Ekklesia Lynchburg 2025 - Full Sessions
Session One - Pastor Conrad Mbewe
Pastor Conrad Mbewe argues from Acts 2 that the local church is not optional but essential to Christian life, providing authoritative teaching, fellowship, the ordinances, prayer, discipline, equipping of believers, and financial accountability.
Session Two - Pastor Conrad Mbewe
Pastor Mbewe gives an overview of the African Christian University (ACU), tracing the history of Christianity in Africa, explaining the need for doctrinally grounded indigenous leadership, and describing ACU's founding, structure, programs, and vision to train young African Christians from a biblical worldview to become church leaders and world-changers across the continent.
Session Three - Pastor Conrad Mbewe
Drawing from Colossians 2:6-7, Pastor Mbewe argues that the gospel of Christ is not merely the entry point to the Christian life but its ongoing fuel — churches that lose it collapse into dead religion or legalism, while those that keep Christ central find the power for genuine worship, sanctification, and mission.
Session Four - Pastor Tyler Cash
Drawing from the Book of Titus, Pastor Tyler Cash argues that healthy local churches are built God's way through five non-negotiable elements: godly plural leadership marked by character over charisma, sound doctrine preached without compromise, life-on-life discipleship where older believers shape younger ones, grace-fueled holiness, and gospel-driven mission that begins at home.
Session Five - Pastor Nathan Smith
Drawing from Matthew 28 and Daniel 7, Pastor Nathan Smith argues that the Great Commission is not merely a missions program but the marching orders of a victorious King — anchored by big God theology and the promise of His presence, the church is called to cross barriers, make disciples, gather them into baptized communities, and teach them all Christ commanded, motivated not by adventure but by the glory of Jesus Christ.
Session Six - Discussion Panel
Conrad Mbewe | Nathan Smith | Tyler Cash
Pastor Nathan Smith interviews Dr. Conrad Mbewe on lessons from missionary work in Zambia, effective church planting principles, and the vision for African Christian University, with all three speakers briefly addressing how the church should respond to national tragedy with big God theology, communal grief, and faithful ordinary ministry.
Session Seven - Conrad Mbewe
Drawing from Acts 2:42-43 and 1 Corinthians 1-3, Pastor Mbewe closes the conference by arguing that the church's true power lies not in chasing extraordinary signs and gimmicks but in faithfully employing God's appointed ordinary means — the preaching of the Word, fellowship, the ordinances, and prayer — through which the Holy Spirit alone saves and sanctifies His elect people.