August 8-9, 2025

The content will be available until January 2026.

The next virtual conference will be live-streamed on August 8-9, 2025.

Also, There is still time to sign up for Grow Virtual 2025.

The content will be available until January 2026.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
2 Timothy 3:14-15

You can participate live or at your own convenience by listening to the livestream, keynotes, and workshops.

Registration is open!
Click on the box below based on size of your group

Subscribe as an Individual

$75 – participate on your own
device on your own schedule

Subscribe as a Small Group

$300 – gather a group up to 6

Subscribe as a Medium Group

$400 – gather a group of 7 to 14

Subscribe as a Large Group

$500 – gather a group of 15 or more

Conference Schedule (Eastern Time)

Friday, August 8, 2025
7:00-7:15 pm – Introduction, Giveaways
7:15-7:45 pm – Session 1
7:45-8:15 pm – Questions & Answers, closing remarks, prayer 

Saturday, August 9, 2025
10:00-10:15 am – Introduction, Giveaways
10:15-10:45 am – Session 2
10:45-11 am – Break, Giveaways
11-11:30 am – Session 3
Followed by closing remarks and prayer

Speakers:

Dr. Bryan Chapell

Currently serving as the Stated Clerk and leader of the Administrative Committee for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), Dr. Chapell is a renowned preacher, teacher, and speaker who also serves on the faculties of numerous seminaries and Bible colleges in different parts of the world and conducts pastors’ conferences in several nations each year. He is the author of many books, including the award-winning Christ-Centered Preaching (now in its third edition) and the founder and host of Unlimited Grace, a daily half-hour Bible teaching program heard on radio stations and online in the US and around the world.

Raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Chapell is a graduate of Covenant Seminary and was a pastor in southern Illinois for ten years before returning to join Covenant Theological Seminary’s faculty in 1985. In addition to teaching preaching courses, he served for six years as Vice President for Academics and Dean of Faculty. In 1994, he became the institution’s fourth President, serving until 2012, when he assumed the role of Chancellor and President Emeritus. In 2013 he took a call as Senior Pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois (where he is now Pastor Emeritus) before being named Stated Clerk Pro Tempore for the PCA in 2020 and then elected to the office in 2021.

Dr. Chapell and his wife, Kathy, have four grown children—Jordan, Colin, Corinne, and Katy. His teaching resources are available at www.bryanchapell.com.

 

Dr. Stephen Estock is Coordinator for the PCA Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM). A former USAF officer, he has been in pastoral ministry for almost 30 years, serving churches in Montgomery, AL and St. Louis, MO. Stephen has also been an adjunct professor at several seminaries, including Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis and Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta. His Ph.D. is in education, with an emphasis on competency-based learning and leadership training. He and his wife, Susan, have three children and live in Atlanta, GA.

Katie Flores equips and encourages those who are working to promote discipleship among children in the PCA. She enjoys advocating for children as well as learning from them. Katie and her husband, Bryan, live in Birmingham, AL with their children, Caleb and Grace Anne. They worship at Covenant Presbyterian Church where Katie served in youth, children’s, and disability ministry for a combined 24 years before coming to work at CDM.

Bethany Belue is on staff with CDM serving in various roles within Children’s Ministry. Before coming on staff at CDM, she served as the Children’s Director at Redeemer PCA in New York City and Oak Mountain PCA in Birmingham, AL. She currently lives in Mobile, AL with her husband, Dustin, who is the assistant pastor at Grace Community Church PCA. Bethany and Dustin love investing in the next generation from small children to young adults. Life is full with their 2 young children, Patterson and Neely.

WORKSHOPS for 2025

Missional Mindset in Children’s Ministry – Jeanette Simpson

Having a missional mindset is essential, as it reflects Jesus’ final command in Matthew 28—to go and make disciples. This personal calling applies to all followers of Christ. In this workshop, we will explore practical steps to begin, implement, and grow in the practice of disciple-making. Key areas of focus will include the importance of training and discipling children from a young age for lasting faith development, living out our faith in ways that inspire others, identifying and using our God-given gifts and talents, and discovering how our unique abilities can be used to serve and impact others for Christ.

