Workshops

WORKSHOPS: SESSION 1

Thursday, March 19  |  3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Aging Building Discernment
Aging buildings can quietly drain a congregation’s energy, budget, and imagination—and most churches are feeling the pressure. In this workshop, two pastors share their congregation’s real-life journeys: one made the courageous decision to remove multiple buildings, and the other reimagined how existing space could be used to reduce long-term maintenance costs. Come for the stories, leave with a practical framework for assessing your facilities, aligning space with mission, and taking faithful next steps that fit your church’s context.  Led by: Emily Hull McGee and Jeane Baucom

 

Hindsight Is not 20/20: Leading Past the Glory Days of Youth Ministry
The world has changed. Our approach to ministry must change with it. Today’s young people are navigating a complex landscape that traditional methods often fail to address. This isn’t about changing the message, but revolutionizing the method so that teenagers don’t just attend youth group—they genuinely encounter Christ. Come and hear the vital conversation on how pastors and lay leaders can remove roadblocks and empower a thriving ministry with youth. Understand the current realities of youth ministry, what your youth leaders need to succeed in 2026, and how to make a lasting impact on the next generation.  Led by: CBFNC Youth Ministry Team

 

Open Your Space and Lives to Neighbors Near and Far
Churches are using space creatively more than ever, but it can be more than adding needed funds to the budget. With collaboration with community partners, local agencies serving local needs, and other congregations, churches can embrace neighbors in ways never before imagined. Join the conversation about churches becoming community ministry hubs that embrace neighbors locally and beyond.  Led by: Welcome Network, Randy Carter and Marc Wyatt

 

Light, Not Heat: How Churches Can Move Beyond Fight or Flight When it Comes to Politics
Churches tend to choose one of two pathways when it comes to politics—avoiding it altogether or embracing it, even if it means hurting those with whom we may disagree.  What if there was an another alternative: modeling unity in the midst of diversity?  This workshop will offer practical, biblical advice grounded in social-scientific research for doing just that.  Led by: Jonathan Davis

 

Congregations That Play Together Stay Together: Why Holy Mischief Is Missing & Matters to Our Congregations
All work and no play doesn’t just make the pews dull—it makes churches brittle. When joy and trust disappear, anxiety takes the microphone—and anxiety doesn’t just silence laughter; it turns disagreements into threats and misunderstandings into motives. This workshop exposes the relational cost of “serious-only” church culture and offers practical ways to rebuild a community where playfulness grows trust and reverence welcomes joy.  Led by: CBFNC HCT Creative Lab

 

The Missing Age Bracket: Rebuilding a Healthy Young Adult Connection to Your Congregation
The phrase we’ve never heard: “There are too many young adults in our congregation.” What attractional  model strategies can your church community develop to increase college and young adult participation in your fellowship without reinventing who you are as a faith community? Come and join the discussion as we look at what is working currently to connect to Generation Z.  Led by: CBSF Staff

 

CBF Identity
Everything you’ve always wanted to know about the CBF community but we’re afraid to ask.  Led by: Larry Hovis

WORKSHOPS: SESSION 2

Friday, March 20  |  9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Tithing Your Estate: Promoting Planned Giving in Your Church
Legacy giving has great potential for significantly funding the work of the kingdom of God on earth. It seems the right time to promote a very Biblical, simple and practical way to become a legacy giver—the idea of planning how to tithe one’s estate.  Led by: Jack Glasgow, Jim Hylton, and Larry Hovis

 

Cultivating and Empowering Leaders: Assertiveness as a Tool for Effective Pastoral Care
This interactive workshop will explore why assertiveness is a vital pastoral and leadership competency in thriving congregations. We will discuss how cultural dynamics and power structures shape assertive communication in ministry, providing practical skills and frameworks for leaders to practice healthy assertiveness and to empower others.  Led by: Santiago Reales

 

Embracing Neighbors, Nurturing Hope: Seed Projects to Transform Your Church and Community
What impact can your church have on the community? We should begin to measure our churches not by the size of the building, the number or ages of the members, or by the amount in the budget, but by the influence the church has on the community. Matthew 6:33 (NIV): “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Led by: Laura Ayala

 

Mending the Fracturing Church: How to Navigate Conflict and Build Trust for Thriving Communities
The local church in the United States is at a crossroads. Declining attendance, aging congregations, and costly buildings are compounded by deep divisions over issues like sexuality, gender, race and immigration. Generational gaps have widened, and many congregations lack diversity, becoming politically homogenous and fragmented. Amid these tensions, the sense that something is profoundly wrong is palpable. “Mending the Fracturing Church” offers a way forward, inviting churches to confront and navigate the issues that divide them.  Led by: CBFNC HCT Creative Lab: Mending the Fracturing Church

