Together for Adoption 2009

I was just notified that Together for Adoption, 2009 has just been announced. God willing, I will be there and have been asked to live blog this conference. It look like a GREAT line-up of speakers. Here is the blub from the T4A blog:

We are pleased to announce that the next Together for Adoption (T4A) conference will be held at Christ Community Church (Franklin, TN) on October 2-3, 2009. The uniqueness of T4A’s conferences is that they focus primarily on vertical adoption (i.e., God adopting us in Christ), with a secondary and necessary focus on its profound implications for orphan care and horizontal adoption (i.e., couples adopting children). With over 132 million orphaned and vulnerable children in the world, what our world needs is Christians who have been been freshly gripped by the stunning vertical reality of their adoption by God. If anything can mobilize the church to address our world’s orphan crises, it will be the good news of vertical adoption. Join us as we seek to connect the dots between our adoption by God and the adoption of children. Registration will open within the next few weeks.

General Session Speakers and Topics:

Michael Easley, Topic: Orphan Care and Jesus, the Great Servant of the Poor

Michael Easley recently joined the pastoral staff of Fellowship Bible Church (Nashville, TN) as a teaching pastor (read his church bio). Dr. Easley came to Fellowship Bible Church from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, where he served as president (and currently president emeritus) since March of 2005. Michael and his wife, Cindy, have four children, three of whom were adopted.

Russell Moore, Topic: Adoption and the Renewal of Creation

Russell D. Moore has served as the Senior Vice President for Academic Administration and Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since January of 2004. Dr. Moore is also a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, where he ministers weekly. He is a senior editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. Dr. Moore has also written the forthcoming book, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches. Russell and his wife, Maria, have four children, two of whom were adopted.

Scott Roley, Topic: Adoption and the Pursuit of Racial Reconciliation

Scott Roley is Senior Pastor of Christ Community Church (Franklin, TN). Based on his experiences in local mercy ministry, Roley authored God’s Neighborhood: A Hopeful Journey in Racial Reconciliation & Community Renewal which traces his personal call to racial reconciliation and community renewal and shares the powerful narrative journey of a white pastor’s identification within an African-American community. He followed that book with its sequel, Hard Bargain, to be published in 2009. Scott and his wife, Linda, are parents of a multi-ethnic family and live in Franklin, Tennessee with their five children, three of whom were adopted.

Scotty Smith, Topic: The Freedom of Adoption

Scotty Smith is Pastor of Worship, Preaching and Teaching at Christ Community Church (Franklin, TN). Scotty is Founding Pastor of Christ Community church, a member of The Gospel Coalition, and author of five books: Unveiled Hope, with Michael Card; Speechless, with Steven Curtis Chapman; Objects of His Affection; and his latest two, The Reign of Grace and Restoring Broken Things, with Steven Curtis Chapman. Scotty and Darlene, his wife of thirty-five years, have two adult married children.

Ed Stetzer, Topic: The Gospel, Social Justice and the Missional Church

Ed Stetzer is President of LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s Missiologist in Residence. He is also Visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ed has written numerous books, two of which are Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living (with Philip Nation) and Breaking the Missional Code (with David Putman). Ed and his wife, Donna, have three daughters.

Worship will be lead by Kevin Twit of Indelible Grace. Zach Nielsen, blogger at Take Your Vitamin Z, will be live-blogging the Friday night / Saturday conference.

The list of our excellent breakout sessions (four breakout session slots) and other conference details are forthcoming. Childcare will be provided.