Teaching Our Children to Love the Church – Lisa Updike

Since the beginning of time God has been making a people for Himself—a people with whom He would dwell and a people upon whom he would set His affection. Jesus loves His people! After all, He is the bridegroom and the Church, His bride.  How, then, can we foster a love for the Church in our children? We desire that the youngest in our churches not only know they are loved and welcomed as part of the covenant community, but they participate in the loving and welcoming, serving the Body of Christ with joy!

Partnering Home and Church in Spiritual Growth – Sherry Kendrick

The heart of discipleship in the home and church is a personal relationship with Jesus, who calls us to follow Him and lead our children to do the same. He equips us through practices like Bible study, worship, prayer, character growth, stewardship, and intentional teaching. While parents are the primary spiritual influence, the support of a faith-filled community strengthens and reinforces a solid foundation for children to grow in their faith. We will consider ways to bridge Sunday to Sunday.

The invitation to pray – Christy Villhauer and Katie Flores

Prayer is a beautiful invitation to spend time with God. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to introduce children to the lifelong journey of prayer, helping them discover that God listens to them and longs to hear from them. Learn how to model prayer, create prayerful communities and help children grow in relationship with God from a early age.

Becoming a Servant Leader – Laura Tucker

Jesus came not to be served, but to serve—and He invites us to follow Him in that same posture. In this workshop, we’ll explore what it means to become a servant leader by looking to Jesus as our ultimate example. Together, we’ll consider how as Children’s Ministry leaders we can grow in servant leadership through God’s Word, the work of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and life in community. Serving isn’t always easy, but it is through serving that we are shaped into who we were created to be. Come be encouraged, challenged, and reminded of the deep joy that comes from leading like Jesus—serving with humility.

Easy Joy – The beauty in following God’s mandate for loving those on the margins – Kevin Daane

In this workshop participants will discover that spending time with children impacted by disability is close to Jesus’ heart and needs to be a priority in our Sunday School classes. Participants will be challenged by the deep faith of several of the speaker’s students and will begin to develop a framework for discipleship that can be taken into Sunday School classrooms and beyond.

Spaces to Flourish – Saralyn Tyler

Regardless of church size or budget, we all have one thing in common: the desire to create inviting, safe and fun spaces for children to grow in their knowledge and love for Christ. This workshop will discuss ideas for staying on budget and on mission, as we creatively set up our physical learning spaces for children to flourish. Regardless of the Sunday space you inhabit, we hope these tips will be an encouragement.

Soul Care for Children’s Ministry Leaders – Bethany Belue

Children’s Ministry is a calling that often pulls us in many directions—preparing lessons, recruiting volunteers, teaching children, and giving of ourselves continually. But what happens when our own souls feel weary?  How do you make your walk with Christ a priority? We will use this workshop time to explore what God’s word says about our own walk with the Lord as leaders and talk through practical ideas of spending time in God’s word, prayer, worship, and community!

Worship That Forms: Discipling Children Through Intergenerational Worship – Laney Stayton, Heather Dirkse and Sally Powell

Join us for an engaging session exploring how worship serves as a primary space for spiritual discipleship. We’ll reflect on worship’s formative power through a panel conversation with Heather Dirkse, Laney Stayton, and Sally Powell. We’ll introduce three practical tools for nurturing intergenerational discipleship. These include how children’s ministry volunteers can reinforce familiar hymns and Scripture memorization in their classrooms, helping connect worship across the whole church community for lasting spiritual growth.

