keynote Speakers
Treading the Heights: Spiritual Renewal for God’s People
Day 1 - Inspirational Keynote
Read the very last verse in the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk 3:19, and then watch this YouTube video (LINK). First, you’ll hear about Habakkuk’s source of strength (God) and how God makes his feet like the feet of a deer. Next, in the video you’ll see and experience just what deer feet are like. In many ways the video is a run-of-the-mill nature creation video. Of course, it has an English narrator with the perfect accent. The narrator tells the story of the ibex. The ibex needs to climb up a dam that is sheer. The drone shots in the video make it look terrifying. The ibex must, with its cloven hooves, climb up hundreds of feet to lick salt. They start at the bottom – a mother ibex and her young fawn. The fawn shakes and nearly falls, but they keep climbing. One misstep and they will plunge to their death, but they never do take a bad step. They climb – all the way up – and peacefully lick the salt. An amazing feat to say the least! That’s where Habakkuk eventually arrives. He becomes like the ibex in life. He learns not to look down, but up. He’s got deer feet at the end of the book.
At the beginning of his book, Habakkuk doesn’t have deer feet. He’s really more of a kind of spiritual carp, bottom feeding in a sense. Habakkuk begins his book with just enough hope and faith to offer a ragged prayer. That’s really all that he can manage in the moment, but Habakkuk doesn’t stay there. God moves him and transforms him. Habakkuk’s circumstances don’t change. Arguably, they worsen, but spiritually Habakkuk is changed until he’s the ibex. The power in the book of Habakkuk, the great mystery, is how God does it.
During the first part of the day, Dr. Bourman will become the pastor that he is, leading you from wherever you may be spiritually to the places where only deer feet can carry you.
Timothy C. Bourman (D.Min, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO) has spent his entire ministry serving as pastor of Sure Foundation Lutheran Church in New York City. He received his doctorate after completing work on his doctoral research under the title “Deep as the Sea: A Lutheran Devotional Bringing Gospel to Trauma.” His research now sets the standard for research for the Doctor of Ministry degree at Concordia, St. Louis. He hosts a popular podcast with his twin brother, Jonathan, called The Notable Podcast, a podcast about making notes in the margins of your Bible. He is author of “Deep As the Sea: Letters to Survivors of Trauma” (NPH), contributor to “Here We Stand” (Wipf and Stock), and “Wisdom and Folly: People’s Bible Devotions” (NPH).
Help for Close Encounters You might have In Conversations about The end times
Day 2 - Educational Keynote
American Christianity is troubled by a bewildering mishmash of teachings on the End Times. In two presentations, Professor Emeritus Nass will zero in on the two main issues that are involved in sorting out the Bible doctrine over against modern errors.
Thomas Nass grew up in Jefferson, WI, and he graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1982. For ten years he was a parish pastor, serving in North Mankato, MN, and Milwaukee, WI, and from 1995-2025 he taught Hebrew at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN. He has been privileged to serve WELS in inter-church relations for many years, and he currently is the president of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). He is the author of “The End Times” (NPH, 2011), and “Joel” (Concordia Commentary, 2023). He and his wife Janice have been blessed with four children and fourteen grandchildren.