CHRIST IN
CULTURE
2025
Friday, May 23 – Saturday, May 24
What does it mean to be human?
We live in an age that values choice over life, progress over nature, and the inner self over the body. These new values have changed how we view our neighbour and view ourselves. At this conference, we will explore some of these changes in the light of God's Word, equipping and encouraging Christians to navigate our confused culture and its incoherent view of what it means to be human. We will learn what it means to be made in His image, how to speak truth in love, and how to find hope in Christ's resurrection.
KEYNOTE SESSIONS
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The Challenge of Christian Ethics
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The Reality and Purpose of Being Made in the Image of God
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The Honour of God and the Gift of the Body
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Human Calling According to the Sermon on the Mount
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The Gender Divide and the Genesis of Gender
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Soul-Shaping Guidance for Difficult Questions
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Resurrection and What Comes Next
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Soul-Shaping Guidance for Difficult Questions (Speaker Q&A)
Dr. Wayne Baxter, Matthew Lee Anderson & Paul Carter
Our main session speakers will tackle some of the significant cultural issues of our day and also field questions from the conference attendees.
Stewarding Body and Soul for the Glory of God
Betty-Anne Van Rees, Biblical Counseling Coalition
We will consider needs God has hardwired into our bodies and souls and how learning to live in light of those needs is an act of worship to our Creator.
Parenting through the Identity Milieu
John Friesen, CEO of Muskoka Bible Centre
We will consider some of the cultural pressures facing our young people around gender and identity and focus on how parents/grandparents can respond biblically and wisely in these days.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Matthew Lee Anderson
Assistant Professor of Ethics and Theology
Baylor University
Matthew Lee Anderson is an Assistant Professor of Ethics and Theology at Baylor University’s Honors Program. He is the author of a number of books, including Confidence in Life: A Barthian Account of Procreation and Called into Questions: Cultivating the Love of Learning in the Christian Life. He is the founder of Mere Orthodoxy and 100 Days of Dante. He holds a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. He lives with his wife in Waco, Texas, and in his spare time enjoys beating fourth-graders at basketball.
Paul Carter
Lead Pastor
Cornerstone Baptist Church
Paul is the happy husband of Shauna Lee and father to 5 children. He is a self-described “Bible Geek” and has a passion for helping people build their lives on the solid rock of Jesus and His Word. In his role as Lead Pastor at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Orillia, Ontario, he oversees the weekly worship as well as the overall ministry direction and content. He is blessed to provide guidance to an enormously talented and committed group of staff and volunteers. While his heart and passion is for the local church, he enjoys many opportunities to serve the wider Bride. He sits on the Executive Counsel for The Gospel Coalition where he is a regular author and blogger and is the host and Bible teacher for the Into The Word podcast and radio program. He also serves on the Advisory Committee for The Reformed House of Studies at Wycliffe College. You can connect with him through Facebook or on Twitter using @pastrpaulcarter. The Into The Word podcast is available on iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts.
Dr. Wayne Baxter
Professor of New Testament
Heritage College & Seminary
Dr. Wayne Baxter is Professor of New Testament and Greek at Heritage College & Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario. He earned his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, specializing in Early Christianity with a minor in Early Judaism. He received his Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Wayne has been serving at Heritage since 2012. Previously, he spent ten years in pastoral ministry, serving in Christian & Missionary Alliance churches in Windsor and Ottawa, and a CBOQ church in Mississauga. Wayne has also taught part-time at Wilfrid Laurier University, King’s University College (UWO), and McMaster University. He is married to Lucille and they have three sons, Ethan, Micah, and Jared.
Wayne is the author of six books, including Preparing Sermons from the Page to the Pulpit (Lexham, 2023), Growing Up to Get Along: Conflict and Unity in Philippians (Crosslink, 2016), We’ve Lost. What Now? Practical Counsel from the Book of Daniel (Wipf & Stock, 2015) and Israel’s Only Shepherd: Matthew’s Shepherd Motif and His Social Setting (T & T Clark, 2012).
BREAKOUT SESSION FACILITATORS
Betty-Anne Van Rees
Council Member
Biblical Counseling Coalition
Betty-Anne serves the local church in discipleship roles that include speaking, teaching, mentoring, counseling, and training biblical counselors. Fuelled by her passion to see the Canadian church convinced and equipped to care for souls through the living Word (both incarnate and inspired), Betty-Anne serves on the board of the Biblical Counseling Coalition and has worked together with a team of like-minded men and women to launch the Canadian BCC. The roles closest to Betty-Anne’s heart are being mom to Laura, Joshua and his wife Jenni, and grandma to Emma and Ethan.
John Friesen
CEO
Muskoka Bible Centre
John is keen to see families grow in resilience and being rooted in biblical faith in an era when family structure, function and relationships are increasingly difficult. Born into an Old Colony Mennonite community in Mexico has given John a unique heritage as he seeks to understand today’s cultural secularism and its impact on biblical faith. He has formal training from Tyndale (Ontario Bible College at the time), the University of Waterloo and Honeyrock Center for Leadership Development (Wheaton College).
John serves as the CEO of Muskoka Bible Centre (since 2009) and provides leadership to its vision of being a vital partner to the Church in growing, resilient, biblically rooted families. John also sits on various ministry boards and has spoken and taught at many conferences throughout Canada, the USA, and Latin America. He also recently chaired the 3-year, national research work that produced the Parenting Faith report (www.parentingfaith.ca). John regularly presents seminars and workshops on parenting and also understanding the state of mental health among youth and how this impacts our approach to growing youth into followers of Jesus Christ.
John enjoys life with his wife, Lisa and their six young adult children and one granddaughter!