Exponential 2026 National Conference
– 17:30
Pre-Con 1: Level Up: Understanding the 5 Levels of Church and Building a Culture That Multiplies
Jason ‘Stew’ Stewart catalyzes movement for The 16% Mission as the Executive Director of Mobilization at Exponential.
He bridges the gap between vision, strategy, and implementation, spearheading initiatives to mobilize multipliers. Jason's blend of relational and strategic approaches has allowed him to lead in diverse ministry settings, crisscrossing the nation multiple times in church planting, multisite, and megachurch contexts.
Jason and his wife, Kelly, guide their "Stew Crew" of six from the Nashville area, consisting of two young adult daughters, a son in college, and their adopted high school son.
Dave Ferguson is the CEO / President and co-founder for Exponential. He is also the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional community that is passionate about "helping people find their way back to God." Community has grown from a few college friends to thousands every weekend meeting at multiple locations in the Chicago area and has been recognized as one of America's most influential churches.
Dave provides visionary leadership for NewThing, a global movement of multiplying churches. He is an award-winning author of eight books, including Hero Maker: 5 Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders.
Dave and his wife, Sue, live in Naperville IL. They have three adult children - Amy, Joshua and Caleb.
– 17:30
Pre-Con 2: Developing Leadership Pipelines for Multiplying Churches: Raising and Releasing Leaders for the Sake of the Gospel
The Most Reverend Dr Ric Thorpe is the Archbishop of Melbourne, elected in May 2025 and installed at St Paul’s Cathedral later that year. A leading Anglican voice in church planting, he previously served as the Bishop of Islington in the Diocese of London, a national role focused on helping the Church of England develop new worshipping communities and revitalise existing churches.
Ric founded and led the Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication (CCX) for a decade and continues as a trustee. He has a doctorate in church planting and has trained many leaders at St Mellitus College, London. Earlier in his ministry, he and his wife Louie led a church revitalisation from Holy Trinity Brompton into St Paul’s Shadwell, which went on to support several further plants in East London.
Educated at Stowe School and the University of Birmingham, Ric first worked in marketing with Unilever before training for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He is married to Louie, with whom he has three children. He loves the sea, wide horizons, and sailing whenever he can.
As Archbishop of Melbourne, he is committed to listening well, discerning God’s leading, and strengthening the shared life and mission of the Diocese.
– 17:30
Pre-Con 3: Create Capacity, Expansion Ready
Darren's Bio is coming soon!
Bron is the Co-Senior Pastor of The Chapel Collective, a multisite church with eight locations across villages, towns, and cities. She carries a deep passion for the local church and for seeing people live heart and soul for Jesus, believing the Church is God’s primary vehicle for renewal and revival in this generation.
Bron oversees church planting training for the ACC in NSW and trains leaders across Australia. Currently into the second year into planting again herself, she speaks from the frontline with fresh faith and lived conviction, calling leaders and churches to spiritual vitality, courageous obedience, and a renewed hunger for the presence of God.
– 17:30
Pre-Con 4: Your Marriage Is Your Message: Turning Your Relationship into Your Most Powerful Evangelism Tool
Kristin is a professional counsellor with her own private practice, where she works extensively with church leaders and provides supervision to those in ministry. Her work focuses on helping leaders navigate the complexities of life, relationships, and leadership with wisdom and emotional health.
Jason and Kristin have been married for nearly 30 years and have spent more than 25 years serving together in both local church and not-for-profit ministry contexts. With a shared passion for seeing leaders thrive in both life and leadership, they have devoted their lives to helping church leaders build ministries that are healthy, sustainable, and deeply aligned with the gospel.
Together, Jason and Kristin bring a unique blend of theological depth, relational insight, and practical experience. They have been personally trained and mentored for the past five years by Pete and Geri Scazzero, and have participated in multiple marriage intensives with them. This formation has deeply shaped their approach to marriage, leadership, and discipleship, and forms the foundation of what they teach.
At the heart of their work is a simple but powerful conviction: church leaders should not have to choose between reaching their goals and preserving their souls. Through their ministry, Jason and Kristin are committed to helping leaders build lives, marriages, and ministries that reflect the beauty and integrity of the gospel.
Jason is the founder and director of the Irresistible Churches Network in Australasia, and serves as the director of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship for Australasia. He also leads the School of Emotionally Healthy Leadership, equipping pastors and church leaders to integrate emotional health and spiritual maturity in their leadership.
Jason and Kristin have been married for nearly 30 years and have spent more than 25 years serving together in both local church and not-for-profit ministry contexts. With a shared passion for seeing leaders thrive in both life and leadership, they have devoted their lives to helping church leaders build ministries that are healthy, sustainable, and deeply aligned with the gospel.
Together, Jason and Kristin bring a unique blend of theological depth, relational insight, and practical experience. They have been personally trained and mentored for the past five years by Pete and Geri Scazzero, and have participated in multiple marriage intensives with them. This formation has deeply shaped their approach to marriage, leadership, and discipleship, and forms the foundation of what they teach.
