Liberate 2008 conference details
Friday, August 1
2:00 p.m. // Registration/Check-in Begins
5:15 p.m. // Doors Open
5:30 p.m. // Pre-Session
6:00 p.m. // Session 1
10:00 p.m. // Session Closes
Saturday, August 2
8:15 a.m. // Doors Open
8:30 a.m. // Pre-Session
9:00 a.m. // Session 2
12:00 p.m. // Conference Closes
1:30 p.m. // Optional Outreach Opportunities
August 2 is "Faith Night"
At the Ballpark in Arlington, featuring Mercy Me in concert and a game between The Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Group Tickets Available
Concert & Game: $12.00
2 Leaders can get into the game free if tickets are purchased with SEC Registration. There is a limited number of tickets so register early.
Call SBTC Student Evangelism at 817.552.2500 for more info.
SEC Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Student Evangelism Conference (SEC)?
Student Evangelism Conference is an event that students, youth ministers, and youth workers can attend and be refreshed and revitalized to be the most effective warriors (witnesses) in the spheres of influence God has placed them in (school, work, teams, organizations, families, etc.) to advance the Kingdom.
Who can attend SEC?
Teenagers, college students, youth ministers, and youth workers are encouraged to attend SEC. SEC is also an event that participants can feel comfortable in bringing their non-believing friends to. Concert bands are inter-mingled with worship experiences and evangelistic preaching to help maximize interest and impact to the unbelieving teenage generation.
Where is SEC?
SEC 2009 will be hosted at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, TX. Click here for directions to the Convention Center. Due to construction of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, certain exits and roads may be closed. Please contact the Arlington Convention Center for more specific traffic updates.
When is SEC?
SEC begins at 6:00pm on Friday, August 1 and will conclude around 12:00pm on Saturday, August 2. Groups are encouraged to participate in community evangelism opportunities during Saturday afternoon. More information to come regarding these ministry opportunities.
Who is speaking at SEC?
Jay Lowder is a dynamic communicator who speaks truth with a passion and power that is riveting to audiences of all types. His engaging and contemporary style endows him with an uncanny ability to connect with adults and students alike. Motivated to reach the struggling masses, he travels the globe speaking in football stadiums, gymnasiums, civic centers, schools, churches and even under shade trees in Africa.
Jay has been featured on at least 15 major networks, including The Discovery Channel, ABC, Fox, ABC Family and TBN. In addition, he has many national radio shows to his credit. He has been profiled in countless newspaper and magazine articles including ESPN OUTDOORS, Baptist Press and SBC LIFE.
Although Jay was reared in a home where both parents were believers, his exposure did not lead to faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. Like many young people, Jay turned from God and sought contentment and peace in the destructive vices of which many students fall prey. He walked the broad road and faced his own destruction as he sat in his apartment with a pistol pointed to his temple. Much like the thousands of teens who daily attempt suicide, Jay reasoned that life was no longer worth living. The attempt came to a screeching halt when his roommate, who wasn’t supposed to be home for several hours, came walking through the door. Sensing that God had spared his life, Jay’s quest for the truth began. The search that had lasted for 21 years culminated several months later as Jay stumbled into a Sunday night crusade service where he received Christ as Savior. Three nights later at the Wednesday night youth event at the local coliseum, where over 1000 teens were in attendance, Jay witnessed several hundred teens respond to the call to accept Jesus Christ. During the invitation, Jay knew that God was calling him to spend the rest of his life preaching the truth that had transformed his own life.
Jay’s new God given vision for reaching the lost compelled him to start a witnessing team that would walk the streets of downtown Wichita Falls. Jay and his college classmates saw multitudes transformed through faith in Jesus. Pastors, youth directors, and others began inviting Jay to preach for their groups. A short time later, Jay launched into full time evangelism, traveling as an associate evangelist with several prominent evangelists. Crossing the nation, Jay spoke in church crusades, area wide crusades, evangelism conferences, youth camps and youth rallies. It was at this time that Jay’s nationally acclaimed school assembly, “Crossroads”, was developed and has been heard by over two million students. The 30-minute secular lecture drew explosive responses from students and parents alike. The program connected Jay into the vein of the youth culture as well as being a catalyst to reach thousands of “unchurched” young men and women. After several years of associate work, Jay felt called to launch his own ministry as “Jay Lowder Harvest Ministries, Inc.” With the support of his wife Melissa, whom he married in 1993, and three children, Lane-13, Kayley Faith-7 and Graham-3, their evangelistic ministry has continued to develop and grow. Since his call into evangelism, Jay has participated in over 250 crusades, rallies and conferences.
Jay and his family reside in Wichita Falls, Texas. They are members of the First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls.
Jose Zayas lives to see changed lives. Born and raised in New York City, Jose has witnessed the devastation that a life lived without Christ can bring.
Jose was seven when he gave his life to Jesus Christ, and he began preaching in his early teens. “There wasn’t a time in my life when I did not think that I would serve in ministry,” he says. “Even as a child, telling others about my relationship with Christ seemed natural. In high school I came to grips with God’s call on my life as an evangelist.”
Now Jose is sharing the Good News to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States and overseas through the ministry of Jose Zayas Evangelism International.
Jose is the former Director of Teen Evangelism for Focus on the Family, and before starting his own ministry, was on staff with the Luis Palau Association. “I’ve worked with Jose for over a decade,” Luis Palau says. “I’ve observed his passion for preaching the Gospel. And I have no doubt God is going to use him to help reach the next generation for Jesus Christ.”
Whether in the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa, or India, sharing the Gospel in a culturally relevant way is the heartbeat of Jose’s ministry. Using humor and everyday illustrations, he communicates the timeless truths of the Bible in today’s language.
