2024 Conference Schedule & Speakers
Speaker
Nathan S.
Affinity Global Leader for South Asian Peoples, IMB
Schedule
6:00 pm – Taste of the Nations, Lamb Auditorium (No RSVP required!)
8:00am – 8:50am – Prayer & Donuts CAC 102
9:00am – 10:15am – 1st Plenary Chafer Chapel
10:15am – 11:10am – Coffee with Missions Representatives Bailey Student Center
11:15am – 12:15am – Workshops
Track 1: Evangelism Training, CAC 204
Track 2: Local Missions, CAC 205
Track 3: Trauma Healing, CAC 206
12:30pm – 2:00pm – Q&A Lunch CAC 204
2:00pm – 3:30pm – How to Outreach Your Community with Creativity Todd 115
3:30pm – 4:30pm – Student Group Fair & Activities Lamb Auditorium
Student Mission Fellowship (SMF) – Nourishing our Hearts for Mission
8:00 am – 8:50 am – Prayer & Donuts CAC 102
9:00 am – 10:15 am – 2nd Plenary Chafer Chapel
10:15 am – 11:10 am – Time with Missions Representatives Bailey Student Center
11:15 am – 12:15 am – Workshops
Track 1: Evangelism Training, CAC 204
Track 2: Local Missions, CAC 205
Track 3: Trauma Healing, CAC 206
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm – Q&A Lunch CAC 204
2:00pm – 5:00 pm – Student Group Fair & Activities Lamb Auditorium
2:00pm – 3:00pm – The Couch: Missional Counseling Panel
3:00pm – 3:30pm – Chinese Student Fellowship (CSF): Chinese Praise Song Karaoke
3:30pm – 5:30pm – Black Student Fellowship (BSF): Unspoken Movie Showing
8:00 am – 8:50 am – Prayer & Donuts CAC 102
9:00 am – 10:00 am – Workshops
Track 1: Evangelism Training, CAC 204
Track 2: Local Missions, CAC 205
Track 3: Trauma Healing, CAC 206
10:15 am – 11:30 am – Commissioning Plenary Chafer Chapel
11:30 pm – 1:00 pm – Commissioning Lunch with Missions Representatives Bailey Student Center
1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – The Nations Soccer Tournament Exall Park (1355 Adair St)
About our Plenary Speaker
We’re so excited to have Nathan S. join us this year as our 2024 plenary speaker. Nathan is the Affinity Global Leader for South Asian Peoples with the International Mission Board (IMB).
Taste of the Nations
Join us on March 4th to kick off our conference with our iconic night with tastes of food from around the world. There will be a variety of tables and each table will have a small sampling of foods from a specific culture. You can meet our global students and their families as they share their food, culture, and more about different people groups. It is an honor to be able to fellowship within the nations right here within our DTS community. In addition, this is a wonderful time to talk to representatives from missions organizations working all around the world. NO RSVP REQUIRED! Just show up ready to fellowship and try new things!
Workshops
The purpose of workshops are to engage and interact with a topic in a deeper, practical, and personally applicable way. There are three separate tracks for workshops this year which will be announced soon. Typically we recommend that students choose one track for the whole week, but feel free to choose what interests you most.
Hands-on Evangelism Training with E3 Partners
Tuesday March 5th 11:15am-12:15pm — A Case Study: A Local Church that Transitioned from Pew Sitters to Ambassadors
We will dive into a case study of local church here in Dallas and their strategy and mistakes they made as they began to target their community for Gospel saturation.
Wednesday March 6th 11:15am-12:15pm — Training: Spiritual Conversations & How to Share a Simple Gospel
We will role play and actually show you how to flip from superficial conversations to meaningful conversations and how to share a simple reproducible Gospel presentation.
Thursday March 7th 9:00am-10:00am — Four Phases of the Gospel/Church Planting Movement
We will walk through the 4 phases of the gospel entering an area all the way to where we are today in the US where culture has thousands of churches in buildings.
Located in CAC 204
Interact with three unique ministries located right here in Dallas
Tuesday, March 5th 11:15am-12:15pm — Refugee 101: Loss Simulation
Attendees will learn about the plight of refugees and participate in a reflective exercise where they will face decisions many refugees have experienced as they became displaced. The Northwest Community Center mission is to aid, empower, and invite refugees to experience new life and serves refugees from over 40 countries and 35 people groups in the Vickery Meadow neighborhood of Dallas. Hosted by the Northwest Community Center
Wednesday, March 6th 11:15am-12:15pm — Connecting with International Students in Friendship
International Students are one of the most unreached people groups in the U.S. Over 1 million students’ study on our colleges and university campuses, half of which are from India and China. This interactive workshop will help you understand that connecting with international students is as easy as developing a friendship. Learn from and interact with ISI (International Students, Inc.) staff on how you can make disciples of the nations here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and beyond. Hosted by International Students Inc.
