Preaching in an Age of Contempt
2026 Conference Presenters
Rev. Dr. William Willimon
Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook
Rev. Dr. Melanie Jones Quarles
Rev. Ian Cummins
The Challenge Before the Church
Clergy and ministry leaders serve at the intersection of these pressures every week — guiding congregations that are themselves navigating grief, fracture, and uncertainty. The church needs spaces where its preachers can be renewed, challenged, and reminded toward what they were called.
Our Conference's Commitments
Gospel Proclamation
Centering the good news of Jesus Christ as the church's communal and public witness. Participants encounter strong models of preaching and are challenged to deepen their own proclamatory craft.
Community Formation
Courageous Witness
Equipping participants to engage honestly and faithfully with the current cultural moment — not withdrawing from complexity but proclaiming into it with clarity and grace.
Contextual Imagination
Developing the homiletical vision to read culture, place, and congregation with theological depth. Participants learn to preach from and into their specific context, resisting one-size-fits-all approaches in favor of proclamation that is locally rooted and universally grounded.
About the Iliff School of Theology
This conference is a natural extension of that mission —bringing together preachers, worship leaders, and community organizers to deepen their practice and renew their callings in an era that demands nothing less than courageous faithfulness.The Gospel has never been proclaimed in a hospitable world. It has always required courage.
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