Conference Preview | CPT Staff

In this special bonus episode, Joel Lawrence, Rae Paul, and Steve Williamson preview the 2026 CPT Conference, Finding Church: Ecclesial Identity in a Time of Cultural Crisis. They discuss the vision behind this year’s theme, the conference’s unique blend of theology, worship, and community, and what attendees can expect from this gathering for pastors, ministry leaders, and all who love the church. 

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Transcript

Joel Lawrence 2:32

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the CPT Podcast. I'm Joel Lawrence. I serve as the president of the CPT, and I'm here today with Rae Paul, our director of operations. Hello, Rae.

Rae Paul 2:44

Hey, y'all.

Joel Lawrence 2:45

  And uh Steve Williamson, our managing director. Hello, Steve.

Steve Williamson 2:49

Howdy.  

Joel Lawrence 2:50

  And we are here to drop a special podcast to let everyone know about the CPT conference that is coming up in October. We would love for you to come and join us at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. It's October 19th through 21st. And uh I'm excited about it and just wanted to get Steve and Rae on for a conversation to let you all know about the conference.

Rae Paul 3:19

Joel, I'm normally on the podcast to talk about books. I am happy to talk about the conference, but let's start with you. What are you excited for? Looking forward to thinking about with this conference.

Joel Lawrence 3:31

Yeah, I think this conference is something I've been thinking about for a long time, actually, kind of within the life of the CPT. Um, people will have heard this maybe if you listen to the podcast, some of our narration of the, you know, the CPT started thinking about the identity of the pastor and what does it mean to be a pastor theologian? And that's that's at the heart of who we are. But but what we recognize pretty early on is that that question, what does it mean to be a pastor, is deeply rooted in the question of what does it mean to be the church? And I think a lot of the challenges we face today as pastors and living out our identity as pastor theologians aren't just rooted in a confused pastoral identity. It's actually rooted in deeper questions of what does it mean to be the church? Uh, out of that identity of the of the of the church come forms and functions. And so the gathering this fall is around ecclesial identity. It's called finding church, ecclesial identity in a time of cultural crisis. And last year we did pastoral identity as the theme. And so, in a lot of ways, I'm thinking this is part two, although you didn't have to be at last year's conference to come to this year's conference. It will be a standalone, you'll get great value from it. But we start, we did last year on our 10th anniversary the question of pastoral identity. And now this year, this question of ecclesial identity just flows kind of very naturally into the work that we're doing as an organization. So I'm I'm really excited about this. As you guys know, kind of the ecclesiology is something I think a lot about. I'm I'm currently writing a book on ecclesiology. And so being able to now gather together and have this conversation in a way that I think is be very fruitful for pastors and ministry leaders, I'm I'm just super excited about it.

Rae Paul 5:33

Joel, I know a lot of our folks listening will be familiar with the CPT and with the conference, but with the topic each year, I think this question always comes up of who is the conference for as the topic changes from year to year. So, how would you think about who this conference is for?

Joel Lawrence 5:50

So I think what we've seen over the years is a lot of different people come to our conference from a lot of different places, right? We have academics who come, we have lay people who come, we have church board members who come. I would say the way that we talk about it is it's a theology conference for the church, right? So if people think about the ecclesiastic, uh the Evangelical Theological Society or the Society of Biblical Literature, American, these kind of academic conferences, we're not that. Um, but it's also not just like a kind of pastoral leadership conference, come and get tips and advice for how to be a better pastor. It's a theology conference. It's for the church. So our primary target is pastors, and we're the Center for Pastor Theologians, after all. But one of the fun things that we've seen over the years is pastors bringing lay people from their congregations, pastors, like I said, bringing some folks from their elder board. When I was pastoring a church in St. Paul, I brought the head of the elder board. And it was a tremendous experience for the two of us to think together about the church and the work that we were doing. So we want it to, we we craft it so that people from lots of different places can come and be involved. But yeah, the center of gravity is going to be around for pastors and ministry leaders. And when I say pastors, I don't mean senior pastors. I mean people who are involved in all kinds of different pastoral leadership, ministry leadership. That's who we're aiming for. So now uh let me turn to you guys. Steve, you over the last couple of years have led worship at the conference.

Steve Williamson 7:29

 That's right.

Joel Lawrence 7:29

And one of the things we have heard over the years from the very beginning of the conference is how important the worship piece is to it. Because it's a gathering of the church and not merely an academic conference, we really want to weave worship into what we're doing, not just kind of as a way to take a break from papers, but because what we do theologically engages our hearts, our minds, our souls. It's it's doxological. And so the worship is such an important part of that. Could you just give us from your perspective, Steve, your thoughts on worship at the CPT conference, how that has uh impacted you, how that has ministered to you, and kind of what you bring as you think about leading worship at the conference?