Spiritual Formation in Covenant Children – B.A. Snider

Our covenant children are in a unique place in our churches. We put God’s mark on them as babies with water when they are baptized. We know that this does not save them but it brings them into the covenant community in a special way. They grow up being loved and taught in the context of the covenant. They receive blessings as a part of God’s covenant family. This workshop will explore what spiritual formation is and how we can foster that formation in our covenant communities.

Workshops from Previous Years:

Teaching Jesus in All of the Bible: The Shepherd is Everywhere – John Kwasny, 2022
God’s Word charges us to teach ALL of God’s inspired and inerrant Word to ALL people, including children (II Timothy 3:16-17). And it ALL must be taught God’s way! To avoid teaching the Bible in moralistic, legalistic, or behavioristic ways, we must learn to teach Jesus in ALL of the Bible. And the good news is: The Good Shepherd is everywhere in the Bible, not just in the gospels!

Creating a Classroom Experience that Invites Children to Draw Near to Jesus – Laura Tucker and Kimper Thomas, 2023
The Gospels remind us that Jesus wanted the children to draw near to Him. So, we desire to create space, time, and experiences that invite children to draw near to Jesus. Sometimes creating such inviting learning environments requires us to adapt curriculum and activities to fit our context and children’s needs. Join us as we provide some practical ideas to help you think creatively about the ways in which you invite children to draw near to Jesus.

Lots of Styles! (Teaching to Engage a Variety of Learning Styles) – Lisa Updike and Rebecca Griffin, 2023
All children can learn, but they may not all learn in the same way. How, then, can we teach our children in a manner that captures their attention and facilitates their ability to learn? In this workshop we will look at Jesus, the Master Teacher, as our example.

Teaching Our Children Catechism – B.A. Snider, 2024
The foundation for our children’s theology is the Bible. First Catechism summarizes biblical truths in simple questions and answers and is based on Westminster Shorter Catechism. When we teach our children at an age when memorization is second nature, theology becomes the framework for all of their Bible stories to hang on. This breakout will discuss why we teach catechism as well as creative ideas for implementing a catechism program in your church.

Covenant Baptism – Bryan Chapell, 2021
Why do PCA churches baptize infants? This workshop offers a thoughtful, biblical exploration of infant baptism as a covenantal sign and seal of God’s promises. Drawing on both Old and New Testament teaching, listen to how baptism functions as God’s visible pledge to His people–including our children.

SPEAKERS

Kevin Daane is Director of Disability Ministry Coaching with Engaging Disability with the Gospel. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and has had the honor of serving churches across North America to help them effectively disciple and enfold kids, teens, and adults with disabilities. His role involves working with church staff, families, and individuals. He serves through coaching, training, preaching, and encouraging.

Heather Dirkse is the Teach Me to Worship creative assistant. She will be working alongside other team members to enhance and create Teach Me to Worship resources that will equip church leaders and their families as they work to intentionally engage children in worship. She is excited to be a part of supporting and growing churches as they endeavor to give their children a lifelong connection to the covenant community of believers.

Katie Flores is the Children’s Ministry Coordinator for the PCA’s Committee on Discipleship Ministries. She lives with her husband and children in Birmingham, AL where her favorite volunteer role at Covenant Presbyterian Church is teaching 4k Sunday School. Katie oversees the effort of CDM to connect and equip those who serve in discipleship ministry to children. These efforts include leading conferences, developing resources, and equipping through certification.

Sherry Kendrick serves as the Family Ministry Director of Covenant Church of Naples in Naples, FL where she has been for 15 years. She has a degree in elementary education from East Tennessee State University and over 40 years of experience in children’s ministry as well as homeschool, private school and public-school education. She loves children’s curriculums and tends to collect them. Sherry was married to her pastor husband, Mike, for 36 years serving in both small and large churches. As a widow, she continues to serve the church and has three grown children and three grandchildren.

