Every Participant is a Speaker!

We are coming together to listen and learn together.  If you have experiences in leading organic churches, we need to learn from you!

The Organic Leadership Conference will have some folks who will speak to us about their learning so we can learn together.

Draft of the WORKSHOP TRACKS/SCHEDULE-- HERE (PDF)

Expanding the influence of God's Kingdom in the Domain of Civics & Politics by Dezi Baker & Sam Lee

Dezi Baker is a prophetically gifted leader and shepherd who has been with the organic church movement since its beginnings. A catalyst and visionary behind church expressions like BigFish Chapels and the Endlessknot, Dezi also is a part of CMA's APEST Council. Perhaps best known for his rich stories and authentic holistic approach to the Christian life. Dezi resides in Globe Arizona, where He, is part of city council, business owner and active in the community.  His wife Susie, and their children continually apply God's organic principles to his `City without a Church' vision.

Sam Lee served as a youth pastor before being commissioned as a North American Missionary for the Southern Baptist Convention. While serving as missionary, Sam helped build Campus Church Networks (CCN) with his friend Jaeson Ma. In 2007, Sam left his missionary appointment and joined CCN fulltime as the Director of Church Planting. He is currently transitioning towards developing apostolic missions structures in Asia. Sam and his wife, Michelle, reside in San Jose, California with their two young children, Elijah and Elleanna. Sam's other passions include fixing fountain pens and anything technology oriented.

Expanding the influence of God's Kingdom in the Domain of Education by Dana Cole and Dr. Paul Kaak
Dr. Paul Kaak has been in Christian ministry for over 20 years.  For most of that time, Paul was a pastor in three different Southern California churches working primarily as a pastor of equipping and outreach.  In 1998, Paul began work with The Leadership Institute, Church Multiplication Associates and Global Spectrum.  Paul's assignments with these organizations centered about mentoring and teaching Christian leaders and preparing followers of Christ for local and global mission.  As a co-founder of the Organic Church Planters' Greenhouse, Paul's influence has resulted in 100s of churches being planted throughout the U.S. and worldwide. In 2005, Paul completed a PhD in Leadership and, in the following year, taught leadership courses in Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Switzerland and Germany.  In the Fall of 2006, Paul was appointed Assistant Professor of Organizational Leadership at Azusa Pacific University where he is also the Assistant Director of the Noel Academy for Strengths Based Leadership and Education and the Program Coordinator for the undergraduate Leadership Minor. Paul is married to Kieva and father to Elijah and Jeremiah.  www.apu.edu

Dana Cole has been teacher for 13 years in both the private and public sector. She has taught children from pre-school through middle school and is currently teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District in South Central Los Angeles. Dana has a Masters of Education with an emphasis in Early Education and has certification in Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development. Dana lives in Long Beach with her husband Neil and three children Heather, Erin and Zach.

Moving from Centralized Mega-Church to Decentralized Micro: The Story of Apex Community Church, Dayton, OH by Jason Wing & Friends

Jason Wing is on staff with the APEX Community in Dayton, OH where he serves, leads and equips folks to facilitate regional house church networks. He is passionate about three main things: 1) teaching the Bible, 2) training men for ministry, and 3) cultivating leadership cultures. www.apexcommunity.org

Expanding the influence of God's Kingdom in the Domains of Medicine & Business by Tony & Felicity Dale

Tony & Felicity Dale aren’t rookies when it comes to being in the thick of church-planting movements. While receiving their medical training at Barts Hospital in London in the mid-70s, the Dales were active in the British House Church movement, pioneering a church in their medical college and later in the East End of London. In 1987, the Dales moved to the United States, where they developed businesses to support themselves and again jumped heart-first into church planting. Out of these church-starting pursuits, the vision and relationships developed that led to the formation of House2House magazine. They also have authored several books, including: Simply Church, Getting Started- Practical Guide to Starting Simple Churches & upcoming book The Rabbit & The Elephant with George Barna.

