2025 SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE
in person at Dallas Theological Seminary
The conference will also be livestreamed for remote access as well.
Housing is not provided. If you stay at the Element next to the DTS campus, you can use the DTS discount. There is also a Home2Suites nearby.
Ecclesiology & Mission
About the Theme
The church is the Body of Christ in the world. It is the embodiment of the gospel and commissioned to reproduce itself among all nations. Its expression is diverse and continually evolving as it interfaces with the changing world it is sent into. The church came into being as the community of Jesus’ witnesses who were commanded to go out to their neighbors, towns, cities, and the ends of the earth. It is dynamic, creative, reproducing, and courageous as its members seek to nurture life in locally reproducing ways, wherever they find themselves.
The church is a mission community dedicated to proclaiming and teaching God’s word. It cares for and extends God’s family. Demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit, the church brings God’s light to dark places, being a relevant societal example of holy living. It pursues God’s concerns for the world it inhabits and the communities its members are a part of. The church honors God as it affirms and encourages the diversity of all he has created. However, churches also often become institutions which struggle to retain their life-giving mission orientation.
Presentations and papers are invited on any aspect of ecclesiology and mission.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
• Theological explorations of mission and the church
• The church’s specific role in mission
• Any aspect of church planting
• Models of church as they relate to mission
• How the church mobilizes for mission
• Church and parachurch roles in training for mission
• Issues relating to churches in mission contexts
• Diaspora churches
• Intergenerational church planting
• Church planting and evangelism in the context of violence
• The role of community in the church’s mission
• The role of the sacraments in mission
• The role of Bible translation in church planting
Submitting a Presentation Proposal
- Title of presentation showing connection to annual theme
- 200-300 word abstract summarizing the presentation
- Name, email, and institution/mission/group you represent
Submitting a Paper
During the South Central Regional Conference, attendees will select the best presentations for consideration at the Annual Conference by popular vote. Those who are selected will be informed via email shortly after the conference. Selected presentations can be developed into papers of 4500-7000 words in length and use Chicago Turabian author-date citation format. These papers will be invited to be present at the annual EMS meeting to be held at Dallas Theological Seminary on October 3rd-4th, 2025, leading to the possibility of being published as a chapter in the EMS Annual Compendium for 2026.
Students
In addition to participating in the conference, both master’s level and doctoral students are highly encouraged to submit presentation proposals. This is a great opportunity for students to discuss any innovative ideas, challenges, problem-solving or insights from their ministries or field experience.
Brian Bain
The South Central Region covers the following states:
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Texas
Past Conferences
2021
The topic of this year’s conference was “Communication(s) and Mission.”
2020
This year’s regional turned into a Zoom conference, due to COVID-10 restrictions. By God’s grace, it ended up being our largest regional yet! We had 110 registrants from 7 states in the US and one person Zoomed in from Poland. These attendees represented over 40 organizations. The two plenaries were co-presented by Dr. William (Bill) Taylor and Dr. Michael A. Ortiz. In addition, the conference schedule featured 25 papers presented in 5 concurrent sessions, averaging 60+ people in attendance. Break times and lunch featured topic-focused discussion and prayer in each of the five Zoom rooms. We offered Zoom training for attendees, presenters, and the ten Zoom room monitors who facilitated the meeting. Those Zoom training documents are available at this Google folder. Only a few of the 28 presenters had connection difficulties, and they were still able to present their material, just with limited PPT capability. We experienced a great deal of joy as we saw the blessing of God on this conference.
2019
The 2019 regional conference for South Central EMS was held on March 2nd. There were 19 papers presented plus a plenary session by Dr. Werner Mischke on “An Honor-Bearing Gospel for Shame-Fueled Crises” and a closing panel on “In Contexts of Crisis, Does the Gospel of the Kingdom Better Address the Question of Identity?” Conference attendees numbered approximately 75 people, from 8 states and 25 organizations/schools. Thank you to our volunteers and campus hosts who helped us make this event possible. (Submitted by Robin Harris, PhD, South Central VP)
2018
The 2018 regional conference for South Central EMS was held on April 7, our second “stand alone” conference for this region. The conference featured 17 papers plus a plenary session by Dr. Raphael Anzenberger on “Engaging the Secular Mind: An Urgent Call to the American Church” and a closing panel on “The Impact of Honor -Shame Issues on Mission and Evangelism.” Conference attendees numbered approximately 70 people, from 4 states and 15 organizations/schools. Once again, strong participation from volunteers and the EMS Logistics Coordinator, Bill Harris, made the conference run smoothly. (Submitted by Robin Harris, PhD, South Central VP)
2017
The 2017 South Central EMS regional conference in Dallas took place on March 4 and was the first “stand alone” conference for this region of EMS. We were delighted at the outstanding level of participation! The conference featured 21 papers and 2 plenary sessions, plus vibrant multi-cultural worship and opportunities for networking. There were 85 registrants from 8 states, 7 schools, and 35 agencies, organizations, and/or churches. I’m grateful for the support of Dr. Robert Priest, EMS president, who agreed to come as a plenary speaker, for the large number of volunteers that helped things run smoothly, and for the logistics coordination provided by EMS Logistics Coordinator Bill Harris. (Submitted by Robin Harris, PhD, South Central VP)
2016
The EMS South Central Regional meeting was held in conjunction with ETS and EPS Regional Meetings at Dallas Semianry on April 1-2. Overall there were about 300 people in attendance for all three societies. EMS members had about 70 people participate in our sessions where we had fourteen papers presented on the theme of “Missions and the Local Church.” Several papers were recommended to the national committee for the selection process for the annual EMS meeting in October and for possible selection for our national publications.
2015
The South Central Region held its regional annual meeting in conjunction with the ETS Regional Meeting at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary April 10-11, 2015. We had two EMS tracks at our regional meeting – one being the national theme of “Controversies in Missions;” the other was “General Important Topics in Missions.” We had about 55 members in attendance and nine excellent papers presented, with six chosen as possible for presentation at the national meeting in September.
2014
The EMS South Central Region held its regional meeting together with the Evangelical Theological Society Southwest Region meeting at Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX on March 7-8,. Several papers were presented on the national theme for 2014 – Diaspora Missiology. There were about 90 in attendance for this joint conference.