Christian Apologetics makes
its case for Christ Nov. 13-14
The Layman , October 23, 2009
The Christian faith is under attack on many fronts, and organizers of the 16th annual National Conference on Christian Apologetics want to make sure believers are prepared for battle.
Alex McFarland is president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, which hosts the National Conference on Christian Apologetics.
“Apologetics and the Local Church” will be the focus of this year’s conference, which is scheduled for Nov. 13 and 14 in Charlotte, N.C. Last year’s event drew the second highest attendance in its history, with nearly 5,000 participants. Alex McFarland, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary – the event’s organizer, has high hopes for this year’s as well.
“We really do need to be able to defend our faith in this culture,” McFarland said, adding that there are four trends that the Church must respond. “The radical secularization of the world, the growth of Islam, the breakdown of the family and the rise of militant homosexual activism – we need to be able to respond to these trends lovingly, but Biblically and effectively. The conference will equip everyone to do that.”
Christian apologetics (a term derived from the Greek word apologia, which means “to give a reason or defense”) is the discipline that deals with a rational defense of Christianity. Apologetics may include effectively explaining why Christians believe that God is real, the Bible is true or that Jesus is authentic. Topic examples include: defending the authority and trustworthiness of Scripture; presenting evidence in defense of Jesus Christ, His resurrection, and the Christian faith in general; and exposing the flawed reasoning behind many of the popular arguments against Christianity.
Offered annually by Southern Evangelical Seminary, the conference’s 1 Peter 3:15-inspired goals include: training Christians to better understand their faith; helping those struggling with doubts find answers to their questions; giving scholars a forum in which to present their research and evidence for Christianity; and offering practical apologetics training to equip congregations to meet the spiritual needs of their communities. In its 16th year, the conference also is co-hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Prison Fellowship, All About God, Breakpoint and several North Carolina-based ministries.
The list of speakers includes: Kay Arthur of Precept Ministries; Ken Boa of Reflections Ministries; Michael Brown; Charles Colson of Breakpoint/Prison Fellowship; William Lane Craig, of Reasonable Faith; Dinesh D’Souza; Will Graham, director of the Billy Graham Training Center; Os Guinness, co-founder of the Trinity Forum; Gary R. Habermas, an expert on the Resurrection; Hank Hanegraaff, host of radio’s The Bible Answer Man; Johnny Hunt, president of Southern Baptist Convention; Greg Koukl of Stand To Reason Ministry; Alex McFarland, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary; Chad Miller, director of Dare to be a Daniel youth evangelism project; and Benjamin Wiker, author of “Ten Books That Screwed Up the World, and Five That Didn’t Help.” Other speakers include Christopher Hitchens; Peter Kreeft; Mike Licona; Warren Smith; and Frank Turek.
In addition to nationally-known speakers, the event will feature a full slate of workshops both days. Among the instructors will be Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt and Michael Beresford, evangelism trainer with The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The break-out sessions will be offered throughout both days of the event.
“Our whole passion in the conference is to encourage Christians back to classical orthodoxy,” McFarland said.
New to the event this year will be the inaugural awarding of the Christian Apologetics Lifetime Achievement Award. This year’s recipient will be Dr. R.C. Sproul, founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries. Sproul’s lifetime achievement award will be added to the National Apologetics Archive at Southern Evangelical Seminary, which is home to several rare apologetics artifacts dating as far back as 1640, McFarland said.
Most of the conference will take place at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. with the closing program, a debate between Dinesh D’souza and Christopher Hitchens, on the campus of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, N.C. The conference begins at 8 a.m. Nov. 13 and concludes at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Plenary sessions are scheduled for Friday evening and Saturday morning.
Conference fees vary, depending on which days, events and options are chosen. Discounts are available for groups larger than 15 people. A live multimedia simulcast of the event also is available. For more information, or to register, visit the conference Web site or call 1-800-77-TRUTH.