 

From Handbook to Healthy Team: Aligning Policies, Culture and Staff Leadership
Most church staff problems aren’t “people problems”—they’re clarity problems. David Hull and Dennis Foust will connect the dots between outdated personnel handbooks and staff dysfunction, offering hard-earned wisdom from years of leading large teams. Expect to learn about practical tools for updating policies and building a staff culture marked by trust, accountability and shared mission.  Led by: David Hull & Dennis Foust

 

Cultivating Environments Where Women Thrive in Ministry and Leadership
In the State of Women in Baptist Life Report 2025, BWIM shared research which identifies six markers of congregational environments which are empowering for women. In this workshop, we will discuss how you might begin assessing these markers in your congregation and considering what next steps might look like.  Led by: Meredith Stone

 

Missions in Motion: Forming Faith Through Generations
This session explores how intergenerational mission experiences like Children’s Missions Day nurture faith formation across all ages. Participants will discover practical ways to plan and sustain service opportunities that connect generations through shared purpose, reflection, and storytelling. Together, we’ll reimagine mission not as a program but as a formative practice that shapes discipleship within the whole Body of Christ.  Led by: CBFNC Children’s Ministry Team

WORKSHOPS: SESSION 3

Friday, March 20  |  10:45 to 11:45 a.m.

What Is Forming You?
Join us for a facilitated conversation around the importance of our own stories in order to understand the spiritual life and what is forming us.  Led by: Spiritual Formation Team

 

Wounded Pastors, Future Stories
This workshop explores the complex—often unaddressed—emotional and spiritual wounds that ministers receive in ministry. We will examine how these past hurts can fester and impact congregational health if not confronted. This session provides a framework for facing and naming these scars, focusing on the interconnected healing of both the minister and the church. Our goal is to transform these wounds into a source of deeper faith and a healthier future story the minister and congregation.  Led by: Nelson Grande & Jeff Allen

 

Know Thyself
We do not all bring the same gifts and perspectives to the congregation. Great leaders know their gifts, their natural energies and their blind spots. And they know how to help others to see themselves in the same way. Come gain a deeper understanding of yourself while experiencing tools to share with other leaders.  Led by: Charity Roberson and Beth Kennet

 

Addressing Hunger in Your Community
Join staff from the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty to learn how to address food insecurity through serving, engaging and advocating via Hunger Free Community Coalitions. The Baylor Hunger Collaborative’s training program equips communities and congregations to use a collective impact approach to address hunger and poverty.  Led by: Grace Norman and Katherine Best

 

Living the Gospel Together: Building Genuine Connections at the Heart of Thriving Congregations
Legacy giving has great potential for significantly funding the work of the kingdom of God on earth. It seems the right time to promote a very Biblical, simple and practical way to become a legacy giver—the idea of planning how to tithe one’s estate.  Led by: Jack Glasgow, Jim Hylton, and Larry Hovis

 

Across the Theological Spectrum, We Create “Others”: The Most Dangerous Thing Is How We Turn People into Opponents
Across the theological spectrum, congregations are facing an “othering” crisis—where people who disagree aren’t just wrong, they become threats, stereotypes or “those people.” This workshop explores what’s underneath that reflex (fear, anxiety, bias and the narratives that train us to see opponents instead of neighbors) and how it escalates conflict, miscommunication, and distrust. Participants will practice concrete ways to interrupt the “us vs. them” cycle and rebuild a culture of curiosity, empathy and Christ-shaped connection.  Led by: CBFNC HCT Creative Lab

 

Beyond Next-Gen
Cultivating intergenerational community goes beyond simply perfecting age-level programming.  Explore insights from the Children’s Ministry Network, CBF’s national survey of Millennial and Gen Z adults and leaders in engaged aging groups as we explore what is actually cultivating belonging across generations and how we can curate spaces for all to belong.  Led by: Colin Kroll

 

Theological and Practical Guidelines for Honoring Christian Unity in the Midst of Diversity
We live in a time of great polarization that affects not only the culture at large, but also our churches and our fellowship. But our primary identity is found in Christ, not in political or ideological affiliations. The CBFNC Coordinating Council has directed the creation of a “Covenant of Cooperation” to help our fellowship address this challenge. Learn about the Covenant and the process that led to its development and how it might inform not only our life together in CBFNC, but could be a potential model for your congregation.  Led by: CBFNC Coordinating Council