At the heart of their work is a simple but powerful conviction: church leaders should not have to choose between reaching their goals and preserving their souls. Through their ministry, Jason and Kristin are committed to helping leaders build lives, marriages, and ministries that reflect the beauty and integrity of the gospel.
– 17:30
Pre-Con 5: Beyond Good Intentions: Building and Leading a Multiethnic Church
DeYmaz has written eight books including his groundbreaking works, including The Coming Revolution in Church Economics (Baker Books, 2019), and Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church (Jossey-Bass, 2007)—a 2008 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award finalist and an Outreach magazine Resource of the Year Award.
His most recent book, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace: Becoming Like Jesus Through the Prayer of St. Francis (NavPress, 2026) equips readers to step into the tension of our times with clarity, courage, and compassion.
Matt Millar lives in Nairobi, Kenya, with his wife, TaLarrya, and their sons, Ta'raii and Tavian, where he executes the vision of Exponential as the Global Integrator. Under his leadership 40,000 new churches have been catalyzed in nearly 70 nations since 2018.
He has an MBA in Business Management from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a Masters degree in Global Leadership from Fuller Seminary, as well as a certificate in Intercultural Studies from the University for British Columbia.
He has traveled to seventy-five nations, trained local leaders in over forty of those nations, and planted churches in three different countries. He is the founder of a Cultural Equipping Center called Thriving Beyond and has authored the books: Thriving Beyond: Engaging Meaningfully with Our Multicultural World and The Church in Context: Harnessing Cultural Humility for Kingdom Advancement.
– 09:00
Arrival and Registration
– 10:30
Main Session 1
– 10:55
Morning Tea
– 11:55
Workshop 1
– 13:00
Workshop 2
– 14:15
Lunch
– 15:15
Workshop 3
– 17:00
Main Session 2
– 10:30
Main Session 3
– 10:55
Morning Tea
– 11:55
Workshop 4
– 13:15
Light Lunch
– 15:45
Main Session 4
The Spheres Shift: Mobilising Teenagers for Evangelism & Church Planting
This workshop explores models for developing teenagers as evangelists and leaders across Australia, and practical keys for raising up young church planters and Christian leaders. Featuring the latest research on Gen Z and Gen Alpha, as well as learnings from Spheres (a youth movement sweeping across Australia), we will discuss strategies for building a leadership pipeline and preparing the next generation for innovative models of church planting. Contributors: Ben & Emily Higgins, and the Alpha Youth Team
A former gold-medal-winning athlete, Emily is the Schools Specialist for Alpha Australia, helping students and schools create spaces to explore faith. Together with her husband Ben, they pioneered Spheres, an Alpha initiative training hundreds of young Australian evangelists and church planters. Married for over 15 years with four children, Ben and Emily are passionate about Jesus, evangelism, and equipping the next generation of leaders and church planters and committed to raising up leaders who will transform Australia with the gospel.
At this year's Conference, Emily Higgins is our Next Gen Facilitator and Host. Emily will introduce and host the Keynote Q&A Panels, creating space for meaningful interaction between conference delegates and keynote speakers. Emily will guide the conversation with pre-prepared and live questions, ensuring that the voices of the next generation are heard and engaged.
Ben and Emily Higgins are passionate about Jesus, evangelism, and equipping the next generation of leaders and church planters. With over 15 years of ministry experience, they have served as church planters, pastors, and key leaders in Australia’s largest national youth movement.
Ben is the National Engagement Director for Alpha Australia, leading a team focused on serving churches in evangelism and discipleship. He also co-created Life Essentials, a widely used video series exploring identity, purpose, and faith that has impacted over 50,000 young people. Married for over 15 years with four children, Ben and Emily are committed to raising up leaders who will transform Australia with the gospel.
Katherine Chow Workshop - Title TBC
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Katherine Chow is the Associate Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in London, working closely with Archie and Sam Coates in leading the church. She was born and raised in London, and after studying law at university, went on to practice law as an Attorney and later Partner at a firm in New York City. In 2016, she joined the HTB staff team and served as Director of Strategy before later training for ordination at St Mellitus College. She possesses a Master’s Degree in Christian Leadership and a Certificate in Theology, Ministry and Mission. She oversees preaching at HTB, develops leaders and also heads up the HTB Academy, our emerging young leaders development programme aimed at people aged 18-26.
Empowering Congregations to Engage The Community
All churches, especially church plants want to find ways to engage their community, the question is, where to start? We need flexible, contextual models of ministry that enable churches to build real relationships with those around them. These need to be available to entire church plant teams, and not just the experts, so we are all engaging in mission together. At CAP we have created a partnership model that is simple, adaptable and comes with no cost. We want to help individual congregation members to reflect on their relationship with money and possessions, in order that they would make space in their lives for those on the margins through intentional hospitality and generosity. We all also want to equip churches with the skills needed to walk alongside others. The aim of the workshop would be to unpack these ideas.
Hew Nunn - Church Partnerships at Hope Economy Australia. I am a former pastor, planter, and currently involved in leadership of Northlakes Salvation Army church in Newcastle. I have a heart for the church across Australia to flourish.
