Arizona Southern Baptist Convention

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About 850 people attended the 8th Annual Arizona Church Equipping (ACE) Conference at North Phoenix Baptist Church on Nov. 12.

Eddy Pearson, church ministries--discipleship facilitator, said the conference was a success.

"I'm getting a ton of feedback emails, all favorable," Pearson said.

Pearson said this year the conference followed the Transformational Church model from LifeWay Christian Resources.

Several leaders from LifeWay participated in the conference as facilitators, which Pearson said added to the conference.

"I really wanted to get some people who worked with (Ed) Stetzer on Transformational Church to come and share with us," he said.

During the opening rally attendees heard from Philip Nation, who said often churches are "on the merry-go-round of ministry."

"We're all moving, but nobody's going anywhere," he said.

Nation listed three principles of transformation for a church body: Divine compulsion, selfless devotion and proclaiming the gospel of hope.

"I challenge you to believe that the gospel is enough to transform lives," he said.

This was the second year the ACE program has included sessions for teens, Pearson said. The teen program was blessed to have Paul Turner, a youth leader trainer and student ministry specialist with LifeWay, he said.

"All of the teens I talked to said it was great," he added.

Pearson said the ACE Conference team is already looking at the reaction from attendees and will use that information to plan next year's conference, specifically looking at whether people liked the date change from the summer to the fall

"The attendance was great," he said. "I have talked to many other people who would have liked to been there, but they already had other commitments for that weekend."

As the conference team starts plans for next year, Pearson said the conference will continue to thrive, thanks to the support of Arizona Southern Baptists.

"We couldn't be more pleased that the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention continues to support ACE into the new century," he said. "We'll continue to offer the highest quality for the best price."

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