delivery methods. Focusing on basic and practical principles of layout, we will delve into why good graphic design can elevate your message in these digital spaces.

Making the EVERY CHILD Initiative Part of Your Missions Strategy
Mark Smith

There are approximately 16,000 children in North Carolina’s foster care system — children who need a home, children who need hope. But what can your church do to make an impact? Join Dr. Mark Smith, Foster & Adoption Church Liaison with the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina, as he and the staff of Peninsula Baptist share how their foster care ministry, “The Way Home,” was developed and the many ways it has impacted their mission’s strategy.

Breakout Session 3: 1:45 p.m.

SendNC Church Planting Track 3: Implementing a Kingdom Disciple-Making Strategy in Church Planting
Ryan Rice

Church planters desire to make disciples who make disciples and to see multiplication in the churches they plant. However, many planters lack the strategy, systems and structures to ensure this takes place. This breakout will help leaders learn what strategy, systems and structures they can implement to ensure a healthy disciple-making culture in their church plant.

Lead Your Discipleship Groups: How to Get Your People to Own Disciple-Making
Vick Green 

What if your people had their own personal disciple-making plan that they used to reach their neighbors, co-workers and friends? Discipleship Groups help you bust the Execution Myth (that church impact equals ministry ownership) and shift the disciple-making ownership from your staff to your people. In this session, we show you the eight ways that Discipleship Groups are different from Small Groups and how you must lead them differently. 

Multiply Everything: Building a Sending Culture
Jonathan Yarboro and Andrew Hopper

While many churches struggle with a scarcity of leaders in a changing culture, some churches send leaders out from a position of abundance. What if your church could multiply so many leaders that you have no choice but to send them? This breakout session will focus on the tactical ways Mercy Hill Church has built a strong sending culture and will conclude with a workshop that will give you practical next steps in building your own sending culture. 

Go2: Creating a Sending Culture in College Ministry
Wes Smith

How to create a culture in your college ministry where going is normal.

MasterLife Together: A Discipleship Experience for Small Groups
Matt and Allison Willis

Matt & Allison Willis have co-authored MasterLife Together, a simplified revision of MasterLife written by Matt’s grandfather, Avery Willis. Hundreds of thousands of people were discipled through MasterLife, but fewer people today are able to commit to the seven-month, in-depth process of the original. This breakout session will introduce you to the updated discipleship resource for groups that takes half the time with half of the content.

Developing Leaders for the Mission
Chris Autry 

Every member is made for the mission. Our goal as pastors is to disciple them to become leaders for the church and for the community. This session provides a simple process that will give leaders a basic framework to help your church develop and deploy leaders for the mission of reaching your communities for Christ.

Biblical Exposition for Women
Julia Higgins

Jesus commissioned His followers to go and make disciples, teaching them all that He commanded. Women must take this call seriously and should be equipped to teach the Scriptures. Come learn a process for studying and interpreting the Bible so that you can teach the commands of Christ, discipling faithfully in your local church.

Hope for Struggling and Dying Churches
Michael Barrett and Mark Gray

Do you serve a church that is losing members and trying to figure out “what’s next?” This breakout will offer “pathways of hope” for the struggling church with examples of each possibility for a preferred future.

Finding Clarity in Uncertain Times
Jae Richardson

Times are changing rapidly in our world today, and it can be very challenging to get a handle on things when we have no idea what comes next. How prepared are you and your church to learn and lead in these uncertain times? This session will help participants know how to find clarity as a leader in the face of uncertainty and how to define success for their church as they continue to serve and advance the kingdom of God.

On Mission Together Across Our State and Around the World
BOM Staff

This breakout session will show you ways your church can be personally involved in missions across our state, nation and around the world. Led by Baptists on Mission staff, this session will discuss how your church can participate in missions through the mobile dental/health screening ministry, disaster relief, mission camps, the Florence rebuild centers, national and international partnerships and more.

How to Equip Your Church to Share the Gospel With the Nations in Your Community
Sammy Joo

God is bringing the nations to North Carolina, but church members are often ill-prepared to share the gospel with them. In this session, you will learn how to effectively equip your church members through simple and visual tools to share the gospel with the nations that are moving to your community. You can use these tools for ongoing community outreach and international mission trips. 

Mobilizing Your Church for Mission
Eric Mullis

We talk a lot about churches being on mission, but what does that mean? In this session we will explore practical ways to take your next step in being on mission together

Creating a Culture of Evangelism
JJ Washington

In this session, we will focus on helping leaders create a culture of evangelism within their ministry. This breakout will not only be relevant for pastors, but small group leaders, Sunday school teachers and other ministry workers.

Send Them Well: Launching High School Students Into College and Young Adulthood
Austin Gentry

The transition from high school ministries to college and young adult ministries can be jarring for students. How can your ministry lay the foundation for students to grow into mature, healthy college and young adult disciples? Join Austin Gentry, author of 10 Things Every Christian Should Know For College, to learn strategies to prepare your students (and their parents) well. 

Calling Out the Called
Scott Pace

How do you identify, prepare and equip students who are called to ministry leadership? In this session, we’ll survey the current landscape, explore our responsibility to raise up the next generation of ministry leaders, and consider practical ways to invest in them.

Organizing Adult Groups In Sunday School to Make Disciples
Paul Hill

Making disciples through adult Sunday School Groups or On-Campus Groups.

Jeopardy, Family On-Mission Edition
Cheryl Markland

What is family discipleship? Jesus often responded to difficult situations by asking questions rather than stating the obvious. Let’s uncover six categories of questions that Jesus asked that can help parents form a plan for discipling their family.

Becoming a Mobilizing Church
Mike Sowers

The church is God’s “plan A” to reach a lost and dying world. As pastors and leaders, we have the incredible opportunity to be a part of engaging our churches in mobilizing God’s mission. Come join the conversation of how we can lead our churches in the next step of mobilization.

Leading Without Burning Out
Zeb Cook

There are few who understand the unique pressures of pastoral ministry. When we choose to ignore the internal warning signs of pastoral burnout and poor emotional health, we are potentially hindering the work of our ministry, likely doing a disservice to our family, and certainly we are not caring for our own souls as we ought. Every pastor should learn to pay attention to these warning signs because we know in order to lead well we must care for our own souls well. 

Discipleship Principles for Worship Teams and Choirs
Ron Skinner

Would you like to both grow your worship ministry and create disciples through each rehearsal and service? During this session, participants will learn both biblical principles and practical ways to implement discipleship into every fiber of the worship ministry. The information in this breakout is designed to simplify the process of discipleship for both full-time and bi-vocational worship leaders.

Making the EVERY CHILD Initiative Part of Your Missions Strategy
Mark Smith

There are approximately 16,000 children in North Carolina’s foster care system — children who need a home, children who need hope. But what can your church do to make an impact? Join Dr. Mark Smith, Foster & Adoption Church Liaison with the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina, as he and the staff of Peninsula Baptist share how their foster care ministry, “The Way Home,” was developed and the many ways it has impacted their mission’s strategy.