Jeanette C. Simpson serves as the Director of Children’s Ministry at Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC. Jeanette has spent the last two decades leading preschool and children’s programs including ministries in two churches where she served as the inaugural Children’s Director.  Jeanette is currently completing her Master of Divinity through LAMP Theological Seminary. In her free time, Jeanette finds herself reading, playing the bassoon, shopping, and spending time with her husband, Roger. She is guided in life by the words from Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (ESV)

B.A. Snider has more than 20 years’ experience as a children’s director in churches ranging in size from 200 to 4,000 but finds her passion is the same no matter how many children she’s serving. Show the children Jesus. Teach the kids all of the Bible so they see that the stories from the Old Testament point to Jesus and that the New Testament shows how Jesus fulfilled God’s promises—yesterday, today, and forever. B.A. began her formal ministry as a children’s director and consultant in 1993, but she has taught and led music for children since she was in junior high school. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee and taught college until the Lord called her to seminary and full-time ministry. She graduated with a master’s degree in Christian Education from Columbia International University. Speaking at conferences, consulting with leadership, and training teachers brought her to Great Commission Publications (www.gcp.org) in 2014 as the Children’s Ministry Consultant and Marketing Director.

Laney Stayton – In one way or another, children’s ministry has always been a part of Laney’s life–starting as the child of a pastor and missionary, then through volunteering at her local church as a young adult, and now as a mom of three. After taking a quick detour as a certified shorthand reporter in Texas, the Lord called her to serve as the children’s ministry director of her church in Chattanooga, TN. After serving her church for almost 8 years, the Lord provided an opportunity for her to serve the PCA by becoming the program director for a new grant-funded program, Teach Us To Worship. She is excited about the opportunities her new role gives her to support churches and help them consider the Biblical call to worship as a covenant family!

Saralyn Tyler currently serves as the Director of Children’s Ministry at Christ Church Toronto in Ontario, Canada. God has given Saralyn a passion for sharing the gospel with children, encouraging and supporting families, and in helping to encourage others serving in Children’s Ministry. She has served in established churches, a church revitalization, and a church plant, in urban, inner-city, suburban, and remote rural areas. Saralyn has led Sunday school, mid-week clubs, summer camps and conferences. Saralyn is a CDM Alumnus from the Class of 2019.

Lisa Updike is the Director of Children’s Ministries at Covenant in Harrisonburg, VA and doesn’t remember a day when she didn’t love Jesus. Her ministry experience includes teaching, special education, leading children’s choirs, and writing. Several of her books and curriculum are available through the PCA bookstore. She and her husband, Kevin, have been married since 1989 and are blessed with 4 adult children, 3 of whom joined their family through adoption. Lisa and Kevin stay busy with church activities, creating art,  and best of all, doting on their two grandsons.

Christy Villhauer became the Director of Children’s Ministry at Grace Community Presbyterian Church in 2017, and she started as the Administrator in 2022. Before that she served as the Nursery Director for a few years as well. Christy loves to come alongside parents in discipling their children and equipping them to lead their children to love and know Jesus. Prior to having children, Christy was a high school Spanish teacher for five years. Christy and her husband, Dan, live in Mechanicsville, VA with their three daughters. In her spare time, Christy enjoys traveling, cooking, running, and spending time with family and friends.

Ways to Use Grow Virtual

  • Invite teachers, parents, volunteers, and possible volunteers to a church-wide training weekend. Serve dinner, breakfast, and lunch (one or more), spend some time with your own church’s policies and procedures training, and then tune in to these three sessions for resources, encouragement, and how to’s for making disciples. Live MC’s will guide everyone through the main sessions and will include resource giveaways.
  • Invite a smaller group into a home for a more intimate setting on Friday evening for dinner and join in the session together for training. Everyone can watch from home on Saturday morning, or you can gather at the church or in home again.
  • Send the link to all church members, encourage Friday evening viewing, come together on Saturday morning to discuss at breakfast, and view the rest together.
  • Schedule live training using these videos throughout the fall as a continuing education program for parents and volunteers.
  • Send links for individuals to watch on their own and have breakfast, lunch or coffee to discuss the topic(s) that have been viewed.
  • Post the links to these videos on the church website or in the bulletin as you train your entire congregation to consider and become involved in the direct discipleship of children.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Yes. If you are registered for the livestream weekend, you will have access to the recordings until the end of January 2026.

