2025 EA National Convocation

Event schedule

Thursday | September 18 9:00 am EA Board of Directors Friday | September 19 8:30 am - EA Company Retreat Registration & Continental Breakfast 9:00 am - EA Company Retreat 11:30 am - Lunch (Menu: Ham, corn casserole, dinner roll, dessert) 2:00 pm - Registration Opens 3:00 pm - Workshop Session 1 - 3 options "Wrestling with the Apocrypha" "Simple Steps to Kill Your Church" "Merging Teens with Jesus" 4:00 pm - Break 5:30 pm - Supper (Menu: chicken tenders or fried shrimp, green beans, mashed potatoes, dinner roll) 7:00 pm - Evening Worship with Houston Tidelanders concert and Jon Lepinski keynote 8:30 pm - After Hours - Homemade Ice Cream Social Saturday | September 20 8:00 am - Hot Breakfast (Menu: Pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits & gravy) 9:00 am - Morning Worship with Jon Lepinski keynote 10:00 am - Break 10:15 am - Workshop Session 2 - 3 options "Christ-Centered Preaching" "Merging with Jesus in a Negative World" "Merging Teens with Jesus" 11:00 am - Break 11:15 am - Workshop Session 3 - 3 options "Old Testament Biblical Archaeology" "Merging with Jesus in a Negative World" "EA Mission Network 101" 12:30 pm - Lunch (Menu: spaghetti & meatballs, salad, garlic bread) 2:00 pm - Workshop Sessions 4 - 3 options "New Testament Biblical Archaeology" "Simple Steps to Kill Your Church" "Christ-Centered Preaching" 3:00 pm - Free Time (Dartball, Catacombs Game Room, Off Campus Activities) 5:30 pm - Supper (Menu: Texas barbeque) 7:00 pm - 300th Anniversary Celebration of German Reformed Church Heritage (1725-2025) 7:15 pm - Evening Worship with Andrew Keuer keynote 8:30 pm - After Hours - All You Can Eat Dessert Bar Needville High School Jazz Band Sunday | September 21 8:40 am - Breakfast 9:00 am - Sunday School Classes 10:15 am - Morning Worship with Jason Ford keynote
Theme Song
Special musical concert
Houston Tidelanders
Dartball
Dartball is a fellowship game played in churches around the country combining the game of darts with the rules of baseball.
300th Anniversary of German Reformed Church Heritage (1725-2025)

EA Company Retreat

Friday, September 19th at 9:00 am (No Additional Cost to Attend. Lunch included.) Do you long for a deeper connection in the EA? Need prayer for your personal journey? Want prayer for your ministry and your congregation? If so, join us for the EA Company Retreat at Convocation 2025. This opportunity will provide a small-group type experience in which pastors, church leaders, and lay staff can share their hopes and frustrations and find encouragement through prayer and conversation with others who are in the trenches of ministry.