Developing Leaders from and For Marginalised Communities (Hard Places)
How do we best understand marginalised communities (sometimes called Hard Places) based upon what God has revealed through His word. How do we employ applied research techniques, demographics and on the ground exegesis to develop effective means of starting and building Gospel centred work in these communities, especially developing local leadership.
We use an assets-based approach, believing the most likely people to transform a community, come from that community.
Coz grew up mostly in the bush around Armidale. He started his ministry working with teenagers, then church based economic and community development and eventually into education and consulting. Coz has taken his decades of relationships in challenged urban communities around the world and his experience in education and leadership development to head up The Well, a training system to help those from or with a heart for marginalised communities start new Gospel ministry in those communities . He seems to enjoy working on complex organic systems, especially relating to seeing communities transformed to be Kingdom reflecting places, where single mechanical solutions seem to just exacerbate the challenges. He holds a Master of Arts in Global Urban Missions from Bakke Graduate University and a Doctor of Ministry with a focus on complex urban systems from Gordon Connell Seminary. He is on the boards of Esperanza Health Centre, The Simple Way and Simple Homes.
Evolution of Children's Ministry
Children’s ministry has continually adapted to meet the needs of new generations. From traditional Sunday school models to today’s digital, family-focused, and Spirit-led approaches, the landscape has shifted dramatically. In this session Andy will explore the evolution of children’s ministry and unpack what it looks like now ministering to Gen Alpha with strategies that are both culturally relevant and biblically grounded.
Andy Kirk is the Global Kids Ambassador for OneHope, working in collaboration with ministries around the world to equip and empower the next generation. He is based on the Gold Coast, Australia, with his wife Christie and their three boys. With over 20 years of experience in local church leadership, multi-site ministry, and strategic mentoring, Andy is passionate about helping leaders unlock their God-given potential and influence children and families with purpose.
How Predominant Churches and Microchurches Serve Together
In a post-Christian society, making disciples will require all types of churches in their various shapes and sizes. Traditional and predominant models of church are awakening again to the primary call to 'make disciples'. How can we create the environments and spaces that are conducive to reaching the de-churched and un-churched? How can microchurches help traditional churches discover innovative ways of making disciples? How can traditional churches pivot their vision and strategy toward this goal? How can resourceful churches help smaller and simpler expressions of church flourish? These questions and more will be explored.
Gary Rucci has served in church leadership for 37 years. During which he held portfolios in a few of Australia’s megachurches and currently serve smaller expressions of church through Micro Movements Australia. He appreciates the differences and nuances between denominations and as such, enjoys his role as founder and co-lead of Thrive Brisbane, a citywide ecumenical coalition of leaders. He appreciates structure and organisation having previously served the National Executive of AOG Great Britain. He led a local church for 10 years and grappled with the challenges of reaching the community, making disciples and raising leaders. He holds a Master of Leadership, and I am a qualified Professional Supervisor.
Joel Shaw has pastored a local church, served on the mission field, and currently leads Multiply Movements, a support network for disciple multiplication across Australia. He is part of a team supporting and gathering hundreds of simple, organic, disciple-making churches. Passionate about seeing movements of authentic discipleship, Joel equips leaders and churches to move from program-driven activity to reproduction-focused disciple-making, emphasizing the importance of leaders abiding in Christ, cultivating healthy communities, and raising everyday disciples who make disciples for lasting impact.
Cultivating Your Culture of Prayer
Across the Western Church, we are seeing a restoration of prayer to its rightful place in our churches and ministries, more closely reflecting its central place in the life of Jesus and the early church. Jesus lived a life shaped by prayer, and the book of Acts is, in many ways, a commentary between prayer meetings. Leaders are emerging who long to capture the heart of Jesus for His Church, building a house of prayer for all nations that releases power and potency in our Kingdom endeavours.
In this workshop, Sam will guide us through a series of reflections and key learnings, while also creating space to listen for the Spirit’s invitation to cultivate a deeper life of prayer, both personally and within our church culture. Bring your journals!
Sam is the National Coordinator for 24-7 Prayer in New Zealand and is the lead pastor of Bay Vineyard Church in the Hawkes Bay. He is married to Jen, and they have three very active boys! He graduated from BCNZ (now Laidlaw) in 2003 and has in been in full-time ministry ever since. Sam loves good food, good music and good waves!
Building God's Kingdom in the Digital Age: Strategic AI Adoption for Churches For Multiplying Impact
In an era of rapid technological change, Christian leaders face a critical question: How can we wisely adopt AI tools to strengthen our ministries without compromising our theological values or pastoral mission? This workshop brings together church leaders, pastors, and ministry directors to explore the opportunities and responsibilities of artificial intelligence in faith communities. Rather than viewing AI as a threat to navigate or a trend to ignore, we'll examine how discerning leaders can strategically integrate AI tools to amplify ministry impact, extend pastoral care, and reach more people with the Gospel.
Steven was the first Church Online Pastor in Australia starting his online campus in 2015 which now has around 15,000 a week watching services online from around the world.