Expanding the influence of God's Kingdom in the Domain of Housing/Residential Living by Eric & Kimberly Lee

Eric & Kimberly Lee have never been afraid to use a small space and some food to reach out to those around them.  Since the beginning of their marriage over 13 years ago, they have utilized their gifting of hospitality to welcome all into their home, which has ranged from a 27’ travel trailer to a three bedroom apartment.  Currently they are leading the WA Organic Church Network and overseeing Community Northwest, which places teams in apartment communities to serve and reach out to the residents and staff.  Over the last five years, they have become familiar with reaching the very transitional nature of renters and multifamily housing.

A Primer on Major Donor/Foundation Fund Raising and more--by Lee Behar (Maclellan Foundation- www.maclellan.net)

Lee Behar, Sr. Program Officer, joined the staff of the Maclellan Foundation in May, 2006. His focus for the Foundation is Europe, the former Soviet Union, Turkey, Iran and the US. Of particular interest to the Foundation in these areas are the rapid expansion of the Gospel in Iran, the renaissance of evangelism in Europe and the response to media and internet ministry throughout the Eurasian region. Prior to coming to the Foundation, Lee led the Alliance for Saturation Church Planting, a multi-agency partnership focused on empowering national church planters in Central And Eastern Europe. He has also served as the Assoc. Director of Global Outreach at Perimeter Church in Atlanta. He holds a BBA in Accounting from TCU and is CPA. He has written articles for the Christian Management Report, the Evangelical Missions Quarterly and The Gathering. Lee and his wife, Brooke, live in Signal Mountain, Tennessee with their three children, Mckenna, Knox and Emelyn.

Overcoming Obstacles to Missional Living - by Deb Hirsch

Deb Hirsch is well known speaker on issues of mission to the marginalized, sexuality, and ministry. She was founder and director of Purple Heart, a ministry to gay people and was team leader of South Melbourne Restoration Community (Australia) for many years. She and her husband Alan are co-writing a book on this topic.

Discovering God's Heart for Your City- Thy Kingdom Come - Brad Fieldhouse

Brad Fieldhouse was sent by the Reformed Church of America to start an urban church multiplication movement in Long Beach, CA. Brad quickly got connected with CMA and Awakening Chapels. The network of organic churches he catalyzed, called Crossroads, spread along the coast from
Long Beach to Irvine, CA. Then to see his passion for Jesus to change the city, he began a city transformation network called Kingdom Causes which has started transformation efforts in four cities currently.

Church Leadership Organically - Dr. Larry Richards

Larry Richards is a retired seminary professor whose writings, including "A Theology of Church Leadership," helped shape the church renewal movement in the 1970s. This work was foundational to CMA's leadership over the last 15 years. Larry is currently a full time author and speaker. He has written over 200 Christian books, including commentaries on every book of the Bible and Zondervan best-selling Adventure Bible and Teen Study Bible, which he did with his wife, Sue. (You can Google him at Lawerence O. Richards)

Organic Leadership Formation for Greater Significance by Neil Cole

Neil Cole: church planter, coach and executive director of Church Multiplication Associate and CMAResources.org.  His newest book Organic Leadership will be coming out at the Conference.  We are excited to hear from him about some of what he articulated in the book and more.

The Leader's Personal Development by Reggie McNeal

Reggie McNeal's past experience involves over a decade as a denominational executive and leadership development coach. He also served in local congregational leadership for over twenty years, including being the founding pastor of a new church. His books are primarily about leadership and his newest book Missional Renaissance is coming out at the Conference.

Liquid Leadership by Dave Gibbons and Cue (aka Stephen Jean-Marie)

Dave Gibbons is the founding pastor of NewSong Church, a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-continental, multi-site church in inner-city Los Angeles, North Orange County, Irvine, and Bangkok. Dave is founder and CEO of Xealot, a nonprofit venture focused on transforming marginalized communities globally through strategic leadership development and special projects.  His new book, The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church is coming out at the conference in February 2009.

Cue is currently serving as the Cause Pastor (outreach) of NewSong-LA. He is also the Founder and President of the Shaw Transformation Corporation in the Crenshaw community of Los Angeles, California-started by NewSong in 2003. Some ministries include high school bible club, Asylumz - a skid row street church/hip hop church to name a few. Cue a former Virgin Records Artist as part of rap group CollegeBoyz, who heard a call from God in 1994 while watching the movie Malcolm X. Soon after, Cue left the music industry and began following God.

