SPECIAL EDITION: 2024 Christian Conference Ratings and Buyer’s GuideBuyer Beware: They are not always what they appear to be…
Editor’s Note... As in the past, registration links will be provided only for conferences rated as “Recommended”. This year, we've nearly doubled the number of rated conferences and any updates will be noted in our blog. If you are not yet subscribed, click the link at the end of this post! The 2024 Christian Conference season is now well underway. What may appear to be an ideal opportunity to fellowship with other believers for gospel-centered teaching and worship may not always be what it seems to be… Notice that most, if not all, of the “not recommended” conferences are promoted to women and feature primarily women speakers. Sadly, so many of them do not teach the Gospel according to Jesus Christ but a counterfeit version with nothing in common with the real thing... At several of these attended conferences, attendees will hear speakers who reject sound Biblical doctrine in favor of wokeness, the prosperity gospel, and social gospel heresy. Men... guard your wives and daughters! Too many of these conferences will dilute and twist Scripture to ensure it’s “woke” enough to fill the seats. Others will promote critical race theory, extreme environmentalism, social justice, affirmation of homosexuality, the Enneagram, mysticism, open borders, abortion, gender identity, and false religious unity. In many cases, they teach the world’s values rather than the absolute truth of Scripture. Sadly, this year, there is no shortage of conferences this season leading people away from the true Gospel. The good news is there are some good ones out there as well. In the New Testament, John warned about anyone associating with or promoting false teachers…
The Buyer’s Guide and RatingsBefore attending or promoting a specific conference to your church congregation, three questions must be asked. Since not all conferences have published their 2024 speaker lists yet... check them out before registering: Who are the promoters? What are the backgrounds of the featured speakers? Two excellent resources for this are https://www.so4j.com/false-teachers/ or search the Dissenter Who are the featured worship leaders? Avoid anything from Hillsong, Bethel, Gateway, Passion, or Elevation. Are any of the conference speakers associated with any of the following? The Social Gospel, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the Word of Faith Movement, the Gospel Coalition, White Guilt, The Southern Baptist Convention, Revoice, Braver Angels, Bethel, Passion, Hillsong, Lifeway, Kenneth Copeland, or Elevation Churches. If so, avoid them. Keeping these things in mind, here is our 2024 guide to the conferences on our radar screen that are scheduled as of this writing… IF Gathering: Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDScheduled for February 23-24, 2024, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and other venues by video access. Some sessions are typically available later via video for those who can’t attend. Launched in 2014, the IF Gathering is a two-day women’s conference hosted by its founder, Jennie Allen. Past gatherings have reached 144 countries in 6,500 different locations. The conference regularly features several female preachers/pastors as speakers who promote the Woke Church movement and the Prosperity Gospel. This year’s roster includes teachers who seem ignorant of any doctrinal standards. Jennie Allen promotes the Enneagram, a non-scriptural way to identify one’s “true self” to reach spiritual freedom. This conflicts with the Biblical concept of submitting to God’s word. Allen believes that she and other women should preach not just to other women but also to men. (1 Timothy 2:12 explicitly prohibits this.) The 2024 IF Gathering event schedule includes other speakers who seem to preach about anything other than the actual Gospel. Here are just three who are confirmed for this year… Christine Caine from Hillsong promotes several New Age practices condemned in the Bible, including the pagan practice of witchcraft. She actively endorses the Word of Faith movement, believing that man’s spoken words can manipulate God to gain what we want. David Platt has taken a sharp turn from biblical fidelity and embraced the social justice movement. David Platt is a questionable teacher who refers to “accepting Jesus into your heart” as superstitious and unbiblical. Lauren Chandler regularly partners with and has been endorsed by known false teachers. Countryside Bible Church 2024 Spring Conference... Rating: RECOMMENDEDScheduled for February 16-18 at Countryside Bible Church in Southlake, Texas. This year’s theme is “Holiness - Who God Is and How We Must Live”. The speaker lineup includes Tom Pennington, Steven J. Lawson, Ian Hamilton, Mike Riccardi, Brad Klassen, and Rocky Wyatt. An associated Kids’ Conference is also available with pre-registration for children in 5th grade and under. More at https://countrysidebible.org/conference The Passion Call on Heaven Conference... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDAlready sold out for 2024 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA, Passion 2024 is for 18-25-year-olds from across the nation and worldwide to gather together to “Call on Heaven”. Louie and Shelley Giglio promote the Passion Conference. Giglio promotes his version of “little-god” theology… the belief that we as humans have the potential to become divine like God. He preaches that “divinity” exists in our DNA and “heaven is inside of” us. This teaching is blatantly false and is similar to Mormonism. It sounds eerily like what the serpent said to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1) … resulting in the fall of man. Passion Conferences have featured a highly questionable speaker lineup, including Christine Caine (see IF Gathering above), Jackie Hill Perry (who is now associated with Bethel), Tim Tebow, and Crowder... Crowder (John Crowder) emerged from the unbiblical New Apostolic Reformation movement. The NAR is a movement that emphasizes experience over Scripture, mysticism over doctrine, and modern-day “apostles” over the inerrant text of the Bible. His teachings include operating in trances, mysticism, signs and wonders, and more. Jackie Hill Perry promotes the cult of the Evangelical Sexual Revolution and the blasphemy of Bethel Church. She is an open lesbian who married a man despite her continued attraction to women. Jackie Hill Perry is a false teacher spreading a false gospel while hiding behind the facade of Christian jargon. Again, while popular, this event’s approach to faith and worship dilutes the gospel and transforms it into a wrong-headed appeal of emotionalism and social activism. King’s Domain Conference... Rating: RECOMMENDEDThis year’s King’s Domain Conference will be held April 18-20, 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It intends to help people divorce-proof their marriages by giving them a grand vision of God’s design for manhood and womanhood. This conference will focus on theological principles and practical tools of manhood, womanhood, marriage, and household life. Speakers will include Michael Foster, Toby Sumpter, Joe Rigney, Shane Morris, Matt McBee, and Michael Clary. More at https://www.kings-domain.com/annual-conference The Glory Conference (US)... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDNo specific dates have been announced for 2024. The Lifeway arm of the Southern Baptist Convention sponsors it. Sorry to say, this conference primarily features Jackie Hill Perry, mentioned above. Skip it. Going Beyond Live with Priscilla Shirer... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDSponsored by Lifeway, Going Beyond Live Conference cities for 2024 include Prescott Valley, AZ; Reading, PA; Athens, GA; and Cincinnati, OH. Sadly, Priscilla Shirer gets the Trinity wrong, promotes mysticism, and preaches at Joel Osteen’s Church. She also partners with the Prosperity Gospel and Word of Faith teacher T.D. Jakes to promote Social Justice nonsense that has no place in any church. Priscilla Shirer is the daughter of the famous Evangelical preacher Tony Evans. Shirer insists on preaching to and teaching men... which is unbiblical. She also claims to receive extra-biblical revelation from God. The Shepards Conference... Rating: RECOMMENDEDSadly, this conference is already SOLD OUT. This year’s conference theme is “Truth Triumphs” for the March 6 - 8 event. Speakers include John MacArthur, John Piper, Alistair Begg, H.B. Charles Jr., Steven J. Lawson, Phil Johnson, Abner Chou, Austin Duncan, Nathan Busenitz, Michael Riccardi, Josiah Grauman, and others. More, including past conference recordings, at https://www.shepherdsconference.org/media The Gathering of Faith-Driven Entrepreneurs... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDTheir Faith Driven Investor Conference Online Stream will take place on January 24, 2024. The conference is billed for “those looking to use their capital for good”. Judging by the speaker lineup, it has more to do with business than faith with a false teacher thrown in for good measure. One of this year’s featured speakers is Dallas Jenkins, the writer, director, and creator of The Chosen, which according to disntr.com “Is actually an American fiction tale that revolves around the theological heresy of Mormonism yet Evangelicals without discernment eat it up like it’s the greatest thing to hit the television market since, like, ever”. Another speaker is David Platt, who as mentioned above is a questionable teacher who refers to “accepting Jesus into your heart” as superstitious and unbiblical. If you really want to do good with your capital, don’t go and instead donate the $50 registration fee to the widows and orphans fund at your church. The Unconditional Conference... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDNo 2024 dates have been released for The Unconditional Conference. Held at Northpoint Church in Alpharetta, GA, last year’s conference featured Embracing the Journey from Saddleback Church in southern California. The Unconditional Conference is for parents of LGBTQ children to become affirming of their child’s sexual sin. One of the 2023 speakers was Brian Nietzel, who, according to his Facebook page, is still openly and actively involved in a homosexual relationship. Nietzel is the founder of Renovus, an organization dedicated to advancing queer theology and homosexual affirmation within the Church. Andy Stanley routinely and falsely promotes his unbiblical personal beliefs as gospel truth. Skip this one. Joyce Meyer’s Love Life Women’s Conference... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDED2024 cities include Phoenix, Nashville, Tampa, and Atlanta. Although this year’s speaker lineup has not been announced, besides Joyce Meyer, who teaches a Prosperity Gospel, last year’s conference featured Bishop T.D. Jakes, a denier of the Trinity; Sadie Robertson Huff (of Duck Dynasty fame), another prosperity teacher who appears to believe and preach that Jesus died to help you reach your goals in life; and Lisa Bevere, a well-known false teacher who dismisses the authority of Scripture in favor of extra-biblical revelation. Despite the command of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Bevere is a staunch advocate of female preachers/pastors in the church. Truth Matters Conference... Rating: RECOMMENDED2024 dates have not been announced as of this writing. Historically, this conference held in the Fall features a full lineup of Biblically solid teachers. In the past, this conference has featured John MacArthur, Justin Peters, Ken Ham, Don Green, Phil Johnson, Jeff Williams, and Owen Strachan... all excellent Bible teachers. No informational link yet. G3 May Regional Conferences... Rating: RECOMMENDEDThis 2024 Regional Conference will be held in partnership with Reformation Heritage Books at Countryside Bible Church in Southlake, Texas, on May 9–11. The topic of this year’s event will be the Reformation. Scheduled speakers include Josh Buice, Paul Washer, Steven Lawson, Joel Beeke, and Tom Pennington. More at https://g3min.org/events/the-reformation-conference/ Additional regional G3 Church Leadership Conferences may be found at https://g3min.org/events/ Life Surge Experience Conferences... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDScheduled to take place in various cities around the U.S. throughout 2024 in cities including Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Atlanta, and Riverside, California, The Life Surge Experience purports to teach attendees how to create and multiply financial resources for Kingdom Impact. This conference is nothing more than a slick repackaging of the Prosperity Gospel that has absolutely nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. It’s about one’s own personal prosperity and apparently that of the organizers of these events. To make matters worse, many of the Life Surge Experiences will feature Bethel music. It’s like a gateway drug designed to lure people into the apostate Bethel system so they can buy expensive memberships in their Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry and Bethel School of Healing. Avoid it at all costs. Beth Moore’s Living Proof Live Conferences... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDA two-day conference featuring Beth Moore, the dean of female false teachers, and Dove Award winner Travis Cottrell who regularly appears at her conferences. Moore is the Southern Baptist Convention’s most popular female preacher who has been urged by John MacArthur to “go home” rather than remain in open rebellion against God. She continues to preach to men in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. She refuses to acknowledge homosexuality is sinful and claims direct and private revelation from God. Do not be deceived... avoid this conference. In-Person Flourish Gathering... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDThis year's event will be held on February 2-3, 2024 in Oakland, CA. Sponsored by Emily Nelson’s Flourish Collective, this conference is steeped in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), racism, and social gospel nonsense. The organization also provides woke materials for young children. DEI, racism, and the social gospel are not biblical in any way shape, or form. It’s just another way to take one's eyes off of Christ. The Flourish Conference, Lone Tree, Colorado... Rating: NOT RECOMMENDEDYet another event aimed at women, this conference is not to be confused with the In Person Flourish Gathering in Oakland, California. Some of the speakers for the May 3-4 event are questionable. One is organizer Hannah Ouellette, who claims to be a “pastor” at Thrive Church in Lone Tree, Colorado. Another is Zai Chandler, a woman who also claims the title of Senior Pastor along with her husband at Union Church, an organization with multiple locations in Maryland and Virginia. Avoid women who claim to be pastors. Ligonier’s The Way, The Truth, and The Life Conference... Rating: RECOMMENDEDThis national conference will be held May 23rd through the 25th in Orlando, Florida. Scheduled speakers include Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Joel Kim, Steven Lawson, Stephen Nichols, Miguel Núñez, Burk Parsons, and Michael Reeves. Ligonier Ministries was founded by the late R.C. Sproul to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. More information at https://www.ligonier.org/events/2024-national-conference/ Summary...Regarding the videos of these conferences or their remote feeds... picking and choosing certain segments to suggest to one’s church membership doesn’t work for two reasons. First, a true and accurate teacher of the Gospel would not associate with these conference promoters, nor would they ever appear on stage with them. Secondly, many new believers and pre-Christians lack the spiritual discernment necessary to avoid being exposed to other conference speakers who may be teaching a false gospel. The health of one’s church can often be determined by what conferences a church’s leadership promotes to its members. Sadly, many of them do not teach the Gospel according to Jesus Christ, but a counterfeit version that has nothing in common with the real thing...
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