NEXT GEN Q and A with Keynote 1, 2 and 3
A former gold-medal-winning athlete, Emily is the Schools Specialist for Alpha Australia, helping students and schools create spaces to explore faith. Together with her husband Ben, they pioneered Spheres, an Alpha initiative training hundreds of young Australian evangelists and church planters. Married for over 15 years with four children, Ben and Emily are passionate about Jesus, evangelism, and equipping the next generation of leaders and church planters and committed to raising up leaders who will transform Australia with the gospel.
At this year's Conference, Emily Higgins is our Next Gen Facilitator and Host. Emily will introduce and host the Keynote Q&A Panels, creating space for meaningful interaction between conference delegates and keynote speakers. Emily will guide the conversation with pre-prepared and live questions, ensuring that the voices of the next generation are heard and engaged.
Step In - To the Mission of God
An interactive session based on my new book and Doctoral research regarding how leaders can grow healthy rhythms and practices that enable them to lead from an overflow and health as they seek to mobilise their church communities into living into God's mission.
Mike is the husband to Michelle and father to Ella, Ben and Lucy. Mike has a passion in seeing people come to know Jesus, coaching leaders, and developing effective discipleship pathways in the local church. He has worked as a teacher and Pastor and currently serves as the Lead Pastor at Clovercrest Baptist church in Adelaide. Mike is a Reverend with the Baptist Churches of SA, is the current Chair of Arrow Leadership Australia, teaches a Leadership subject at Tabor College, and has recently completed his Doctor of Ministry, focusing on Missional Renewal in the Western church.
Pioneering with hope: Lessons learned from church planting in rural and remote contexts.
17 years ago, Sharon Wright began a pioneering work in Condobolin, NSW. This workshop examines God’s incredible heart for the often-forgotten places and people in our nation and the lived experience of church planting in these contexts. Sharon shares the lessons learned about God’s faithfulness, personal resilience and holding a long-term vision for transformation that changes lives from the ground up.
Sharon Wright is a church planter, pastor, and pioneer in outback NSW. With 17 years of experience, she is passionate about seeing communities transformed through the gospel and living out God’s mission with hope, resilience, and lasting impact.
Discover how the m4 training process can serve your church's mission to plant multiplying church.
Understanding the M4 training process and how it can serve your movements ecosystem of Church planting.
Øivind's BIO TBC
Adrian Dunwell has lived in Australia for 14 years. Prior to coming to Australia, Adrian was part of the executive team at Life NZ, where he pastored for 18 years. Adrian is currently the Executive Pastor at Lifesource Christian Church, Sydney. Adrian is the newly appointed executive leader of m4 Australia and is a current church planter using the M4 process of church planting. Adrian believes in the local Church and has a strong commitment and passion for evangelism, discipleship and church planting. He relentlessly believes in releasing people to fulfil their God given destiny. His relaxed communication style is informative and engaging.
Healthy Marriage and Ministry
Some learnings on how to keep growing a healthy marriage and family while leading a church, through the changing seasons of family and church leadership ... Staying Yoked and Stoked!
Jason and Susan love to create spaces where people experience God’s presence, grow in faith, and take steps to become fully devoted followers of Jesus. Their deepest prayer is to see revival in this nation in this generation—seeing people everywhere discover hope and healing in Jesus.
For the past 18 years, Jason has led Gateway Baptist Church as Senior Pastor while also serving as the Director of Queensland Baptists, championing local churches across the state. He’s passionate about making the truth of the Bible accessible—helping people see how it speaks into their everyday lives. He even wrote a book about it, Jesus the Bloke, because he knows that if regular Aussies met Jesus, they’d really like him!
Susan serves alongside Jason as Associate Pastor and invests in pastors and ministry leaders as a coach with Partners in Ministry, bringing wisdom and encouragement to those navigating the challenges of ministry.
Beyond church life, Jason and Susan love spending time with their kids and grandkids—especially at the beach. Grateful for the blessings they’ve received, they’re driven to share that blessing with others at every opportunity.
Discipleship That Multiplies: Designing Scalable Digital Pathways Beyond Sunday
We are living in a busy, content-rich world where people are being shaped every day — by podcasts, platforms, influencers, algorithms, and ideas. In a distracted and digital age, intentional formation has never been more important. This workshop explores how to build scalable digital discipleship pathways that extend the impact of Sunday into everyday life. Through Australian case studies, we’ll examine how churches are curating contextualised digital environments, guiding people through intentional growth journeys, and seeing fruit. If you’re passionate about multiplication and want sustainable systems that help shape people in a noisy world, this session will equip you to design pathways that create lasting impact.
Christie began working for RightNow Media through NextGen Global Leaders in 2021 and works closely with the YouVersion and BibleProject teams. Her passion is to help connect churches with these valuable resources to increase Bible engagement and equip the everyday believer to grow in their faith and live it out daily. She works closely with churches, schools and ministries to integrate these digital discipleship tools into their discipleship pathways. She comes from a fifteen-year career in scientific research, completing her doctorate degree in 2022 in the field of Environmental Monitoring.
