Conclave NextGen returns to First Baptist San Antonio to encourage, provide resources and community for NextGen ministry leaders

October 7 and 8, Conclave NextGen conference is back at First Baptist Church San Antonio for two days of worship, breakout sessions, training and networking with NextGen, family ministers and church leaders. 

Cory Liebrum, Youth and Family Ministry specialist at Texas Baptists, said Conclave is a gathering for ministry leaders to feel fed and ministered to without interruption. 

“We want Conclave to be a place where they can come and they can worship, they can fellowship, they can find community with other people and they don’t have to worry about [anything],” said Liebrum. “It’s their time to be fed because they feed people in their churches all year round. So, for two days, if we can give them that, then that’s the goal.”

Jennifer Howington, Childhood Ministry specialist at Texas Baptists, said the desire of Conclave is that NextGen ministers would come together to learn and grow in their ministry area. 

“We’ve heard of silos in ministry and we tend to, as children’s ministers, work with just children and student ministers…but we’re seeing the value of integrating those ministries together, and we’re trying to model that on the convention level. That happens through Conclave to say, ‘come together as a team, we’re learning and growing together as a team,’” said Howington. “It just creates that synergy that they can take home with them and implement in their churches.”

Connecting with others in ministry 

Throughout Monday and Tuesday, attendees will have the opportunity to attend four main worship sessions and four breakout sessions. These sessions will include content and resources for preschool, children, students and college ministers (sponsored by the Texas Baptist Student Ministry). Attendees can treat their sessions as a track within each of these areas or go to whichever breakout interests them.

There will also be a  “Pastor’s Track,” which is a specialized track for senior church leaders to learn from and form community with others who are dealing with matters unique to their role.

“We’re very intentional about the keynotes and the breakout session topics because we want full representation of all age-graded ministries, and we want there to be something for everybody, but also generalized topics that apply to everybody as well,” said Howington. “We put a lot of thought into who we invite to be those leaders, and so far, it’s gone well, and we’ve had such a great response.”       

In the four main sessions, attendees will hear keynote messages from Ed Newton, Mike Satterfield and Justin Whitmel Earley.  

Liebrum said the diversity of keynotes is the “secret sauce” of the conference as they try to match the unique needs of attendees. He said he is especially excited to have Earley address one of the primary motivations behind the conference – community and the importance of connecting with others in ministry. 

“Right now, what we see across the state is a lot of ministers and pastors that feel really isolated and don’t feel connected,” said Liebrum. “For us, [Conclave is] two days where you can get connected and you don’t have to be youth minister those two days, you don’t have to be children's pastor those two days, you can just be you and connect with other people. So, I’m excited about Justin coming to be a part of that.” 

To fit the needs of individual attendees, Conclave provides an ‘On Your Own’ group for the conference. The ‘On Your Own’ group is designed for attendees who didn’t come with a church group to have an opportunity to connect and build relationships.

Conclave is also hosting approximately 80 exhibitors, showcasing their ministry and what resources they have to offer to attendees. 

Building momentum  

Howington said her favorite thing about Conclave is facilitating connections between ministers in the same role. In addition to breakout sessions, Conclave will hold luncheons on Monday for youth ministers and Tuesday for children’s ministers to advance those connections. Luncheon attendees will share a meal and hear from a speaker in their ministry area. 

She said she is also encouraged by the increased attendance of preschool and children's ministers at last year’s Conclave and looks forward to building on that momentum this year. 

“We had a lot of momentum coming out of last year,” said Howington. “Last year was the year we really pushed to have preschool and children's ministers come with their student ministers and pastors, and we saw the fruit of that.”

According to Liebrum, Conclave 2024 will only be the second time the conference is not in the Dallas area. He said holding the conference in San Antonio has been “a win for us because we see more churches from South Texas that may see an event in Dallas and say ‘we’re not gonna do that, we’re not gonna drive there, we’re not gonna fly there,’ but they come.”

South Texas churches went the distance to attend the Conclave 2022 in San Antonio and the majority returned in 2023 when Conclave was held in Dallas. And now that the conference is returning to San Antonio, Liebrum said he most looks forward to reconnecting with those churches again this year.

“They found something that they connected with, and then they came to be a part of it there, and so, I’m just excited about being back in San Antonio and the opportunities that I think we’re gonna have moving forward, continuing to be in the Dallas area but then in other parts of the state, too.”

“It’s expanded our reach, I think. We’ll be able to be in different places, and First [Baptist] San Antonio has been great to work with. They have a stellar team, and they do a lot of the footwork for us, and so, we’re very fortunate to have those partnerships in ministry, not only there, but also in the metroplex too,” said Howington. 

Expecting community at Conclave 

Liebrum said he wants attendees to leave Conclave encouraged by what they learned and refreshed by new relationships. 

“I want them to be encouraged; I want them to have fun,” said Liebrum. “If they can walk away with one tool in their ministry toolbelt, to go ‘I got that at Conclave’ [and] walk away being refreshed by the people they got to hang out with and new relationships – to me, that’s the win for us.”

Howington advised first-time attendees to come expecting community.

“I would say to that first-time conference attendee to come expecting to find community because you will,” said Howington. “It’s not just coming to get information and to get free things from exhibitors or to just get content; it’s about finding people and those connections, probably in your own community that you haven’t met yet, much less, people around the state.” 

Conclave NextGen is made possible by faithful giving to the Texas Baptists Cooperative Program, The Missions Foundation and the Mary Hill Davis Offering. 

To learn more about the 2024 Conclave NextGen conference and register, visit txb.org/conclave.