FRIDAY 10:3O AM – 12:00 PM
City Missions: Lessons in Complexity from Leaders in Collective Impact
From Chicago, Dallas, and Waco, we convene three sets of diverse leaders who have spent decades immersed in serving the residents of their cities. Through cross-cultural friendships and organizational partnerships, they are tackling complex, interlocking issues like gun violence, failing education systems, and deteriorating job prospects. And they are wrestling with how the church can contribute to the collective transformation of local neighborhoods.
Speakers: From Together Chicago — David Dillon, a Gathering participant and co-founder of a group of technology companies, and Michael Allen, Senior Pastor of Uptown Baptist Church. From CitySquare (Dallas) — Larry James, CEO of CitySquare and on staff at Highland Park United Methodist Church, and Byron Sanders, CEO of Big Thought. From Mission Waco — Jimmy Dorrell, co-founder of Mission Waco and pastor at Church Under the Bridge, and Maritza Perez, a Mission Waco board member and real estate agent. Moderator: Anne Snyder, editor-in-chief of Comment Magazine and author of The Fabric of Character: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Supporting Social and Moral Renewal.
Global Health: News from the Frontier
Despite pockets of deteriorating health in areas of lawlessness and violence, the world is generally moving in a positive direction. More people in poor countries have better access to caregivers, medicine, and nutrition. What are some of the reasons for this improvement in global health? What remains to be done? And how can ministries offer a distinctly Christian service?
Speakers: Mark Gerson is Co-Founder of the Gerson Lehrman Group and, with his wife Rabbi Erica Gerson, the creators of the annual L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service. Linda McCarty is CEO of Faith In Practice, who works on short term missions and long term improvements for health systems in Guatemala. Julius Mbeya is Managing Director of Lwala Community Alliance, which focuses on overall human development in a region in Kenya. Moderator: Robin Bruce is a Gathering participant and President of the David Weekley Family Foundation, where global health is one of their philanthropic themes.
What in the World is Happening — and Why?
Join us in a wide-ranging and freewheeling conversation about current events and the underlying forces shaping the news. We’ll venture beyond the headlines and tweets to explore what is happening and to understand why. Helping us chart the symptoms and diagnose the issues: Michael Gerson, nationally syndicated columnist at The Washington Post and former senior aide to President George W. Bush; Christine Emba, who writes about ideas for the opinion section of The Washington Post and previously worked as an editor at The Economist; Mindy Belz, senior editor of WORLD magazine and a former war correspondent; moderated by Josh Good, director of the Faith Angle Forum at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