Spark Ministries
Description and Workshop Presenters will be confirmed shortly!
From Chaos to Clarity: Six Systems Healthy Leaders Build to Multiply Impact
Healthy leaders don't just cast vision — they build systems that carry it. This interactive workshop introduces the Six Clarities Framework, a proven methodology that equips church leaders to move from operational chaos to sustainable clarity across six critical areas: Identity, Governance, Strategy, People, Execution, and Impact. Whether you're planting, pastoring, or leading a team through a growth season, you'll walk away with a practical diagnostic of where your church is clear, where it's foggy, and what to do next.
Michael Rumende is the Founder and Director of KLARITAS, a strategic consultancy helping church leaders move from chaos to clarity. With 17+ years as Executive Pastor at a multi-site church in Western Australia. Michael developed the Six Clarities Framework, a proven methodology for church organisational health. He is a Certified Asana Services Partner, Working Genius Facilitator, and GAICD candidate, and holds a Bachelor of Theology and Diploma of Management. Michael lives in Perth with his wife Citra and their three sons.
NEXT GEN Q and A with Keynote 4 and 5
A former gold-medal-winning athlete, Emily is the Schools Specialist for Alpha Australia, helping students and schools create spaces to explore faith. Together with her husband Ben, they pioneered Spheres, an Alpha initiative training hundreds of young Australian evangelists and church planters. Married for over 15 years with four children, Ben and Emily are passionate about Jesus, evangelism, and equipping the next generation of leaders and church planters and committed to raising up leaders who will transform Australia with the gospel.
At this year's Conference, Emily Higgins is our Next Gen Facilitator and Host. Emily will introduce and host the Keynote Q&A Panels, creating space for meaningful interaction between conference delegates and keynote speakers. Emily will guide the conversation with pre-prepared and live questions, ensuring that the voices of the next generation are heard and engaged.
Preaching to the Heart
Preaching to the mind only puffs up; preaching to the will only creates Pharisees. Preaching to the emotions only lasts minutes. Preaching to the heart is then key. But how exactly do you do that? This workshop will explain and explore the key principles of preaching to the heart for deep discipleship.
Andrew Katay is the Co-CEO of City to City Australia, a leading church planting and church consultancy organisation. He is also the Senior Minister of Christ Church Inner West, a multi-site church in Sydney’s Inner West.
Joel Chelliah's Workshop - TBC
Workshop Description TBC
Developing Thriving Immigrant Churches in Australia
This workshop introduces the challenges and opportunities facing the fastest growing churches in Australia: immigrant churches. It also introduces a new initiative that seeks to help them thrive as healthy intergenerational and witnessing communities of faith beyond their own ethnic boundaries.
David serves on the Executive Team of the Lausanne Global Diaspora Network, is Director of the Thriving Immigrant Church Initiative in Australia. He has served in five continents in pastoral ministry, church planting and theological education. He is married with two adult children.
Coaching people to flourish in their role and in life
This workshop aims to help ministry leaders to walk beside those they lead well. Helping them to grow as disciples and in whatever ministry function they are serving in.
Peter has been ‘walking beside’ church leaders since 2012 and leads the team at Partners in Ministry as the Chief Executive.
Peter has a background in organisational leadership, people management, marketing and training having worked for over two decades in the pharmaceutical industry in Australia, New Zealand and across Southeast Asia. He finished up in pharmaceuticals as the leader of Australia and New Zealand for Inova Pharmaceuticals. Since then he has dedicated himself to supporting church leaders to lead well and in spiritual and personal health. Peter currently serves as a director on the Boards of Partners in Ministry, Sustainable Development Group, and Magnify Research (National Church Life Survey). Peter is a trained church consultant, leadership coach, pastoral supervisor and expert trainer. His undergraduate degree was in Science and since then he has competed a Graduate Certificate in Professional Supervision (Pastoral), a Graduate Diploma in Management and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. After thirteen years working with church leaders and churches across a range of denominations and countries Peter is very grateful to God for the development of Partners in Ministry and the faithful and capable team that God has brought together. He has a huge desire to see the church of Jesus Christ flourish and to see the leaders God has appointed to be healthy and effective in their leadership. He believes that leading a church is one of the most challenging roles - with too many church leaders suffering from burnout and imposter syndrome. Peter is committed to seeing more and more church leaders flourish under God. This is what Partners in Ministry is all about!
Generational Collaboration - Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World
A discussion based workshop that will begin with our real-world observations of trends and generational differences and then move towards biblical models on how we must leverage each generation's unique perspectives and leanings for God's kingdom work. God has given the living generations all that we need to fulfill our purpose in our generation. God is also a generational God and understanding the Great Commission through the generational lens will give us vision and reliance regardless of what is going on in the world. We are called to live in this world that God so loved.
