Schedule

What is an awakening? This session will open the conference by explaining what we mean by awakening. It will help us understand that we must humbly rely upon God to work by His Word and Spirit in the world. It will also point out the signs of awakening and explain why we need an awakening at this hour. God is the bringer of awakening, and we hope and pray that He would work in our time.

Throughout the history of God's people, the Holy Spirit has moved at specific times in order to bring awakening to His covenant community. This session will explore the reality of awakening in biblical history, considering various examples of awakening that occurred during the times of the Apostles and prophets. Some examples include the awakenings under Hezekiah, Josiah, and Nehemiah, and the session will also consider the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2) as an example of awakening.

Periods of awakening often coincide with periods of suffering for the people of God. The Bible indicates that Christians should expect suffering, for our Lord Himself suffered in this life (Matt. 16:24). This session will provide an overview of the place of suffering in the Christian life, reminding us of our need of the Spirit to sustain us as we face personal trials and even direct persecution.

This session will be a time of prayer for awakening in our churches, communities, and world.

This session will explain the importance of guarding the Christian faith by faithfully expositing the Word of God, and it will consider how the careful teaching of God’s Word is bringing awakening in Latin America.

A questions and answers session with Kevin DeYoung, Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, and Steven Lawson.

God promises that His Word will never return void (Isa. 55:10–11), and He uses it to bring about the conversion of sinners and the renewal of Christians according to His own timing and for His own glory. By the preaching of the Word, the Spirit awakens dead hearts and brings them to life, allowing them to freely repent and trust in Christ. This session will stress the power of God’s Word in converting and renewing His people.

This session will describe the importance of biblical truth and explore some of the content from Dr. Lawson's new book, The Moment of Truth.

This session will consider the importance of educating the next generation as we pray for God to open the hearts and minds of people to His truth.

Since the first century, God has been pleased to send awakenings to His people, and we can learn much from how He has worked in the past as we call out to Him for awakening today. This session will examine the various awakenings that have taken place in history since the Apostolic era, focusing particularly on the Reformation and the First Great Awakening. It will consider the awakenings that happened as God blessed the work of the Reformers and later preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

This roundtable discussion will touch on topics related to discipleship, the state of the church, and Ligonier's outreach.

Awakening results from the sovereign movement of God’s Spirit in regeneration and in convicting people of sin and their need for repentance. This session will emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit in granting people new birth, conversion, and saving faith. It will also discuss how the Spirit works in His already converted people to bring about a greater conviction of sin and desire for holiness in their lives.

A questions and answers session with Drs. Albert Mohler, Stephen Nichols, Burk Parsons, and Derek Thomas. 

When the Spirit moves to bring awakening, God’s people experience a new passion for evangelism and discipleship. This session will examine evangelism and a passion for the Great Commission as the fruit of awakening. It will exhort God’s people to share the good news of the gospel with the world, for God brings awakening to others as we preach the gospel and instruct others in the faith.

This session will provide a look at how God is working around the world to grow His church and bring awakening in places where the gospel faces the most opposition.

This session will explore some of the content from Dr. Thomas' new book, Strength for the Weary, and consider how God renews the strength of those who wait for Him.

Prayer fuels the advance of the gospel and the development of hearts who are concerned for the things of God and His kingdom. Christians are to be a people who “pray without ceasing” for the growth of Christ’s church and the conversion of the lost. This session will remind us of the central role of prayer as one of God’s means of increasing His kingdom.

Hebrews 13:2 exhorts us to show hospitality to strangers. Through such hospitality, many people have seen the love of God and have been drawn into His kingdom by the Spirit’s use of friendship and His people’s sharing of the gospel. This session will cover the importance of hospitality and how the Lord uses it to bring people to faith and grow them in Christ.

This session will consider the doctrine of sanctification by examining how John Calvin’s A Little Book on the Christian Life provides guidance for Christians to keep us from falling into error.

This session will consider our salvation by examining some of the content from The Whole Christ book and teaching series.

First Peter 1:13–25 calls Christians to pursue holiness, and the Spirit moves through the use of various means to help us become more holy. This session will examine the concern for personal holiness that is the fruit of a true awakening of God’s Spirit. It will stress the importance of personal purity as a sign of conversion, reminding people that God calls His children to live in a manner that is set apart from the world and that the Lord often draws others to Himself by using the personal holiness of believers as a witness.

This session will encourage pastors to focus on the ordinary means of grace in their ministry and to trust God for the results, and it will exhort believers not to seek awakenings through extraordinary practices or disciplines but through their faithful attendance to the preached Word, the sacraments, and prayer. God is working every day to renew His church and bring people to faith, blessing His means of grace—the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, and prayer.

A questions and answers session with Drs. Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Miguel Núñez, and Derek Thomas.

Conversion and spiritual growth are great blessings that occur as the result of an awakening, but these are not the ultimate ends for which God brings regeneration and renewal to the world and His church. God’s final end in awakening, as in all that He does, is to advance His own glory. This session will call the church to remember that God’s glory must be our end in all things, and it will exhort us to long for an awakening not for our own sakes but so that the whole earth may be filled with the glory of the Lord.