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A couple years ago, Ben Phillips, lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Murphy, wanted to sharpen the focus of his church’s small groups—an area in which he admits he needed help.
“I just needed some wisdom and some ideas,” he said.
So Phillips and a group from FBC Murphy attended the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s annual Equip Conference that summer. Equip is a one-day training designed to help churches maximize their limited time and resources through practical ministry training and networking opportunities.
While at Equip, lay leaders and staff from FBC Murphy received instruction about ways to strengthen their groups ministry. Additionally, Phillips said he attended a Groups Matter workshop after Equip led by Ken Braddy, director of Sunday school and small groups for Lifeway Christian Resources. The instruction at Equip, presented in a breakout session lasting about an hour, followed by a more detailed session at a daylong Groups Matter workshop held at a later date, helped FBC Murphy get a good idea about where it wanted to take its groups.
That vision was further solidified when Phillips reached out to Phil Todd, SBTC spiritual formations team lead, for an onsite consultation to help FBC Murphy implement a plan.
“Really, I served as a fresh set of eyes on what they were doing and just gave Ben some thoughts on structuring groups, identifying priorities, and talking through building out a training regimen for their group leaders,” Todd said.
Said Phillips: “He gave me some great ideas to think about, and in fact, we just finished a four-week sermon series that highlighted priorities for our life groups. We want our groups to learn God’s Word, to invest in people, to fellowship as a community, and to engage in the mission. This past Sunday, we had a debrief in our life groups and wrestled with some questions related to all of those areas and what it might look like to implement some of those ideas.”
Paul Ebell, associate pastor at First Baptist Church in the East Texas community of Edom, said he brought a group to Equip 2023 at Sagemont Church in Houston. Members of the group attended breakout sessions on the topics of church safety, audio/visual technology, and those with a ministry emphasis to children, youth, women, and men. Several in the group also attended a training for deacons.
“Equip was a very helpful conference for our young adults and some of our lay leaders,” Ebell said. “It definitely encouraged and informed our church members in their various roles in the ministry of our church. … The feedback from our group was how encouraged everyone was by the vast offerings of breakouts and the practical insights that were shared.”
This year’s conference, which will be held at CrossCreek Church in Colleyville, will once again include more than 70 ministry leaders and speakers covering more than 200 breakout sessions. Unlike past years that featured a single main session, Equip 2026 will offer two main sessions from which attendees can choose based on their preferred ministry area. An adult ministry main session will be led by Robby Gallaty, senior pastor of Long Hollow Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., while a next gen main session will feature Shane Pruitt, national next gen director for the North American Mission Board.
“I’m really excited about the Equip lineup this year,” Todd said. “There will be top tier speakers, practitioners, and experts from across Texas and the U.S. who will pour into church leaders from all over our state. Over 30 different ministry areas will be covered, so there is something for everyone. Our two speakers for the dual main sessions are fantastic communicators who will challenge us all to press on in our ministry calling.”