Reverend Dr. Lisa Pak is a second-generation Korean Canadian and Toronto native and currently serves as the Director of Partnerships (Asia) alongside Rick Warren at Finishing the Task (FTT), in addition focusing on collaborative efforts towards empowering women and the rising generations for kingdom purpose. She also serves with Wycliffe USA in collaborative strategy and prayer. She’s ordained by the Korean Association of Independent Churches and Missions (KAICAM) and holds a MDiv and a MABL from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a DMin in Leadership from Tyndale Seminary. Lisa travels globally and is passionate about mobilizing the global church, especially the rising generations, towards collaboration in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with all who have yet to hear.
Enhancing and Sustaining Leaders' Vitality
Burnout is a significant issue in Australia. It causes too many great leaders do not finish the race. It greatly disrupts God's mission, impacting people, community, resources and momentum.
This presentation is a strategy for how the Healthy Christian Leader Assessment, (Valid and Reliable Biola Uni, Feb 2026) 25 behavioural expressions, can help pastors and key leaders thrive. It outlines the strategy of reflective practice. A key principle behind it is the quality practitioner who catalyses self-reflection. Self-reflection builds self-awareness, and increasing self-awareness empowers self-regulation. (Transformation)
This session has wide benefice, movement leaders, practitioners clergy health, researchers, and christian leaders. This tool identifies professional development targets and deliverables to meet them. It is a resource to aid transformation and enhance well-being.
Dr Don Easton (D.MIn. Fuller 1992) is the founder and CEO of Verve Lead and Verve Lead USA. The Verve Lead team consults globally with movements, develops mentors and provides mentoring and professional supervision to Christian leaders, from local church pastors to the global executives. His passion is to lift the buoyancy and resilience of Christian leaders, to advance the kingdom of God and enhance our communities’ well-being, sustainability and safety. He has conducted qualitative research on the competencies required to be a healthy Christian leader and the competencies required to be a Christian leader/mentor. From this research, Don has developed two online tools: Healthy Christian Leader Assessment—to help evaluate the holistic health of Christian leaders and pinpoint strengths and areas for development in overall well-being. Christian Leadership Mentor Assessment—for the selection, training, and evaluation of Christian leaders who mentor other leaders. Don is also a practitioner whose focus is on sustaining leaders’ vitality. This is done through 1-on-1 and peer group recurring consultations. Don’s books, Burnout and Beyond: The Dangers of Depletion and the Path to Health and Creating a Vision for Health: The Five Core Competencies are available on Amazon. Forty-seven years of ministry experience include church planting and ordained ministry in traditional and Pentecostal churches. His roles as a Senior Minister (31 yrs) in a C3 Church in Australia and ten years on its national executive have positioned him to understand the complexities and pressures of ministry.
Outpastoring the Algorithm: Leading Formation in the Attention Economy
Every day, algorithms are shaping your people, and this workshop will show you how to use the Bible App to build a clear digital discipleship strategy that forms your church daily, not just on Sundays, in the attention economy.
Dave Adamson is a digital ministry leader and best-selling author who helps churches get people into God’s Word beyond Sundays. A former TV reporter with Channel TEN, Dave spent 14 years in the US serving in senior pastoral roles at some of the largest churches in North America, including North Point Ministries. He returned to Australia in 2020 and now leads the Australian team for the YouVersion Bible App, partnering with thousands of churches to support everyday Bible engagement across their communities.
NEXT GEN Q and A with Keynote 6 and 7
A former gold-medal-winning athlete, Emily is the Schools Specialist for Alpha Australia, helping students and schools create spaces to explore faith. Together with her husband Ben, they pioneered Spheres, an Alpha initiative training hundreds of young Australian evangelists and church planters. Married for over 15 years with four children, Ben and Emily are passionate about Jesus, evangelism, and equipping the next generation of leaders and church planters and committed to raising up leaders who will transform Australia with the gospel.
At this year's Conference, Emily Higgins is our Next Gen Facilitator and Host. Emily will introduce and host the Keynote Q&A Panels, creating space for meaningful interaction between conference delegates and keynote speakers. Emily will guide the conversation with pre-prepared and live questions, ensuring that the voices of the next generation are heard and engaged.
Beyond Budgets: Forming Generous Disciples Who Multiply Mission
Church leaders and planters don’t dream about managing budgets, they dream about transformed lives and cities blessed by the Gospel. Yet lasting multiplication begins in our hearts; through the formation of disciples whose hearts reflect the generosity of Jesus. This workshop reframes generosity from a financial necessity to a discipleship engine and infrastructure for multiplication. When leaders intentionally cultivate cultures of gospel-shaped generosity, they strengthen spiritual maturity, release new leaders, resource church plants, and multiply mission beyond what one leader or giver alone could achieve. Participants will be introduced to the Journey of Generosity (JOG) course as a discipleship pathway, hear stories from church leaders here at Exponential (Paul Dale, The Bridge Church Sydney and Jonathan Dove, Gracecity Church NZ - TBC) on how they have been embedding generosity into their church culture, and explore practical ways church planters can form generous, mission-shaped communities.
Martine Wilson serves as Oceania Regional Director for Generosity Path, working across Australia and New Zealand to help churches form disciples who treasure Christ and multiply mission through lives of generosity. She partners with church planters, pastors, and movement leaders to embed generosity into discipleship and church culture. Generosity Path exists to resource and bless the global church by helping leaders move beyond awkward funding conversations toward cultivating communities that live with open-handed generosity and surrender, powerfully displaying Jesus to the world and enabling long-term gospel impact.