Steve Williamson 8:20

Yeah, absolutely. I I think the first thing I was gonna say is what you just said, so I'll echo it. I I think the fact that the conference is shaped and structured around regular practices of prayer and worship really does frame it as a gathering of the church and not just a theological academic conference. Um, and that significantly changes, I think, the way that people receive the talks, the conversation. Um, it's it significantly changes the way people engage with the conference from the onset. So throughout the conference, every morning we start, um, there's an opportunity to join us for a brief morning prayer liturgy, and then several of the plenary sessions start with a time of prayer and worship, short pieces of liturgy, uh, corporate singing, um, things like confession, praying prayers of the church together. And I think what happens is people who are there get into a space where they realize they are part of the church. We're at Calvary Memorial, we're in a sanctuary. Um that all frames up who we are and what we're doing together. So uh I would also say the first time I came to a CPT conference, I wasn't leading the worship, I was in attendance, and I remember thinking, man, what what did I just experience? So I I went home and I started mining the CPT website to kind of understand who the CPT was. And I found um further down on one of the pages about uh who we are, our values, this statement of standards. And and one of and one of the uh one of the points on there is charity. Um it says in that text, I don't know who wrote this, it's been up there for a while, but far too often theological controversy has been conducted with bitterness and spite. Um, further down it says, for the sake of Christ and the health of his body, the church, we commit to pursue charity in our ministries within and outside the CPT. And I would say one of the places I really see that fully expressed is in the conference. Um, there's an incredible diversity of people from within the church. Um, it's incredibly ecumenical. You're gonna, if you come to the conference, you're gonna meet people uh with very different church backgrounds, very different contexts. They're from very different parts of the church, and they might have some different theological perspectives than you. You're gonna experience that from the speakers as well. I would say that the prayer and worship that is a part of the conference is a significant part of what binds us together in charity and mutual affection as we um explore this topic from a lot of different perspectives. I think it's one of the things that's unique about this conference.

Joel Lawrence 11:27

I I agree and would just add to that, um you know, you you mentioned hosting it in a church, right? And and Calvary Memorial for folks who haven't been there, it it's a beautiful sanctuary, lovely stained glass. Yes. The building is not the church. And yet we've often talked over the years that if we were to host this conference at a at a conference center or in some hotel ballroom, it would just be a radically different experience. So we talk about the Pastor Theologian movement, ecclesial theology, the social location is the church. And so hosting it in that place and then the kind of the atmosphere that that creates, I think is is really important. And and on that, I want to turn to you, Rae, who does so much to not just run the conference and the logistics of the conference and all that stuff, but also the work of creating a creating that culture and and thinking through the the day and the rhythm of the day and all those kind of things. So why don't you talk to us a little bit more about the culture of the conference and then what what other what things people will experience at the conference?

Rae Paul 12:40

Yeah, you stole my thunder a little bit because top of my list is actually the location for all of the complexities of trying to enable a church purpose building to be at the same time some of the ways a conference functions. I do think the work is worth it, and part because the location is such a reminder of our own context that we're coming from in order to enter this space in the conversation. And it feels like an embodiment of the purpose of the conference, of we are doing this in the church for the church. And the conversations then go back to whatever our church spaces look like, but we're getting a chance to do it in a place that reminds us of why we do what we do. That I really, really love. It's also my home church, so there's a little bit of a fun aspect of invitation of come on in. Yes, you also can ooh and ah over the wood beams in the sanctuary and everything else. So that's there is a little bit of fun to that. But I think there's also an aspect that I love when I see uh registrations come in, read surveys afterwards, talk to people at the conference, the breadth of folks that are there. We get our student population that might be everywhere from undergrad to uh those who've been working on their PhD for 20 years. We've, you know, we get the spread there. Uh we get lay folks who are truly sometimes these are even for us, Calvary congregants, who say that you know, my church is hosting this and I'm interested. But it's also other folks, whether it's in the area or from around the US who are interested. It's lay leaders, it's pastors, and they're all thinking about these things together. I mean, I first attended the conference when I was working in administration in higher ed, but I had no, I was not coming necessarily as a, well, here's what I'm doing in my church. Let me participate in this conversation. I was just interested in the conversation and it was available to me. And that's what led me into further. Here we are at the CPT now for a few years. Um it's truly a I in that sense, I think a conversation for anyone who loves the church that and the way that I hope we facilitate the conversations also enables that kind of welcome of if you also love the church, come and join in this. So everything that we do, I think even over the years we've talked, do we continue things like the QA? Do we continue how do we enable our panel conversations, our breakouts? What are ways that we invite others into this conversation easily even as we bring the folks we think who are contributing to the conversation? And I think the combo of those two things really adds to the spirit of uh humanism, just the the vitality of the conference. I think that's the the way in which we we I think in my head, this feels a little bit like we want it to almost feel small, but the conversation itself to feel big, like the intimacy of the conversation and the importance of the topics held together. Um and I think then that even translates to the kinds of vendors that we bring in. It'll be schools, it'll be publishers, it'll be other ministries. But I remember talking to a vendor one year who was new to the conference, and they said, you can tell when the sessions start because people are going. You know, I've been to academic conferences where you can't tell. No one leaves the room to suddenly go hear that really key talk. It's just they're all here for meeting other people or unfortunately, sometimes paying your dues at an academic conference. And here it's truly we're interested in the conversation and we're interested in the books and the schools that are in this project with us. And so that I think I love the fact that you can that folks are interested in the conversation. You can tell they come out of a session, engaged in ongoing conversation and ready for the next one. And that continues to be a hot point for me every year.

