REGISTER HERE to secure a place for you and a colleague in leadership. Places are strictly limited.
For more information please email cfcl@laidlaw.ac.nz.
How did Jesus make disciples
Rev. Dr Dale Stephenson
Starting where God is at work
Rev. Dr Tim Piesse
Discipling People to Faith in Jesus
Rev. Edi Stephenson
Spiritual Formation in the life of the Leader
Rev. Dr Clint Ussher
Q&A Panel
Dr Maja Whitaker
Rev. Dr Dale Stephenson & Rev Edi Stephenson
Dale, Pastor of Crossway Baptist Church, Melbourne Australia
Edi, National Leader within Building a Discipling Culture
Dale and Edi are committed to seeing Christians equipped and empowered with simple and replicable means to be disciples who can multiply. Their vision is to assist 10% of all Pastors/Ministers of all denominations in Australia through Building a Discipling Culture in the next decade. The light on the hill is to be a contributor to a change of the narrative of the decline of Christianity in Australia (which has been playing for seven decades now) to a narrative of the fresh growth of Christianity in the nation.
Dale is a gifted communicator, an innovative leader with an entrepreneurial spirit. He is also a converted atheist from a multigenerational secular Australian family.
Edi is a teacher and trainer, a coach of pastors and a wise and gentle spirit who helps to guide leaders of leaders. Her passion is to see all people enjoy intimacy with Jesus and to be effective multiplying disciples.
Under their leadership Crossway has seen expansive growth since January 2008. Crossway is the largest Baptist Church in Australia with about 10,000 people calling it their spiritual home.
Rev. Dr Tim Piesse
National Training Pastor for Building a Discipling Culture
Tim serves as the Team Leader with Building a Discipling Culture. BDC works with over 150 churches in every state and territory (NZ as well!) and across 13 denominations with an emphasis on equipping churches and leaders in missional discipleship. He has a passion to see people living out the words, works and ways of Jesus, helping ordinary people make an impact in their communities. Tim served as Discipleship Pastor at Crossway Baptist Church from 2012-2018, making a pivotal contribution to the discipleship journey, and as Creative Ministries and Worship Pastor prior to that. He is married to Sarah and they have four children.
Rev. Dr Clint Ussher
Pastor of The Well Church, Christchurch
Director, Laidlaw Centre for Church Leadership
Clint is responsible for growing Laidlaw’s reputation and trustworthiness as a College for the formation of Christian leaders, within Aotearoa but focused in Christchurch. This involves facilitating engagement between Laidlaw College and churches, contributing to the Pastoral Leadership Specialisation Supervisory Team and engaging with students in this stream. He also contributes to the teaching of courses in the Practical Theology suite, particularly in the areas of leadership and formation.
Clint holds degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv) where his studies focused primarily on missional theology before continuing doctoral work at Asbury Theological Seminary (DMin). Clint’s doctoral research, anchored in biblical wisdom, explored the exercise of intuitive wisdom among ministry leaders in New Zealand and identified ways in which intuitive wisdom capabilities might be developed. Clint is an ordained minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Aotearoa-New Zealand and has served as the Lead Pastor of The Well Church (Christchurch) since its inception in 2012. Clint is married to Jamie and they have two daughters. Together, Clint & Jamie have served in ministry for 20 years - they are passionate about seeing people encounter Jesus personally and being released into the unique Kingdom calling on their lives. Clint loves to travel and experience different cultures, is an avid runner, and loves music - playing, listening, and watching.
Dr Maja Whitaker
Practical Theology Lead, Laidlaw College
Maja is responsible for overseeing our growing relationships with partner churches, crafting and delivering a formational experience for our undergraduate theology students, supervising postgraduate research, and contributing to the leadership team of the School of Theology. Her research interests include the theology of the body, theological anthropology, disability theology, and eschatology. She is exploring what the Christian tradition can offer to critique and inform modern cultural ideologies about human flourishing and the body.
Maja is a pastor in the Equippers Church network and she is passionate about equipping people for life in Jesus Christ. She is married to Dave and they have four daughters from preschool to high school age. Maja loves to spend her downtime in the garden, with a good book, or in the kitchen baking with one of her girls. She blogs on the topics of spiritual formation, parenting, and pastoral theology at www.somewhitespace.blog