Seminars, Workshops & Think Tanks
The Rephidim Project is a collaborative effort to bring expository preaching resources and training to pastors, church leaders, and those who have a call to preach. We train expository preachers by providing tools, resources, encouragement, and teaching. We lead seminars, workshops, and think tanks to train preachers to be more effective expositors of God’s Word.
Seminars
Seminars are one-day events that can be either a good jump start on preaching for those with limited training or a refresher for those who have previously studied homiletics in the classroom. Our foundational seminars are:
- Transformational Preaching: Growing Christlike Believers Through Expository Preaching
- Back to the Basics: The SAFNS Funnel
- Pastoral Preaching: Shepherding a People for God in a Place on Earth
Rephidim staff also teach seminars on various other topics related to preaching. If you would like more information on hosting or attending a seminar, please email The Rephidim Project at info@rephidimproject.org, and we will work with you to implement and promote the seminar.
Workshops
The Cecil B. Day Foundation began the EPI-Center in 2015 to train preachers in New England. They trained over 450 pastors through ministries like Cross Talk Global with Kent Edwards and the Stephen Olford Center. The EPI-Center merged with the Rephidim Project in September 2018 to continue the mission of training preachers in the Northeastern United States. Since then, we have expanded the ministry geographically while retaining the goal of training expository preachers through intensive multi-day workshops.
Workshops are two or three-day events in which we collaborate with world-class ministries for premier instruction. We partner with established preaching organizations to provide excellent instruction by experienced practitioners. We are currently working with The Charles Simeon Trust to bring their excellent training in expository preaching to southern Maine. These three-day workshops are excellent opportunities to hone your skills in preaching. We encourage pastors in other locations to attend one of their training sessions whenever possible.
Think Tanks
Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was a leading evangelical preacher in England and curate of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge for 53 years. Every Friday evening for many years, he led what some have called “conversation circles” for pastors and students in his apartment on the campus of King’s College. These “tea parties” were practical discussions of various theological and pastoral topics of interest to men preparing for or in ministry. Simeon once said about these private conversation circles, “with congenial minds, and when the circle is five or six, we can be deeply solemn, and enter as it were, within the veil; but not so with all, nor with a circle of many persons” (H.C.G. Moule, Charles Simeon, 227).
We have adapted Simeon’s conversation circles into Preaching Think Tanks. Think Tanks are gatherings of up to twelve preachers for spiritual refreshment and personal growth. The number is limited to encourage deeper and more insightful conversations among the preachers in a collegial atmosphere. Each Think Tank aims to refill the wells, rekindle the passions, and replenish the spirits of the pastors who participate.
Preaching Think Tanks are approximately six hours in length, including a fellowship lunch, and led by a Rephidim Project facilitator. Some aspect of expository preaching, announced in advance, will be the focus of each Think Tank. The facilitator initiates the conversation by explaining the day’s topic and giving some instructions about that topic. The conversations revolve around the preaching topic as the participants share insights and observations designed to help each other become better expositors of God’s Word. A brief message from God’s Word and a time of prayer for each other conclude the day.