Foundations of Organic Church Planting: GH Story 1 Session 1 by Dr. Traver Dougherty & Katie Driver

Traver Dougherty lives in Roseville, CA (Sacramento area) with his wife Aimee and two sons, Keith and Keagan. Before his encounter with the organic church, Traver served as a college pastor, missionary to the Philippines, conventional church planter, and senior pastor. Today, Traver equips organic church planters, functions as an elder in his own missional community of faith (The Banqueting Table), and serves as an adjunct professor of missiology at William Jessup University. Traver has a B.S. in business from Fresno State, M.Div. from Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, D.Min. in spiritual formation from Azusa Pacific University, and is presently working toward the Ph.D. in missiology at Fuller Seminary. Traver's research at Fuller focuses on communication theory for discipleship.

Katie Driver has 23 years of missional experience and ministry initiatives. In 1995 she co-founded Outreach To The Nations to make disciples, plant churches and come alongside indigenous ministries in many different countries. She is now organizing relational ministry networks for organic church planting and diverse ministry outreaches in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and surrounding region. Katie and her husband Tom have been married for 23 years and have three children.

Cultivating the Soil of People's Hearts: GH Story 1 Session 2 by Brad Fieldhouse

Brad Fieldhouse was sent by the Reformed Church of America to start an urban church multiplication movement in Long Beach, CA. Brad quickly got connected with CMA and Awakening Chapels. The network of organic churches he catalyzed, called Crossroads, spread along the coast from
Long Beach to Irvine, CA. Then to see his passion for Jesus to change the city, he began a city transformation network called Kingdom Causes which has started transformation efforts in four cities currently.

Organic Principles for Sowing the Gospel: GH Story 1 Session 3 by Ed Waken & Scott Wilson

Ed Waken moved to Phoenix in 1994 with the intention to begin a church planting movement. Since that time he has begun dozens of churches and is coaching many network leaders across the country. Ed is a teacher, trainer and board member of CMA since 1995. He was part of the very first Greenhouse and has been living, leading, and teaching these principles ever since. Ed also teaches and consults on evangelistic principles and has been doing so since 1987. Those who know him describe him as a visionary leader, church planter, church planting mentor and consultant. Ed has trained and consulted across America, Canada, India and Mexico and brings experience and insights that benefit many. Ed has been married to Debbie since 1978 and they have three grown children and two grandchildren and reside in Phoenix, Arizona.

Scott Wilson has lived in the mountains of Colorado for seven years. He arrived as a traditional church planter and was quickly transformed by the Holy Spirit to be a simple church starter. Through this transformation Scott has become indigenous to his community. He started his own business, Colorado Backcountry Rentals, a snowmobile and ATV rental business. He also began a chaplaincy program for the county’s emergency personel, where he is Chief Chaplain of the Sheriff’s office and is founder and owner of the Big Red Bus, a community outreach ministry. He is a House Church Coach in Summit County, CO where he lives with his wife of 20 years and their four children, Creed, Caroline, Cord and Cammie.

Growing the Life of the Kingdom: GH Story 1 Session 4 by Neil Cole

Neil Cole: church planter, coach and executive director of Church Multiplication Associate and CMAResources.org.  His newest book Organic Leadership will be coming out at the Conference. One of the co-authors of the Organic Greenhouse Training Materials.

Organic Church Nuts and Bolts: GH Story 1 Session 5 by Mike & Mindi Jentes

Mike & Mindi Jentes just celebrated 13 years of marriage and are parents to four children.  In 2000, Mike & Mindi initiated a house church network in urban Columbus, OH called thequest.   This network has started more than 10 house churches and spawned several other networks.  Mike has been a partner with CMA since 2000, attending the very first Organic Church Planter's Greenhouse.  He currently assists CMA Resources as the Coordinator for Greenhouse Trainings. They moved to Long Beach in July of 2008 and are also part of the leadership community at the Los Altos Grace Brethren Church.