Rankin Wilbourne
Keynote Speaker
Rankin began his career in corporate banking for a Fortune 500 company, but after five years transitioned into pastoral ministry. He has served in churches on the East Coast, West Coast, the South and Midwest – currently serving as Pastor of Discipleship at City Church, a gospel-centered church plant in Evansville, Indiana.
More About Rankin
He’s worked in small churches and large churches, church plants and churches more than a hundred years old, each at various stages of growth, so he’s familiar with some of the challenges church leaders can face in varying contexts. He’s the author of Union with Christ and the co-author of The Cross Before Me, both award-winning and both concerned with bringing pastoral theology into the life and heartbeat of the local church.
As the beneficiary of hundreds of hours of professional counseling and mentoring, he’s particularly concerned with emotionally healthy spirituality and holistic discipleship, the kind that targets the heart, soul, and affections, and not just the mind. He’s currently working on a project devising a vision for discipleship that can be used in local churches.
Rankin and his wife and three kids now live in a hundred-year-old farmhouse on the outskirts of town, far removed from their previous home in the middle of Los Angeles. He enjoys coaching his children’s sports teams, running, fishing with his kids, and doing life with his best friend, his wife.
Forgiveness, Justice and Sowing Peace
There’s a lot of conversation today about justice and the need for peacemakers. In other quarters there’s a lot of talk about emotionally healthy spirituality. Where do these seemingly unrelated conversations overlap? Christian peacemaking begins with forgiveness. Pursuing justice without a heart of forgiveness will not lead to peace. Likewise, the crucible for emotional health is found in the ability to forgive, as the Bible says, from the heart. Forgiveness is the unique gift that followers of Jesus have to offer to the world today. And yet, far too often forgiveness is bypassed or only given lip-service. Forgiveness may be mentioned, or taken for granted, but many Christians seem to have forgotten what it entails. This talk will be in two parts (one of which is the Sunday sermon), covering what forgiveness is not, what it is, and how we can become forgiving men and women, peacemakers who love justice and sow in peace and make peace.
Keynote
Forgiveness, Justice and Sowing Peace
There’s a lot of conversation today about justice and the need for peacemakers. In other quarters there’s a lot of talk about emotionally healthy spirituality. Where do these seemingly unrelated conversations overlap? Christian peacemaking begins with forgiveness. Pursuing justice without a heart of forgiveness will not lead to peace. Likewise, the crucible for emotional health is found in the ability to forgive, as the Bible says, from the heart. Forgiveness is the unique gift that followers of Jesus have to offer to the world today. And yet, far too often forgiveness is bypassed or only given lip-service. Forgiveness may be mentioned, or taken for granted, but many Christians seem to have forgotten what it entails. This talk will be in two parts (one of which is the Sunday sermon), covering what forgiveness is not, what it is, and how we can become forgiving men and women, peacemakers who love justice and sow in peace and make peace.