2023 SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE
Educating for Contemporary Mission
9:00am-3:30pm
Online access is also available if you can't attend in person.
*Housing is not provided. If you stay at The Element next to the DTS campus, you can use the DTS discount. There is also a Home2 Suites nearby.
Registration is Now Open!
Call For Papers 2023
Theme: Educating for Contemporary Mission
The intersection of education and mission produces a maze of models and practices. From the many pastors’ conferences conducted each year around the globe, to short-term discipleship and leadership development processes utilized by missions sending agencies, to legacy institutions grappling with curricula, the maze grows deeper and more complex. Add into this mix, advances in globalization, urbanization, and technologically-driven educational platforms expedited by the global pandemic, and the maze goes virtual as well.
With these models and opinions, key questions come to the forefront. Among these questions are, What are the missiologically responsible, theologically sound, and effective best practices in education for contemporary mission? The vast diversity of answers are expressed by the differing perspectives within missions–from the academy, the church, and the practitioner. The conference aims to address the role and shape of education and mission today from all of these perspectives.
Given the multiple intersections of education with mission, the Evangelical Missiological Society invites you to consider how your particular strengths and interests might stimulate deeper discussion and consideration surrounding the annual theme and impact of missiology, and to frame a proposal to present a paper.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- The role of the church, mission organizations, and/or seminaries in mission education and mission training.
- Discussion of vehicles and pathways in mission education and training like orality, music, art, literacy, and so on.
- Exploring the role of education in mission, evangelism, and church planting.
- Contributions from other academic disciplines to education and contemporary mission.
- Educational approaches and under-represented and/or under-utilized global voices and models in mission education.
- Discuss how the global pandemic has shaped education, training, and contemporary mission.
- Exploration of technology and educational models and their impact on learning and discipleship.
- Historical models and educational practices that are beneficial to retrieve for contemporary mission.
Missiology and the Black Experience Track
Educating for Contemporary Mission in the Black Missiology Experience: Through narratives, case studies or theological exegesis, the EMS invites papers directed at the unique contributions and explorations of the Black Church’s models and practices at the intersection of education and mission. Papers are solicited that address these and other related topics from missiological, theological, historical, sociological, and/or regional perspectives.
Submitting a Proposal
To propose a paper, send a topic title and 200-300 word abstract to Brian Bain at missions@dts.edu by the deadline of January 20th.
Final papers are to be 4500-7000 words and use Chicago Turabian author-date citation format. For those living in the USA or Canada, presenters are invited first to present in our regional conferences Spring 2023.
Brian Bain
The South Central Region covers the following states:
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Texas
Past Conferences
2021
The topic of this year’s conference was “Communication(s) and Mission.”
2020
This year’s regional turned into a Zoom conference, due to COVID-10 restrictions. By God’s grace, it ended up being our largest regional yet! We had 110 registrants from 7 states in the US and one person Zoomed in from Poland. These attendees represented over 40 organizations. The two plenaries were co-presented by Dr. William (Bill) Taylor and Dr. Michael A. Ortiz. In addition, the conference schedule featured 25 papers presented in 5 concurrent sessions, averaging 60+ people in attendance. Break times and lunch featured topic-focused discussion and prayer in each of the five Zoom rooms. We offered Zoom training for attendees, presenters, and the ten Zoom room monitors who facilitated the meeting. Those Zoom training documents are available at this Google folder. Only a few of the 28 presenters had connection difficulties, and they were still able to present their material, just with limited PPT capability. We experienced a great deal of joy as we saw the blessing of God on this conference.
2019
The 2019 regional conference for South Central EMS was held on March 2nd. There were 19 papers presented plus a plenary session by Dr. Werner Mischke on “An Honor-Bearing Gospel for Shame-Fueled Crises” and a closing panel on “In Contexts of Crisis, Does the Gospel of the Kingdom Better Address the Question of Identity?” Conference attendees numbered approximately 75 people, from 8 states and 25 organizations/schools. Thank you to our volunteers and campus hosts who helped us make this event possible. (Submitted by Robin Harris, PhD, South Central VP)
2018
The 2018 regional conference for South Central EMS was held on April 7, our second “stand alone” conference for this region. The conference featured 17 papers plus a plenary session by Dr. Raphael Anzenberger on “Engaging the Secular Mind: An Urgent Call to the American Church” and a closing panel on “The Impact of Honor -Shame Issues on Mission and Evangelism.” Conference attendees numbered approximately 70 people, from 4 states and 15 organizations/schools. Once again, strong participation from volunteers and the EMS Logistics Coordinator, Bill Harris, made the conference run smoothly. (Submitted by Robin Harris, PhD, South Central VP)
2017
The 2017 South Central EMS regional conference in Dallas took place on March 4 and was the first “stand alone” conference for this region of EMS. We were delighted at the outstanding level of participation! The conference featured 21 papers and 2 plenary sessions, plus vibrant multi-cultural worship and opportunities for networking. There were 85 registrants from 8 states, 7 schools, and 35 agencies, organizations, and/or churches. I’m grateful for the support of Dr. Robert Priest, EMS president, who agreed to come as a plenary speaker, for the large number of volunteers that helped things run smoothly, and for the logistics coordination provided by EMS Logistics Coordinator Bill Harris. (Submitted by Robin Harris, PhD, South Central VP)
2016
The EMS South Central Regional meeting was held in conjunction with ETS and EPS Regional Meetings at Dallas Semianry on April 1-2. Overall there were about 300 people in attendance for all three societies. EMS members had about 70 people participate in our sessions where we had fourteen papers presented on the theme of “Missions and the Local Church.” Several papers were recommended to the national committee for the selection process for the annual EMS meeting in October and for possible selection for our national publications.
2015
The South Central Region held its regional annual meeting in conjunction with the ETS Regional Meeting at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary April 10-11, 2015. We had two EMS tracks at our regional meeting – one being the national theme of “Controversies in Missions;” the other was “General Important Topics in Missions.” We had about 55 members in attendance and nine excellent papers presented, with six chosen as possible for presentation at the national meeting in September.
2014
The EMS South Central Region held its regional meeting together with the Evangelical Theological Society Southwest Region meeting at Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX on March 7-8,. Several papers were presented on the national theme for 2014 – Diaspora Missiology. There were about 90 in attendance for this joint conference.