Pat Scheffler, left, an associate professor of education at Grove City College, talks about the 2020 Vision Discipleship Conference with GCC student Julia Calabrese. The event will be Saturday at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Butler.

This Saturday, Pat Scheffler, the 2020 Vision Discipleship Conference director, will get to experience the fruits of her labor in organizing the national 2020 Vision Discipleship Conference, held at Butler's Westminster Presbyterian Church.

The conference which was in South Carolina last month and will soon travel to Maryland and Mississippi, is rooted in its vision for the future and its training of leaders.

“We saw a need for training for some of our ministry leaders and contacted one of the speakers, Sue Jakes, about coming to Butler to help us. She responded with the offer and request to serve as a regional site for the 2020 Vision Conference,” said Walt Coppersmith, executive pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

The church accepted and asked Scheffler to take the reins.

“As director, my role was to recruit 2020 Vision Conference Task Force members to organize and plan for all the logistics involved in hosting a national conference,” said Scheffler who is on the discipleship team at Westminster.

An associate professor of education at Grove City College, Scheffler values training leaders. “Naturally, as an educator I desire to see those in my church well equipped to model committed discipleship and if they are in leadership to align their content and pedagogy to biblical standards and best practice,” she said.

She has encouraged her college students to attend the training.

“As an educator and youth leader, I feel that attending the conference will give me valuable information on how to best reach my students,” said student Julia Calabrese, who is registered for the event.

Scheffler also was charged with the task of communicating the conference goals to the congregation. “We wanted to encourage each member as to how they can benefit from the workshops and keynote speakers who will articulate what it means to be a kingdom disciple. That is one who has a heart that loves King Jesus, a mind that thinks like King Jesus renewed and transformed to reflect God's will, and has a life that follows King Jesus,” Schreffler said.

“The 2020 Vision Conference is about thinking about where we want our families and churches to be spiritually in the year 2020 and beyond, and taking the first steps of being prepared to do ministry in the changing cultural context in America,” Coppersmith said.

The conference grew out of the shared desire to encourage lay people in ministry in response to national research suggesting only 4 percent of the rising generation in America will naturally find themselves a part of the church in the coming decade.

Coppersmith saw this as an opportunity to bring a level of lay ministry training to Butler typically found only in larger metropolitan areas. “The conference also will bring together people who have a common vision to make a difference spiritually in Butler, irrespective of the church to which they belong,” he added.

Keynote speakers Susan Jakes is from Atlanta and Charles Dunahoo hails from Alabama. Both are involved in the Christian Education Arm of the Presbyterian Church of America.

Workshops deal with everything from raising teens, meeting the requirements of special-needs children, creating a Christian home, to modeling biblical manhood and how to teach life-changing Bible lessons.

“This conference is designed for ordinary people who want to know more about the rising generation in America, and how to connect with them as well as influence them spiritually,” said Coppersmith. Several classes also target those in teaching and leadership positions in the church.

Those interested can register by calling the church office at 724-283-4204, or registering before 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the door.

<B>SATURDAY</B><B>8:15-8:45 a.m. </B>Registration<B>8:45-9:30 a.m.</B> Opening Session: Your Church's Kingdom Vision for Discipleship — Charles Dunahoo<B>9:40-10:40 a.m.</B> Workshops<B>10:40-11:10 a.m. </B>Discussion forum in workshop groups<B>11:20 a.m.-Noon </B>Panel of workshop leaders (3 to 5 minute reports from each workshop with questions from large group)<B>Noon-12:45 p.m.</B> Lunch1<B>2:45-1:45 p.m.</B> Workshops<B>1:45-2:15 p.m.</B> Discussion forums in workshop groups<B>2:15-2:45 p.m. </B>Reports from discussion forums“Final Challenge of the Day” – Sue Jakes