You may contact Kathy Wargo, kwargo@pcanet.org for presenter contact information if you are not able to access this on our site.

Anybody involved in children’s ministry is invited to attend. Email Katie Flores, kflores@pcanet.org, if you have questions.

In person conferences are so helpful for re-focusing the vision for what we do in children’s ministry. However, it’s expensive. This virtual conference is a great value for gathering people to think together about what is important.

Registrations will be accepted through the end of 2025 since access will be available until January 2026.

If you paid as an individual, but now you want to share it with your church, please email Kathy Wargo (kwargo@pcanet.org) and we will credit your $75 individual rate so that you can register your group.

SHERRY KENDRICK 

I used the virtual conference as my fall teacher training with the three keynote speakers.  I invited all of our children’s ministry volunteers – teachers and helpers – to a nice catered dinner on Friday evening with decorated tables.  After dinner we watched the introduction of the virtual conference live and then watched the first keynote address.  As we watched, I formulated questions for discussion based on our context with the content of the first keynote.  We spent about fifteen minutes talking and applying what we had heard.  We concluded the evening with prayer for our children.  The next morning we had a continental breakfast AND coffee.  I had a time of vision casting and safety training before we watched the second keynote.  There was a short break and we watched the last keynote.  We followed that time again with conversation and discussion about the keynotes as they applied to our context.  This included some good questions from our volunteers.  We were done before lunch and we all went home refreshed.   

In October and January,  I used the virtual conference videos for additional training by sending home the link and a list of the videos I’d like them to watch.  I asked them to send me a paragraph or two about what their biggest takeaway from the video training was.  I feel like this was too open ended.  When I do it this year, I’ll be more specific about which vidoes I want them to watch in a shorter time frame .  But I liked them being able to do it at home without coming back to church for another evening.  I try to do training August, October, January and March.  I’ll probably alternate between coming back to church to use one of the videos and have discussion and letting them do some at home.  I did give “happys” away for completing the videos that I had sent. 

LISA UPDIKE 

Training is such an important part of the children’s ministries of our churches, and yet it can be a challenge as well. That’s why we found the Virtual Grow conference to be such a blessing!  

Friday night and Saturday morning we invited everyone who serves with our children and youth to come to the church and be a part of a viewing party. Some were unable to attend in person, but we linked up with them on the internet and we felt connected that way. We gathered about 45 minutes before the broadcast began, providing some yummy food, sharing some of our church’s vision for next generation ministries, and taking a few minutes for prayer.  

The next morning we gathered for breakfast and some more good teaching provided by CDM. But the event didn’t end there! We bought the whole package so that everyone in our church could participate. I sent links to our session members with suggestions for workshops that I thought might encourage them. They were grateful for the opportunity! Likewise, I sent the Virtual Grow Conference links with a list of suggested workshops for different areas of service: nursery, Sunday school teachers, early childhood leaders, etc. Those who participated were asked to send me an e-mail with their main “take-aways.” Their names were placed in a bowl for a series of prize drawings. My volunteers consistently reported that the workshops were well worth their time, and they didn’t need a prize…but the potential of a prize did make it  more fun and motivating! 

Deciding to provide this training for your church members not only helps the children’s ministry director provide training, but shows your volunteers that you value them. It’s an investment in your ministry. 

If you watch by September 15, you can email your answers to the questions asked to Kathy Wargo (kwargo@pcanet.org). All of the shared ideas will get gathered to be emailed to everyone who has signed up for Grow Virtual in late September. These ideas may just arrive right when you need them. Anyone who emails an idea will be entered in additional giveaways to be announced by email in mid-September.