Thursday, March 7th 9:00am-10:00am — On-Mission in Dallas
This workshop will highlight the importance of missions and crossing cultural barriers, not just physical ones. Being on the mission field is not just about geographical locations but also about bridging cultural divides and sharing hope with people from different backgrounds. We, as students, need to move beyond the “I’m just here to study” mentality and adopt a more mission-focused mindset. At OurCalling, we want to Disciple the people in Dallas to reach out to a broken and desperate world and share the good news that brings hope. Hosted by OurCalling
Located in CAC 205
Join this series of Healing Matters hosted by SIL Trauma Healing
Tuesday March 5th 11:15am-12:15pm — Understanding Heart Wounds
What is a wound of the heart? Join us in this interactive session as we uncover causes and symptoms of trauma and learn from examples in the Bible of ways to express emotions surrounding these hurts.
Wednesday March 6th 11:15am-12:15pm — Exploring the Path to Recovery
What can help our heart wounds heal? Come with us on an interactive expedition as we explore ways that can help ourselves and others to begin healing from wounds of trauma. Learn things that help, and things that really don’t!
Thursday March 7th 9:00am-10:00am — Journeying through Grief
What happens when someone is grieving? Journey with us through the villages of grief as we learn what it means to grieve, and practice techniques that can help.
Located in CAC 206
Q & A Lunches
Enjoy a delicious, FREE lunch with our plenary speaker, Nathan S. This a time where you can ask questions you may have, dive in deeper to topics related to missions, and wrestle with difficult concepts or their application. Students MUST RSVP BY 2/22 in order to get a free lunch. Even if you didn’t RSVP, you are still welcome to join! We may not be able to give you a meal, but you can still engage with our speaker and ask any questions or give any comments you may have.
Coffee & Snacks with Missions Representatives
Come to the Bailey Student Center from 10:15am – 11:10am right after the plenary sessions to drink coffee, have snacks, and meet representatives from missions organizations working here in Dallas and all around the world. You can also come back from 2:00pm – 5:00pm on Tuesday and Wednesday to explore even further. These times are excellent opportunities to learn more about missions organizations working to fulfill God’s global mission all around the world. You can sit down, enjoy coffee, tea, and snacks with any of the representatives. There are truly a wide variety of organizations so everyone can find something that interests them.
How to Outreach Your Community with Creativity
Join us in Todd 115 on Tuesday, March 5th from 2:00pm-3:30pm CST. Come and learn creative approaches and methods to outreach the community with the arts. Draw from the experiences of Todd Agnew and Brian Chan, from Austin to Los Angeles.
Student Group Fair & Activities
Join us in Lamb Auditorium on Tuesday from 3:30pm – 5:00pm and Wednesday from 2:00pm – 5:30pm to engage with some of student groups here on campus. There will be booths representing each group where you can get more information, meet new people, and get connected. There will also be exciting and meaningful activities going on throughout that are hosted by the different groups.
Tuesday, March 5th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Come and join us in discussing what God is doing through missionaries all around the world and then join us as we lift up each country in prayer. We will feature different countries with active missionaries working in each one.
Wednesday, March 6th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Come hear from a number of counselors or professionals who work with missionaries or nonprofits that directly serve the kingdom from a missional perspective.
Wednesday, March 6th 3:00pm – 3:30pm
Experience the joy of cross-cultural worship: Join us for Mandarin Praise Song Karaoke! Singers of all backgrounds, with Pinyin guidance for pronunciation, will uplift their spirits and praise God in a vibrant celebration of unity and diversity!
Wednesday, March 6th 3:30pm – 5:30pm
We will be watching the movie, “Unspoken” which gives an in-depth look into the Christian heritage of Africa and people of African descent, intended to dispel the notion of Christianity being an exclusively Western religion.
The Nations Soccer (Football) Tournament
Make a team of 5-7 people and join us at Exall Park for a wonderful time of soccer and prayer for the nations. There will be 5 players on the field for each team at a time and each team can have up to two sub-ins. Each team will pick a nation to represent and a color to wear the day of. Teams will pray together on the field for each nation before they play a game. A bracket will be set up as teams begin to sign up. Everyone is welcome to participate- students, staff, faculty, families, and more! Be sure to sign up your team as soon as possible.
Don’t have a team? No problem! Just show up and we will make additional teams.
In addition, a smaller field will be set up off to the side for children to play soccer while the adults play as well. The kids will not be in a bracketed tournament and there’s no need to sign up. It’s just a fun way for the kids to get involved.
