Annual Conference

-- Download the conference brochure here --

Location: First EFC

                4220 Monterey Oaks Bllvd.

                Austin, TX 78749

Registration details and more info...

Presenter Profiles

Dr. Larry Osborne

Larry Osborne is a Senior Pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, California; widely recognized as one of the most innovative and influential churches in America. Leaders in the multisite movement, North Coast pioneered the use of Video Venues in 1998. For over 25 years they’ve maintained a small group involvement equal to 80 percent of their weekend attendance (now over 8,000). Their commitment to the community produces an average of over 2 service projects per day. North Coast’s Weekend of Service events provide the community with over $1,500,000 of goods over a 48 hour weekend.

Larry speaks, writes, and consults with ministry and business leaders nationally. His books include: Sticky Church, Sticky Teams, 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, Spirituality for the Rest of Us, and The Unity Factor. He holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Talbot Theological Seminary. Larry and his wife, Nancy, have 3 adult children.

Dr. Bill Hamel

The oldest of four children, Bill was born in Marquette, MI, raised in northern Wisconsin, and graduated from high school in Stanley, WI. He is a graduate of Wheaton College and has his M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In 1998, Bill received honorary doctorates of divinity from both Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity Western University.

Bill was Senior Pastor at West Bloomington EFC (now CrossPoint Church) for over thirteen years and was Midwest District Superintendent for nearly five years before coming to the EFCA national office. His first position there was Executive Vice President, and he was elected President in 1997.

Bill and his wife Karen have been married since 1968. They have two married daughters, Krista (David Masterson) and Kari (Eric Berglund). They are also the proud grandparents of five grandchildren. A lifelong football enthusiast, Bill is the office's most avid Green Bay Packer fan.

Danté and Bev Upshaw

Danté, his wife Beverly, and their three children live in North Minneapolis in the Hawthorne community and attend New Hope Church, formally Crystal EFC.  The Upshaws live out their calling as "Urban Ambassadors" with a heart to love and serve the poor and oppressed through Biblical reconciliation and community development.

Since 2004 Danté has served with the EFCA as the national director of African-American Ministries.  His mission with the Free Church is to be a bridge-builder between existing and emerging black leaders and the EFCA movement.

Chris Holck

Rev. Chris Holck served three Ev. Free Churches from 1986-2008. His interest in older adult ministry was sparked while serving in his last church which was located in a resort area and had a high percentage of older adults. In 2008, he conducted a sabbatical study for the Evangelical Free Church of America. Out of that study, a new ministry has been birthed called EFCA Encore which exists to reach, connect and unleash older adults for the cause of Christ.

Chris serves as the Director of EFCA Encore and has also started his own organization called Encore Generation Inc. which seeks to assist Christian organizations in understanding and reaching the next generation of older adults. He and his wife recently relocated to central Florida where they are planting a new Ev Free Church at The Villages, a large active adult community. Their goal is to create a new model of ministry that can be transferred to other areas with high populations of older adults.

Chris and Kathy have been married for 33 years and have three children. They were recently blessed with their first granddaughter. Their permanent home is in Okoboji, Iowa, which is nestled in a cluster of lakes in the middle of the Iowa/Southern Minnesota cornfields. They enjoy travel, tennis, friends, dining out, coffee and walks along the lake.

Philip Abode

Pastor Philip Abode and his wife, Rondalyn, have been passionate about helping people grow in their relationship with the Lord since the time they both came to know Him in college at the University of Tulsa. Shortly after graduation, Philip and Rondalyn joined Marshall and Ashanti Gordon in Dallas, TX to attend Dallas Theological Seminary in preparation to help start Crossover Bible Church.

After completing a Masters in Christian Education, Philip and Rondalyn relocated back to Tulsa in the summer of 2005 to start the work that God had called them to. The Abodeʼs have been a part of the Crossover family since day one. Philip assumed the role of lead pastor in April 2009 and has been humbled and amazed by Godʼs grace and faithfulness during his time as lead pastor of Crossover. The Abodes count it all joy to be able to labor in Christʼs church and be used by Him to encourage and build up His people.

Dave Rofkahr

Dave Rofkahr has a tremendous background in grass roots campus ministry, cross-cultural church planting (in Asia for thirteen years), BAM--Business as Mission strategy, training, and leadership. He has a Masters of Theology with an emphasis in church planting from Dallas Theological Seminary. From 1984-1990, he served on staff with Student Mobilization at the University of Arkansas and the University of Central Arkansas. He has also served as a Youth Pastor and Senior Pastor for churches in the US and Asia. He most recently served as the International Director for all of Asia for EFCA ReachGlobal and now serves as its US Director of Recruiting.

Dave is married with three children and now makes his home in Woodbury, Minnesota. He hopes to bring glory to God by using the talents and opportunities God has entrusted to him to strategically multiply healthy leaders and churches among all people.

Steve Johnson

Steve's expertise includes capital campaigns, vision building and strategic planning. He has a personal vision for creating an environment in which ministries can excel. Steve uses his gifts and talents to help churches create such an environment by focusing on 1) vision building and strategic planning and 2) fund raising to provide needed financial resources for ministries.

Joining Ministry Campaign Services in 1997 and serving as its first director, Steve has nearly 28 years of fund raising experience and brings to his position an understanding of the funding process, long involvement in leadership positions in the local church, and an understanding of what God is doing in and through the evangelical church today.

Steve is a member of Five Oaks Evangelical Free Church, in Woodbury, MN where he attends with his wife Deb.

Sean Matthew O'Brien

Sean is the owner of Vidage LLC which provides creative media services to non-profit and for profit businesses and organizations that reside in the continental U.S. Their specialty includes website design in the content management system space (specializing in Joomla! CMS). Sean founded Vidage in 2008 to manage freelance website design contracts. Since that time Sean has worked with many companies and ministries to help them leverage web technologies like social media to facilitate growth.

Sean is currently serving the EFCA Texas - Oklahoma district as an intern and church planter in residence. He is also attending Dallas Theological Seminary with plans to graduate in May of 2013. After graduation, Sean will be planting with the EFCA.

Prior to relocating to Dallas for seminary, Sean was entrepreneurially involved with several technology start-up companies in the Metro Milwaukee area. Through these experiences he has learned how to properly leverage social media to appropriate viral growth.

Sean resides in Garland, Texas with his wife Krysta and their 6 children.

EFCA Start Churches