LA Need to Know

Schedule

Morning

  • Pick up your badge, explore the space, and get to know someone new.

  • 📍 Main Sanctuary
    🔊 Speaker: Amy Ayala

  • Practical breakout sessions tailored to equip leaders, students, and everyday believers to make disciples in their context.

    Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
    What to Expect:

    • Choose from a diverse set of topical focused workshops

    • Topics like evangelism, urban ministry, youth discipleship, and more

    • Interactive, hands-on learning

    Find all breakout session details at the bottom of this page

  • Not just downtime—this break is part of the rhythm. Use this time to reflect, rest, or debrief with your team. Grab lunch from our food trucks on-site, recharge, and get some fresh air. Great ideas often show up in the margin, and this is that space

Afternoon / Evening

  • 📍 Main Sanctuary
    🔊 Speaker: Preston Perry

  • Practical breakout sessions tailored to equip leaders, students, and everyday believers to make disciples in their context.

    Time: 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
    What to Expect:

    • Choose from a diverse set of topical focused workshops

    • Topics like evangelism, urban ministry, youth discipleship, and more

    • Interactive, hands-on learning

    Find all breakout session details at the bottom of this page

  • 📍 Sanctuary

    Shaping the Culture Podcast featuring Preston Perry

10012 Ramona St, Bellflower, CA 90706

 

Saturday,
September 27, 2025

Featuring

Breakout Sessions

Morning

Civic Life & Kingdom Calling: Following Jesus in a Divided World.

We live in a time when important issues—like immigration, money, race, or sexuality—are often talked about in extreme, divided ways. These cultural narratives can create fear, pit people against each other, and push the church into taking sides rather than living out a better story. This session will unpack how these cultural divisions shape the way people think—and how the church has sometimes followed the world’s lead instead of Christ’s. We’ll look honestly at how we’ve traded our neighbors for political or media narratives, and ask what it would mean to return to a Kingdom-centered way of engaging the world. Together, we’ll explore how the church can respond with truth and love, how we can live out our faith without compromise or fear, and how we can be a voice of hope, justice, and unity in a divided culture.


Instructor
Abrm Mcquarters

Location
Social Hall

Trauma Informed Discipleship

God’s unique design for each one of us should not only guide our lives, but for those of us called to leadership, it should inform the way we lead. This class focuses on helping you become the leader God created you to be. As part of this class, we will explore how God uniquely created you and discuss how that unique creation should inform how you lead yourself and how you lead others.


Instructor
Lenmarie Pascall

Location
Classroom C1

Fighting the Good Fight for your Marriage and Relationships

Join us for an empowering workshop designed to equip couples and individuals with the tools needed to fight the good fight of faith in their marriages and relationships. This session will draw upon biblical principles as well as practical strategies, emphasizing how faith can serve as a foundation for love, resilience, and connection.

Location
Classroom C2

Instructors
DA & Elicia Horton

Pastors VS. Pharaoh? Recognizing and Resisting Toxic Leadership In The World and In Us

This workshop unpacks the contrast between healthy, God-called pastors and destructive, Pharaoh-like leaders. Young leaders will learn how to discern the difference, both in others and in themselves, while discovering practices to 'drown the Pharaoh' that lives within us. The session combines biblical teaching, personal story, and reflection to form leaders who steward power with humility.

Location
Classroom A2

Instructor
Alexander James

Media, Truth and Cultural Apologetics

Social media, TV shows, radio and music are attempting to reshape Christian theology and redefine truth by promoting relativism. This post-truth, meme-driven era leaves many swapping truth for preference, claiming “spiritual, but not religious” rhetoric and other destructive narratives to appear tolerant. As a result, believers are left wrestling with doubts and questions about fundamental Christian truth claims: Can I be a Christian, but deny doctrines that don’t align with “my truth?” Is the Bible reliable? Why is Jesus the only way for salvation? Using apologetic tools and tactics to share the urgency of the gospel, this session will address the media’s influence on truth, provide a case for absolute truth, refute popular objections to Christianity, and equip believers to know what they believe and why they believe it.


Location
Classroom A6

Instructor
Brittney Brown

The Power of the Theological Imagination in Formation and Transformation

How can the church begin to confront sin and evil on all levels: the individual, systems/structures, and narratives/imagination. The power of the gospel is the power to address the brokenness in the world. In this workshop we will examine aspects of our society and the dominant narratives that requires Biblical confrontation. We will examine the Biblical counter-narratives that offer theological hope for the confrontation of sin and injustice.

