Prayer Culture
This workshop calls the Church back to the true cost of prayer by confronting a casual, convenient approach to the presence of God. It reveals how God is drawn to lives marked by consecration, hunger, and fire. Jesus did not begin in comfort or crowds, but in the wilderness, where someone was already burning. This session will call participants out of casual belief and into lives that burn before God, both personally and corporately.
About the Speaker
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Building A Presence-Driven Culture through Prayer with John MacDonald
Description: Our world is desperate for more than talented preachers or worship teams - the lost must encounter His Presence. In this session, discover how shifting from human strategy to spirit-led dependence transforms leadership, shapes church culture, and creates environments where people genuinely encounter God. Through biblical principles and practical lessons from real-life ministry experience, this session will equip you to cultivate a presence-driven ministry built on prayer.
About the Speaker
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About the Speaker
Pastor John MacDonald has been in ministry 27 years, spending the last 9 years as the Lead Pastor of The Woods Church. He and his wife Holly, have two amazing boys, Maddox (16) and Hudson (18). John's heart is to raise up presence-driven, life-giving, and Spirit-empowered churches and leaders, through establishing a powerful prayer culture.
The Cost of Prayer: Creating & Stewarding A Culture Burns For The Presence of God with Michael Perkins
This workshop calls the Church back to the true cost of prayer by confronting a casual, convenient approach to the presence of God. It reveals how God is drawn to lives marked by consecration, hunger, and fire. Jesus did not begin in comfort or crowds, but in the wilderness, where someone was already burning. This session will call participants out of casual belief and into lives that burn before God, both personally and corporately.
About the Speaker
Michael D. Perkins is a pastor, revivalist, and church planter with over 18 years of ministry experience across the United States. He currently serves as Lead Pastor of Oakland Church of the Nazarene in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Michael is the author of Formed by His Presence, a devotional calling believers back to intimacy with God through repentance, alignment, and abiding. He carries a strong emphasis on prayer, holiness, and the priority of God’s presence, equipping individuals and churches to pursue lives marked by obedience and consecration. He holds a Master of Arts in Pastoral Leadership and is pursuing a Master of Divinity through Olivet Nazarene University, and he travels to preach and minister at conferences, churches, and gatherings.
From Man-Made to Spirit-Empowered: The Overflow Origin Story with Jon Nicholas & Jess Ciaramitaro
What happens when a church is busy doing things for Jesus, but missing time with Him? Through this powerful before-and-after testimony of The Woods Church, we’ll explore what it looks like to build a ministry-and a life-where everything overflows from prayer. You'll walk away with practical ideas on how to infuse prayer into your personal life, staff culture, volunteer teams, and the church calendar.
About the Speakers
An ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, Jon spent two decades at The Woods Church as Worship & Creative Pastor, Director of the School of Leadership, and Founder of the Overflow Conference. Pastor Jon now serves as the Executive Director of Enrollment at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and is the founder of Presence Driven Leadership Solutions, LLC- a leadership development and consulting organization focused on helping leaders build healthy teams and cultures while leading with clarity, character, and spiritual depth. Jon and his wife Rachel live in Mount Vernon, Ohio, with their four children and enjoy music, sports, and exploring clear water around the world.
Jess serves as the Creative Director at The Woods Church and Conference Director of Overflow. Part strategist, part storyteller, she loves taking the Lead Pastor’s vision and bringing it to life. With a background in creative writing, video production, project management, and mass communication strategy, she’s quick to say that her most valuable training has happened in the prayer room. Having seen the highs and lows of The Woods Church over 37 years, she’s learned the difference between executing “good ideas” and God’s ideas, and is never going back.