On Saturday, Feb. 3, 7:45 a.m., the Santa Barbara Mission Conference (SBMC) hosts its 22nd annual conference at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara (21 E. Constance Ave).
“With this year’s conference we’ve made a significant change,” Conference Director Chuck Curtis said. “We’ve narrowed our focus to four areas of need, each one calling for us to respond.”
These four areas are:
* Homelessness / Affordable Housing
* Human Trafficking
* Immigration / Racial Justice
* Creation Care
The keynote speaker for the event is UCLA professor Rev. Dr. Robert Chao Romero, an expert on race relations and immigration. Breakout session speakers include Westmont professor Sandra Richter and Jeff Shaffer of Kingdom Causes, among others. The morning breakout sessions will provide the biblical bases, while the afternoon sessions will focus on finding workable solutions to the above-mentioned societal issues.
The conference includes a continental breakfast and a boxed lunch. A worship band will provide musical interludes and a conference pastor will be on hand for counsel and prayer. There will be ample opportunities for attendees to interact, including an optional Friday night pre-conference dinner held in various homes. Attendees can register for the conference at the SBMC website: www.sbmissionconference.org.
The Santa Barbara Mission Conference is a multi-denominational Christian conference whose mission is “to inspire, inform and engage in the work of God’s mission.” Each year, the conference brings several hundred attendees from around Southern California to learn from invited speakers how to follow Christ’s commandment to live as he did — to love the Lord, to glorify his creation and to love even the lowliest among us.