Dave Ferguson's Workshop Title TBC
Workshop Description coming soon!
Dave Ferguson is the CEO / President and co-founder for Exponential. He is also the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional community that is passionate about "helping people find their way back to God." Community has grown from a few college friends to thousands every weekend meeting at multiple locations in the Chicago area and has been recognized as one of America's most influential churches.
Dave provides visionary leadership for NewThing, a global movement of multiplying churches. He is an award-winning author of eight books, including Hero Maker: 5 Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders.
Dave and his wife, Sue, live in Naperville IL. They have three adult children - Amy, Joshua and Caleb.
All Change: Unlocking Kingdom Potential in a World we weren't prepared for
As Christian leaders, we often feel dissatisfied with the status quo or overwhelmed by rapid cultural shifts. We know something needs to change, but the fear of uncertainty, loss, or pain leaves us clinging to ineffective systems and practices. Drawing from Jesus’ life and ministry, leadership coach Rich Robinson offers a four-phase framework to navigate adaptive challenges and help you and your organization to A) Dream: Envision a future guided by kingdom imagination, B) Discover: Unearth key insights through experiential learning, C) Design: Craft core principles that are contextually applicable and D) Deploy: Mobilize everyone to contribute to a kingdom cause Whether you lead a church, nonprofit, faith-driven venture, network, or denomination, All Change will equip you to embark on a communal, courageous, and Spirit-led process that will catalyze change and unlock kingdom potential.
Rich Robinson - As a movement catalyst, spiritual entrepreneur, and strategic coach, Rich founded and pioneered Catalyse Change 15 years ago, which is a charity/501C3 that provides leadership training for church leaders, network leaders, and Christian entrepreneurs across the church and non-profit space globally. Over the past 20 years, Rich has led pioneering work in missional disciple-making, kingdom innovation and entrepreneurship, strategic thinking, and organizational change across the globe. He has co-founded and currently leads two initiatives: MLC (Movement Leaders Collective), which convenes, trains, and equips church, movement, and network leaders to spark movements in the West (expressed as the “100 Movements”), and CREO (working with Christian entrepreneurs and Faith-Driven Organizations to see social, spiritual, and systemic impact). Both of these initiatives have the same drive and design, but with different people and places - they are created to unlock Kingdom potential, spark Kingdom imagination, and catalyse Kingdom impact. His book, All Change, covers an intentional and biblical change process tested and refined over 15 years of coaching, consulting
Leadership on a Human Scale
Contemporary models of Christian leadership often draw more inspiration from the secular world than from scripture. How can we, as ordinary humans, work in partnership with a powerful God who is not ashamed of our limitations? How can we be free, like Paul, to let our weakness actually be a place for God's strength to be revealed?
Dr Mandy Smith is the pastor of St Lucia Uniting Church in Brisbane, and a DMin cohort leader at The Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination. Mandy is an artist and the author of the award-winning books “Confessions of an Amateur Saint: The Christian Leader's Journey from Self-Sufficiency to Reliance on God,” “The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry” and “Unfettered: Imagining a Childlike Faith Beyond the Baggage of Western Culture.” Mandy and her husband Jamie, a New Testament professor, live in their manse where the teapot is always warm. Learn more at www.TheWayIsTheWay.org
The Secret to Growth after You Plant
Planting a church is an accomplishment in itself, keeping the community outward focused so organic church growth can occur is the next frontier.
Tina’s faith began unexpectedly in her early twenties through a life-changing encounter with Jesus that reshaped her direction and calling. For more than 30 years, she has partnered with churches across Australia to help leaders and everyday believers grow in confidence and clarity in evangelism. Tina is passionate about seeing churches not just gather people, but see people genuinely come to faith. She coaches leaders, develops practical frameworks, and equips teams with simple, reproducible strategies for outreach. Tina holds a Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary and is committed to helping church planters build cultures where evangelism is intentional, relational, and fruitful.
Rethinking church spaces: Creative use of facilities for growing and multiplying churches
Churches across Australia are gathering in all kinds of places, yet many facilities are underused or limit what ministry could become. As churches seek to reach new people and form new communities, the way space is used plays a significant role.
Led by architects from Stanton Dahl Architects, this workshop brings practical insight into how churches can rethink their spaces, from existing buildings to shared and future facilities. Drawing on placemaking principles, we will look at how layout, flexibility, thresholds and everyday use can create environments that welcome people, support discipleship and open new pathways for mission.
Together, we will reframe facilities not as fixed assets, but as opportunities for innovation, connection and growth. Participants will leave with practical ideas and simple design lenses to help them steward their spaces in ways that support healthy church life, enable new communities, and contribute to ongoing multiplication.
