Annual Conference

2026 CONFERENCE
October 9-10 2026
 In-person and virtual
 
Starts 12pm Oct 9; end 9pm Oct 10
Dallas Theological Seminary
3909 Swiss Ave, Dallas, TX 75204
Click here to Register
Abstract Booklet
Conference Schedule

This year’s theme, “Theological Anthropology for Missional Engagement,” is central to missiological reflection and practice, since acts of gospel witness, service, and cultural engagement all rest on assumptions about human identity, dignity, and destiny. In a rapidly changing world—marked by shifting views of spirituality, ethnicity, gender, technology, and ecology—the church must embrace a biblically faithful and missionally engaged understanding of the imago Dei.

At the heart of this year’s theme is the exploration of imago Dei in missional engagement—how human dignity, human rights, and gospel witness flow from being created in God’s image. This perspective grounds reflection on the meaning of being human and how the imago Dei shapes evangelism, discipleship, community, and global mission.

Plenary Speakers

Dr. Rochelle Scheuermann (PhD Intercultural Studies, TEDS), is Assistant Dean of Ministry  & Evangelism for the Litfin Divinity School at Wheaton College where she also serves as Doctor of Ministry Program Director and Professor of Evangelism & Leadership. Rochelle has been active in EMS since 2008, serving in a variety of roles from North Central Regional Vice President, to more recently as EMS President (2022-2024) and JEMS editor (2024-2025). She is a global co-catalyst for the Lausanne Movement’s Disability Concerns Network, is an advisory editor for Koinonia Journal and on the advisory boards for Koinonia Inclusion Network and Can Do Kids International. Her areas of research interest include disability and the church and the intersection of preaching and culture. In addition to numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and co-edited volumes, she is author of Disability and Evangelism: The Good News of the Fullness of God’s Kingdom (2026, IVP Academic) and co-author of the textbook, Preaching in the Contemporary World (2006, Global University. In 2022 she received a Knox Fellowship Award for Research in Evangelism for her article “Apologetics and Disability: Reframing Our Response to the Question of Suffering.”
Dr. John Dyer is Vice President for Enrollment and Educational Technology at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he also serves as assistant professor of theological studies. He enjoys writing, teaching, and creating at the intersection of technology and faith, in books like From the Garden to the City and People of the Screen, open source tools for Apple and WordPress, and faith-themed sites like yallversion.com, bestcommentaries.com, and worship.ai.  You can find out more about him at https://j.hn/. 
Dr. Robert J. Priest is an anthropologist and former seminary professor. He is retired from full-time teaching but continues to write, consult, speak, and teach part-time. A former president of the EMS, his research and writing have included a focus on the anthropology of religion, race and ethnicity, sexuality and marriage, short-term missions, religious conversion, contextualization, missiology as a field, witchcraft accusations, and the visual image of Jesus in global Christianity.
Dr. Mark Yarhouse is the Dr. Arthur P. and Mrs. Jean May Rech Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College, where he also directs the Sexual & Gender Identity Institute. Mark is author or co-author of several books, including Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture (2nd ed.) and Emerging Sexual Identities: Navigating the Landscape with Today’s Youth.  
Rev. Dr. David Tarus (PhD in Christian Theology, McMaster Divinity College) currently serves as Executive Director of the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA), a project of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. He is the author of A Different Way of Being: Toward a Reformed Theology of Ethnopolitical Cohesion for the Kenyan Context (Langham), the co-editor of Christian Responses to Terrorism: The Kenyan Experience (Wipf & Stock), the author of many academic articles, and an ordained minister of the Africa Inland Church, Kenya. His research interests include theological anthropology, ecclesiology, and the intersection of faith and social issues.

Past Conferences