BEWARE: Christian Conferences in 2007 Including Contemplative Promoting Speakers

2007 will host many “Christian” conferences. Unfortunately, a significant number of them will be including speakers who promote contemplative spirituality, a belief system that ultimately leads away from the Cross of Jesus Christ, not to it. Below are some of those conferences. If your church has plans to send your pastor, young people, men or women to one of these, you may want to reconsider. If they go, they will sit under the tutelage of some who promote contemplative.

Reach 2007 (February) – Presented by: National Religious Broadcasters; Speakers include: Erwin McManus and Leonard Sweet; Quotes:

I think Barbarian Way was my attempt to say, “Look, underneath what looks like invention, innovation and creativity is really a core mysticism that hears from God, and what is fueling this is something really ancient. 1 Erwin McManus;

Mysticism, once cast to the sidelines of the Christian tradition, is now situated in postmodernist culture near the center. 2, Leonard Sweet (p. 57, Quantum Spirituality)

National Pastors Convention (various times) – Presented by Zondervan Publishing and InterVarsity Press; Speakers include: Brian McLaren, Ruth Haley Barton, Eugene Peterson, Doug Pagitt, and Gary Thomas; Quotes:

It is particularly difficult to describe this type of prayer in writing, as it is best taught in person. In general however, centering prayer works like this: Choose a word (Jesus or Father, for example) as a focus for contemplative prayer. Repeat the word silently in your mind for a set amount of time (say, twenty minutes) until your heart seems to be repeating the word by itself, just as naturally and involuntarily as breathing” Gary Thomas (p. 152 ATOD, 2nd ed.).

God also invites us to be re-created and to join the work of God as co-(re)creators. Doug Pagitt Church Re-Imagined, p. 185.

When people discover we are a church with a yoga class … they sometimes assume that we’re simply out to appeal to the cultural creatives and the neo-hippies. Doug Pagitt (p. 53, Reimagining Spiritual Formation)

Leadership Summit (August) – Presented by Willow Creek; Speakers include Bill Hybels and John Ortberg

Other conferences that also include speakers who promote contemplative:

Renovare (various times) Presented by Richard Foster; Speakers include: John Ortberg, Todd Hunter (Alpha Course President North America)

National Youth Workers Convention (various times) – Presented by Youth Specialties; Speakers include: Mark Yaconelli, Duffy Robbins, and Tony Jones; Quotes:

Emergent doesn’t have a position on absolute truth, or on anything for that matter. Do you show up at a dinner party with your neighbors and ask, “What’s this dinner party’s position on absolute truth?” No, you don’t, because it’s a non-sensical question. Tony Jones (2005 convention)

Women of Faith (various times) – Presented by Thomas Nelson Publishers; Speakers include: Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) and Max Lucado (Cure for the Common Life)

Leadership Business Conference (March) – Presented by Southeastern University (Florida); Speakers include: Laurie Beth Jones and Ken Blanchard.