Location
Chapel

Instructor
Soong-Chan Rah

Mentoring Young Men Who Live in Urban Communities

Boys and young men of color often face societal labels and statistics that hinder their path toward a healthy and holistic life. Just as the Apostle Paul’s mentorship empowered Timothy to walk faithfully and boldly in his calling, intentional guidance and affirmation can transform lives today. This workshop will explore how affirming biblical identity and cultivating Christ-centered mentoring relationships can equip and secure young men of color to rise above misguided influences and grow into disciple-making men of God.

Location
Classroom A4

Instructor
Mike Davis

From Brokenness to Bridge Builder: Using Your Story to Make Disciples

Your past pain can become a path to purpose. This session will equip attendees to reflect on their own journey, embrace their testimony, and begin using their life experiences as a tool for discipling others—especially in urban spaces where stories matter more than titles.

Location
Classroom C4

Instructor
Lance Penland

Afternoon

Rest as Resistance in a Hurried World

Jesus requires a lot from his disciples as we follow him out into the world to complete his mission. Yet God promises to go with us and give us rest along the way, so that we may flourish as we find our life in Him. But what is God's rest? And how do we enter it? Join Meghan Bishop to explore the deep peace that comes from an awareness of God's presence and pleasure over His children, and discover practical ways to connect our souls to His rest.

Location
Chapel

Instructor
Meghan Bishop

How to Do More with Less Money, Time and Degrees

You don’t need more money, more time, or more degrees to make an impact. God has always used ordinary people with ordinary resources to do extraordinary things. What matters most isn’t your budget, schedule, or résumé—it’s your faithfulness. When you show up consistently, invest in people, and use what’s already in your hands, God multiplies it. Impact has never depended on excess—it’s born out of obedience.

Location
Social Hall

Instructor
Bobby Lopez

The Sacred Work of Listening: Unlocking Hope Through Story

Healing begins with being heard. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore the power of storytelling as ministry, listening to the pain and resilience in students’ lives, sharing our own stories with vulnerability, and pointing them to the larger story of Jesus. Participants will gain tools for building trust, creating spaces for honest conversation, and weaving gospel hope into everyday encounters with youth.

Location
Classroom A2

Instructor
Hung Thach

No Rising as Kingdom Leaders

Jesus didn't wait for perfect, polished leaders-He called young, ordinary people and equipped them to change the world. In the same way, God is calling you right now, not someday in the future, to rise as a Kingdom leader. This workshop is about more than sitting in church or waiting until you're older; it's about stepping boldly into your calling today. Together, we'll look at how Jesus trained His disciples-teaching them by example, empowering them to pray, preach, and serve-and then sent them out to do the same. You'll be challenged and activated to take ownership of your faith, lead with compassion and courage, and use your gifts to impact your school, friends, and community.

Location
Classroom C2

Instructor
Maritza Rebollar

Leading as Designed

God’s unique design for each one of us should not only guide our lives, but for those of us called to leadership, it should inform the way we lead. This class focuses on helping you become the leader God created you to be.  As part of this class, we will explore how God uniquely created you and discuss how that unique creation should inform how you lead yourself and how you lead others.


Location
Classroom C1

Instructor
Robert Aboites

The history of the Black Church is often ignored and overlooked by broader Evangelicalism. This short-sightedness causes many dangerous and counterproductive blind spots to persist. Knowing the history of the Black Church broadens our scope and appreciation of Christ’s Universal Body. Additionally, it provides countless lessons on how to be a countercultural follow of Jesus, and how to be a subversive witness within a compromised world. This workshop will give you a perspective of Kingdom-living from the margins.


Kingdom Lessons from the History of the Black Church

Instructor
Isaiah Robertson

Location
Classroom A4

Face to Face: How Prayer Changes You

In Exodus 33:11, we read that the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Prayer is not only about asking God to change circumstances—it is about being changed by His presence. This workshop will trace Moses’ journey of prayer across Exodus 3–33, showing how time with God reshaped his identity, courage, and leadership. We’ll reflect on how prayer reorients our desires, deepens intimacy with God, and transforms the way we live. Participants will leave with a renewed vision of prayer as the primary means by which God forms us into His likeness.

Location
Classroom C4

Instructor
Israel Solomon

How to Study the Bible

Studying the Bible doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. In this workshop, you’ll learn simple, practical steps for reading God’s Word with clarity and confidence. Together we’ll explore how to understand the context of Scripture, apply it to daily life, and grow closer to Christ through His Word.

Instructor
Omar Jackson

Location
Classroom A6