Teresa Lok is an Associate and registered architect at Stanton Dahl Architects, with extensive experience across education, community and faith-based projects. She takes a thoughtful, people-focused approach to design, helping clients navigate the realities of project delivery while staying true to what matters most. Shaped by her work in learning environments, Teresa brings a strong understanding of how spaces nurture growth, care and connection, insights she applies to church and community settings. Teresa is committed to creating practical places that genuinely serve and are responsive to the needs of the people who use them.
Shayne Evans is a church and community design specialist at Stanton Dahl Architects, working with congregations across Australia to shape environments that support mission, growth and belonging. He guides leaders through complex building decisions, helping translate vision into practical spatial strategies that serve people over time. With experience across new campuses, adaptive reuse and multi-generational ministry settings, Shayne is passionate about equipping churches to steward resources wisely while creating places that strengthen community life.
Online Reach, Local Discipleship: Designing Pre-Church Pathways for Gen Z
For Gen Z (18–29), faith exploration doesn't always start in a church building, it starts in a search bar, a DM, a late-night conversation, or a safe relational space. They are spiritually curious, but institutionally distant. The question is broader than, “How do we get them to church?” but includes, “How do we meet them where they are?” This workshop tackles that challenge head-on. We will explore a bold reimagining of outreach for a digitally native generation. Through the Disciple Makers Online Outreach System, participants will see how our systems can 'plug-into' and serve pre-church outreach initiatives through scalable pathways that move from online curiosity to real-world community and discipleship. This is about constructing additional front doors into your community. New spaces. New systems.
Renee is co-leader of the Disciple Maker Project, an Organisation Development professional, Executive Coach and Church Leader. She outworks these roles by providing strategy, leadership coaching and project execution to enable meaningful kingdom endeavours to shift from great ideas into reality.
Sam Harvey
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Sam is the National Coordinator for 24-7 Prayer in New Zealand and is the lead pastor of Bay Vineyard Church in the Hawkes Bay. He is married to Jen, and they have three very active boys! He graduated from BCNZ (now Laidlaw) in 2003 and has in been in full-time ministry ever since. Sam loves good food, good music and good waves!
Cass Langton
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Cass Langton is a pastor, church planter, and creative leader based in Sydney, Australia, and co-founder of The Local Church. With over two decades in worship and creative ministry, she has led and developed teams globally, shaping environments where people encounter God and grow as disciples. Cass is passionate about helping people imagine their way into the story of God—raising leaders who love the church. Alongside her husband Rich, she encourages communities formed for the love of God and the good of the city, centered on Jesus and expressed through worship, relationships, and creative life.
Andrew Ranucci
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Andrew Ranucci is devoted to the spiritual renewal of Christian leaders. Through Partners in Ministry, he offers pastoral supervision, spiritual direction, coaching, mentoring, workshops, and retreats focused on spiritual formation and soul care
Andrew is the founding pastor of Coast Community Church on the Central Coast of NSW, where he served as Senior Pastor for 24 years. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction from Fuller Theological Seminary (USA).
Andrew is married to Kerrell, and together they have three adult daughters. They now live in Sydney, where Andrew balances his ministry with a love for kayaking, cycling, and sharing life with friends and family
Lisa Pak
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Reverend Dr. Lisa Pak is a second-generation Korean Canadian and Toronto native and currently serves as the Director of Partnerships (Asia) alongside Rick Warren at Finishing the Task (FTT), in addition focusing on collaborative efforts towards empowering women and the rising generations for kingdom purpose. She also serves with Wycliffe USA in collaborative strategy and prayer. She’s ordained by the Korean Association of Independent Churches and Missions (KAICAM) and holds a MDiv and a MABL from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a DMin in Leadership from Tyndale Seminary. Lisa travels globally and is passionate about mobilizing the global church, especially the rising generations, towards collaboration in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with all who have yet to hear.
Katherine Chow
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Katherine Chow is the Associate Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in London, working closely with Archie and Sam Coates in leading the church. She was born and raised in London, and after studying law at university, went on to practice law as an Attorney and later Partner at a firm in New York City. In 2016, she joined the HTB staff team and served as Director of Strategy before later training for ordination at St Mellitus College. She possesses a Master’s Degree in Christian Leadership and a Certificate in Theology, Ministry and Mission. She oversees preaching at HTB, develops leaders and also heads up the HTB Academy, our emerging young leaders development programme aimed at people aged 18-26.
Joel Chelliah
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Dave Ferguson
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Dave Ferguson is the CEO / President and co-founder for Exponential. He is also the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional community that is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God.” Community has grown from a few college friends to thousands every weekend meeting at multiple locations in the Chicago area and has been recognized as one of America’s most influential churches.
Dave provides visionary leadership for NewThing, a global movement of multiplying churches. He is an award-winning author of eight books, including Hero Maker: 5 Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders.
Dave and his wife, Sue, live in Naperville IL. They have three adult children – Amy, Joshua and Caleb.
We would like to acknowledge the organisations that are partnering with us this year. We are so thankful for these incredible organisations and their ongoing unity and partnership with Exponential Australia to continue the work of seeing multiplication ignited across the Aussie church.
Gold Partners
Silver Partners
Bronze Partners
Advocate Partners