Joel Lawrence 16:29

Yeah, and I think even the as you were saying, the the the seminaries, schools that are present, the the publishers that are present, all um kind of show the breadth of the the great tradition evangelicalism that we want to be a part of as the CPT, that that ecumenical breadth, um, which again I think is something that a lot of people when they come, they just say, I can't find this elsewhere. And so we're we're encouraged by that and and I think healthily proud of that culture of the conference that we have created. So as we close up, just to let folks know, we've got some great speakers who are coming this year. Uh, we we work very hard on getting a good collection of folks from a variety of different angles who are going to come and lead us in the conversation. Our breakout speakers are always fantastic and have great things to offer on the CPT conference website, cptconference.com. People can see the full list of the breakouts. But but I do want to list off the plenary speakers, the folks who will be giving the main sessions in the in the sanctuary there at Calvary. Um, and again, just the different angles, the different perspectives that we want to bring together. So Peter Leihthart is coming. Peter is the president of Theopolis, was a theological mentor of one of our CPT fellowships for a long time, and just greatly appreciate him. Catherine Sonderegger, who teaches systematic theology at Virginia Theological Seminary, she's coming back. She was with us last year and was so great that we wanted her back right away. So she is coming. Uh Esau McCauley, who teaches at Wheaton College, uh, will be speaking. He'll be on our Tuesday night speaker. Um, then a couple of our CPT fellows were excited about Gail Dornboss, who teaches at Dort University, and Joey Sherrard, who is a pastor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Joey has recently published a book on Augustine called The Augustinian Pastor, and he's actually gonna be closing the conference with some reflections on Augustine and pastoring in our time. Uh Eric Gregory, who teaches at Princeton, is gonna be here. Walter Kim, president of the NAE, who's a friend of CPT, been at a number of our conferences. Love Walter. He's such a fantastic guy and does a great job in this setting. Uh Tom Greggs, who's the the director of the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton. Uh dear friend of mine, we were in our PhD programs together. He's been teaching up at Aberdeen for a long time and now has come over across the pond. Uh and then I myself will be giving uh I'll be giving the opening uh plenary session conversation. We're doing it a little different in a couple of the sessions this year for folks who've been at the conference. We're actually in the first session, it'll be it'll be me and Katherine Sonderegger, each doing papers and then having a dialogue together in the Monday evening session. Uh, it will be Peter Lightheart and and Eric Gregory. They'll be in a session together and then having a conversation together. I'm excited about that and kind of the the way that that's going to create a slightly different dynamic uh than we've done in the past. So so those are the the plenary speakers. Again, I think it's just a really fun lineup. And I've heard some folks who are coming and they look at the lineup and they think, again, I don't see that anywhere else. So I'm excited to come to that. So any last words from you guys? Any last words of encouragement?

Steve Williamson 20:00

I'm just glad you mentioned yourself. I thought we were gonna have to jump in and announce one of the speakers.

Rae Paul 20:05

And yes, Joel, which means you got

Steve Williamson 20:07

Dr. Joel Lawrence.

Rae Paul 20:08

Yeah.

Joel Lawrence 20:08

Yeah.

Rae Paul 20:09

The conference does kick off at noon on October 19th. Registration will open typically two hours before. Just check in. Our vendors will be ready if you want to make your dash to look at books uh at the beginning there. But it will start off with a full session right away. So that conversation, I think, with Joel and Katherine is a great way to kick off and start start the wheels turning on this. So it's definitely an invitation to come right away.

Joel Lawrence 20:37

So we don't want people to get there late and miss the highlight of the conference for any.

Speaker 1 20:41

Our own Joel Lawrence.

Joel Lawrence 20:42

There you go. I was thinking about Katherine, but okay. All right. I thought you were talking about the worship, but but it's fine. All of that happens at the 12. It does. So just just reminding folks go to cptconference.com. You can register there. Um when is our next bump in price, Rae? September 15th. So you've got time.

Rae Paul 21:04

Yes. Definitely.

Joel Lawrence 21:07

Register, register, register, register. Look forward to seeing everyone there. Thanks so much. Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Rae.

Joel Lawrence 21:12

Thanks for listening to today's episode of the CPT Podcast, a theology podcast for the church. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider subscribing if you haven't already? You can also help us by leaving a rating and especially a review on Apple Podcasts wherever you're listening. We love hearing from listeners in this way, and it helps others find out about the show. The CPT Podcast is a production of the Center for Pastor Theologians. You can learn more about the CPT at our website, PastorTheologians.com. Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and X. The show is recorded and edited in partnership with Glowfire Creative and Liminal Podcasts. And I'm your host, Joel Lawrence. Thanks for listening.