As 2016 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on all the ministry opportunities Confident Christianity had this year.
We began the year with Mary Jo teaching a logic fast term class at Houston Baptist University. It was in that class that one of her students came up to her after the first day and said thank you for talking with him about his Islamic faith and his view of God. He had left Islam and become a Christian. He said he was now attending a local church.
MJ then took two trips out to California. One of those trips was for a conference sponsored by the Christian Apologetics Ministry, Reasons to Believe. At the conference, there was a wide array of apologetics topics from how to have good conversation to science and faith to MJ’s topic on the problem of evil.
In March, MJ and Roger went up to Canada for the “Faith Beyond Belief” conference. MJ spoke at the conference, at a Bible college, at a private Christian school, and on a Canadian television program.
Throughout the spring, CC was ministering in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. In the summer, MJ took two trips out to Colorado for Summit Ministries Worldview Camps and for a newer apologetics event in Manitou Springs called “Every Thought Captive.” At this event, she met a Sufi Muslim who came to hear her speak on Islam! She was also able to do some speaking in Sunday School classes at her home church on the subject of Islam.
When fall rolled around, MJ and Roger went back up to Canada for an event with Ravi Zacharias and Andy Bannister. The three apologists spoke in Vancouver and Victoria, with Andy and MJ speaking in Comox, as well. We had great turn-outs for each event and fielded a lot of one-on-one questions. We also had a special event to minister to local pastors in the Victoria area (Andy Bannister spoke). It was a special time of encouraging one another in ministry.
As the year wrapped up, MJ spoke in California once again, Georgia, and Nashville at the LifeWay Women’s Leadership Forum. She also attended the Evangelical Theological Society conference finishing her three-year stint as the first woman to serve on the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Philosophical Society (an organization established in 1974). MJ has also been teaching an online course with Houston Baptist University which will end in mid-December.
There are so many good things going on with Confident Christianity! We are planning much more for 2017 so stay tuned. If you’d like to invite Mary Jo to speak at an event, click here.