Workshops

"Wrestling with the apocrypha" | Rev. ron Shifley | FRiday @ 3:00 pm
Most evangelical Christians don't know much about the Apocrypha. What most Protestants remember about these seven Second Temple Writings (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees & 2 Maccabees) is that they are extra books included in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles, but not found Protestant Bibles. Some may remember that they were affirmed as canon by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1546. Others may recall that the Protestant reformers rejected these Apocryphal books as containing false doctrines and they were never quoted by Jesus or the writers of the New Testament. These memories are only partially true. What if we remembered the whole story? What if we recalled that these Second Temple Writings were affirmed as part of the canon of Scripture by the same 4th century church councils that affirmed the New Testament? That they were quoted and alluded to by a number of New Testament writings? That the books of the Apocrypha were included in early Protestant Bibles including the King James Version of 1611 and were only discarded in the early 1800's? Would that change our view of the Apocrypha? In this workshop we're going to wrestle with the Apocrypha: it's origins, it's influence on Early Christianity, and what importance, if any, these seven books have for the Church today.
"Simple steps to kill your church" | Rev. Jim Barnes | Friday @ 3:00 pm, Saturday @ 2:00 pm
The sad truth is, thousands of local churches close their doors every year in this country. The causes of these local church deaths are numerous, but some of them are self-inflicted. In this workshop we will consider several of the unhealthy choices congregations often make that can lead to a local church having to shut down. We will look at warnings from Jesus Himself found in scripture as well as other destructive decisions pastors and lay people often make on behalf of their churches.
"Merging Teens with Jesus" | Nate Williams | Friday @ 3:00 pm and Saturday @ 10:15 am
Teens, Your Deepest Longings and Needs Are Met in Christ
Teens have their whole life ahead of them. They have desires and they have plans, and sometimes they think that the world and the flesh can satisfy them. In this workshop, we will walk through how Christ and his Church fulfills us better than any alternatives; this also takes into account the unique wiring of young men and women.
"Merging with jesus in a negative world" | Rev. Daryl c. Higgins | Saturday @ 10:15 and 11:15 am
For the first time in the history of our country, orthodox Christianity is now viewed negatively by the vast majority of the secular community, especially those who are considered the "elites" or "establishment" of our society. This shift into the "negative world" poses a profound challenge to American evangelicals and our churches and institutions. This Workshop is about the decades-long shift into the negative world, what that means, and how to deal with this growing new reality. We will discuss and explore the shifts in the relationship between culture and Christianity over the past 70 plus years. We will trace Christianity's status as being a highly revered institution in society in the 1950s, to being increasingly viewed as a hostile institution that is a threat to society in 2025. We will examine the strategies that evangelicals used to respond to the various phases of this decline, and how those approaches have changed in today's challenging secular progressive negative world. This Workshop will explore fresh new strategies and approaches that will be needed to effectively navigate the culture we evangelicals will face in our witness for Jesus Christ in this increasingly godless secular world. Come and join us, and be prepared to be positively challenged in our 21st century Kingdom work together.
"Christ-Centered Preaching" | Rev. Jason Ford | Saturday @ 10:15 am and 2:00 pm
Does your sermon need to be “saved”? Too often pastors settle for sermons that are merely moral instruction, when they could be preaching in a way that is transformational. In over 30 years in ministry, I have become convinced that one of the most important skills a pastor can have is to point your people to Jesus in every passage that you preach. In I Corinthians 2:2 Paul said, “for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” In this seminar we will discuss strategies for finding Christ in every text, how to preach the law and grace, and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be at the center of every sermon you preach.
"EA Mission Network 101" | Shirley Briggemann & Rev. Hart Inlow | Saturday @ 11:15 am
The EA Mission Network is here to help your church, as well as missions and missionaries, fulfill our callings to serve Jesus. Come understand how the Network can assist you...from getting your missions efforts organized, to connecting with missions and missionaries who share our EA values and goals. Discover one of the largest collections of missions resources available (online and free), and hear testimonials about what the EAMN has done for missionaries in our EA Network! If you are a mission/missionary looking to connect with supporters, or a church hoping to move to the next level of missions service, come join us!
"Old Testament Biblical Archaeology" | Dr. Scott Stripling | Saturday @ 11:15 am
Biblical archaeology is shedding new light on the lands and stories of the Bible. With each dig, archaeologists unearth the history behind events recorded in Scripture. In this workshop we look at the five most important archaeological discoveries related to the Old Testament and what these finds mean for our understanding of the Bible today.
"New Testament Biblical Archaeology" | Dr. Scott Stripling | Saturday @ 2:00 pm
Biblical archaeology is shedding new light on the lands and stories of the Bible. With each dig, archaeologists unearth the history behind events recorded in Scripture. In this workshop we look at the five most important archaeological discoveries related to the New Testament and what these finds mean for our understanding of the Bible today.

Convocation bookstore

In addition to the EA Store which which will offer copies of the 2025 EA Desk Calendar, Heidelberg Catechism, Evangelical Catechism and EA emblem polo shirts, Convocation will also offer a bookstore featuring items related to workshop topics like Biblical Archeology, the Apocrypha, Christ-centered Preaching, and more.