Contend Conference 2025: Equipping Christians to Stand Firm Against Cultural Drift

By Tom Campisi

Over the past decade, Pastor Bob Erbig and the staff at Millington Baptist Church have felt a growing urgency to equip their congregation to stand firm amidst a cultural shift away from an orthodox Christian worldview. What began as small group, underground sessions addressing the intersection of faith, culture, and politics has evolved into an annual weekend conference.

From January 31 through February 2, 2025, Millington Baptist Church will host its second “CONTEND” Conference. The theme for this year’s conference is “Resisting the Drift,” based on Hebrews 2:1, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Erbig said that the purpose of the conference is to give Christians tools to be more discerning, especially in recognizing cultural narratives that have seeped into the Church.

“We live in an image-driven culture…but the downside is that we’ve just taken images without really critically evaluating them,” he said. “When you read a book or watch a movie, you can take in a message and not even think about it. Then you start to think, ‘Well, that’s true.’”

The Contend Conference features a lineup of acclaimed speakers who focus on cultural issues, including Elisa Childers, Neil Shenvi, and Jason Thacker.

Alisa Childers is a Christian apologist who is passionate about defending the faith. A former member of the Christian band ZOEgirl, Childers seeks to equip believers to navigate modern challenges to biblical truth. She hosts a popular podcast and is the author of Another Gospel, A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity.

Neil Shenvi is a Christian apologist and author specializing in cultural analysis and biblical worldview. With a PhD in theoretical chemistry from UC Berkeley and an undergraduate degree from Princeton, he applies critical thinking to address contemporary issues like critical theory and secular ideologies. Shenvi’s books include Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity, and Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology―Implications for the Church and Society.

Jason Thacker serves as an assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at Boyce College and Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a senior fellow in bioethics and director of the research institute at The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the author of several books, including Following Jesus in the Digital Age and The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity.

Keynote sessions include:

Progressive Christianity: A Biblical Response to a Growing Movement (Alisa Childers), Friday, 7:35 pm.

Parenting and Social Media (Jason Thacker), Saturday, 9:35 am.

Live Your Truth (Alisa Childers), Saturday 11:15 am.

Critical Theory and Social Justice Ideology, (Neil Shenvi), Saturday, 5 pm.

The Contend Conference features worship, a Saturday night Q&A time with the speakers, and a wide range of breakout sessions: A Street Level Guide To The Morality Debate (Steve DiSebastian), Addressing The Realities of Sex Trafficking (Adrienne Livingston), Sharing The Gospel Across Cultural Boundaries (Dr. Alfonse Javed), Teens Track (Andy Imbimbo), and a Saturday morning kids program.

Pastor Erbig and conference coordinators are hoping this event will ground attendees in the truth of the gospel. He used a statistic from Natasha Crain’s book, Faithfully Different, to highlights the need for better biblical engagement. In her book, Crane noted that among those who identify as evangelical, Bible-believing Christians in the U.S., only 6% have a comprehensive, robust biblical worldview. This indicates that while many claim a Christian identity, only a small fraction align their lives and beliefs consistently with Scripture.

“We want to help conference attendees discern the cultural lies that are out there, and be able to have conversations with people they disagree with that point people to Christ,” Erbig said.

For more information or to register for the Contend Conference, click here.