“People today are hungry for something real,” he says. “Jesus Christ is the answer to our spiritual search. I’ve found that sharing my own story of how Jesus has made a difference in my life - and is changing the lives of others – can cut through the most hardened, skeptical heart. Young people especially want to know that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the best way to live.
Jose speaks at music festivals across the country: thousands have responded to the claims of Christ as he’s spoken at Spirit West Coast, Lifelight, Rock the Canyon, and others. He is a featured speaker for Promise Keepers stadium events, and for the Livin It Action Sports tour which showcases professional skateboarders, BMX and motocross riders. Jose is also part of the speaking team for Dare2Share student evangelism conferences.
Jose and his team also organize their own evangelistic music festivals. Most recently, 30,000 people attended their Central Washington Festival held in Wenatchee, WA. Thousands were trained in evangelism, and over 1,200 people made decisions to follow Jesus Christ.
Jose’s first book, AIRBORNE: Getting Your Faith Off the Ground (Tynsdale, 2005) describes the journey of faith with penetrating insights and powerful illustrations.
Who is leading worship at SEC?
SPUR58 started crisscrossing the United States, playing over 200-dates a year, to reach as many people as possible with the wake-up call. "We were just a group of guys who loved playing music together and ministering to others while doing it," remembers Ivey. "Eventually, however, when we decided to take our ministry on the road, we had to take 'being a band' more seriously. But the whole band thing was more a means to an end." Now after several years and a few hundred thousand miles on their van, SPUR58 releases their major label debut Sleepwalkers with Indelible Creative Group.
SPUR58 had their beginning in Houston, where Ivey was a youth pastor leading worship. "I was really passionate about music and speaking into people's lives in that way. Leading worship was my job, but I felt like I was supposed to share that outside just one church. The key was finding some guys who saw this with the same heart and passion."
The result of that search led Ivey right to his own student ministry, where he discovered guitarist Chad Martin. Martin, who was a student in Ivey's youth group, originally joined the band as bass player while finishing high school. Next Ivey recruited college friend and bass player Steven Bush, who shared the same heart for music, ministry and worship. Then, Bush suggested his roommate, guitarist Jimmie Ingram, to fill out the band's modern-rock sound.
n 2003, SPUR58 moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., just southeast of Nashville, not for its close proximity to the music scene but for the young adults they led in worship at their home church. "My mentor moved there to pastor a church," says Ivey. "He called to see if we'd be interested in leading a college Bible study, giving it direction. We felt that connecting in this way with a church and college ministry would be a great fit while still giving us the opportunity to continue to travel and lead worship." Drummer Guy Roberts lived in the Nashville area and joined SPUR58 in early 2006. Though impressed with his playing, it was his interaction offstage that convinced bandmates he fit. "We knew he was perfect for the band when we saw him interact with the students," recalls Martin.
"Music is a gateway to connect with people," says Bush. "If we take what we do behind the guitar or mic as our ministry, we're missing the point. That's only about 10 percent of this. When we come offstage, truly engaging with the audience and connecting with where they're at, that's the beauty of what we do." Music is a vehicle for SPUR58's objective, and their partnership with Indelible affords the band the opportunity to spread their message.
Looking for a label partner who shared the band's ministry vision, SPUR58 met with countless Nashville labels before finding the perfect fit in Indelible Creative Group. "We connected with Indelible because they're really artist-driven. They are all about creating remarkable experiences - which is one of the things we've tried to achieve with SPUR58. They didn't want to make us into something else; they believed we were already doing what God called us to do. Hearing that was key. It made this feel like a team, a partnership," says Ivey.
Aiming to create community among music fans, believers as well as non-believers, SPUR58 shares honest thoughts on worship through a powerful, melodic blend of guitars and piano. "Ready to Love" offers a commitment of worship and "The Wonderful" sings directly to God's majesty, while God's perspective pleads straight to the listener on "Calling You."
But the band's brand of worship goes beyond the song designed for corporate worship. "Our heart is leading worship. That's what we love to do and are passionate about, but that doesn't always mean getting people to sing along," Ivey says. "We believe that to lead someone to respond to God, you must show them all aspects of God and life. It's sometimes easy to instigate the worship thing and get everyone hyped up about how great God is, but sometimes we miss the truth that God is great and good even in pain and suffering."
Finding ways to break the mold around worship music, SPUR58 writes observant songs from the everyday. The album's title cut comes from Ivey's watching his friend Cody, a clinically diagnosed sleepwalker, get up one night sleepwalking, unaware of what he was doing. The idea hit Ivey that many believers live such a life.
SPUR58 wants to drive that idea home - life is about more than going through the motions; everyone's life has a purpose. The band offers Sleepwalkers as their hope that people will hear God's call, wake up and respond with worship through their own real life stories.
Who are the concert bands at SEC?
Leeland is a group of PK’s who hail from Baytown, Texas. The band's age-range is 19-24 years old, giving them an ability to speak to high school and college age listeners, not to mention adults of all associations interested in artful musical expressions and a spirit of revitalization. On Opposite Way, the gang builds upon the astute musical influences first addressed on 2006's Sound of Melodies, including Travis, Coldplay, David Gray and U2, while tapping into its original blend of dynamic ebbs and flows. Yet that complexity is merely the initial platform for a more involved message, which centers on witnessing to the world at large.
Following the release of Sound of Melodies, Leeland collected a 2007 GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album, not to mention four band Dove Award nominations (38th Annual) for categories as diverse as New Artist of the Year, Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Sound of Melodies"), Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (Sound of Melodies) and Praise and Worship Album of the Year (Sound of Melodies). Leeland and Jack received two additional Dove Award nominations each, as songwriters, in the Worship Song category for "Yes You Have," and the Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song category for "Sound of Melodies."
All the while, the band has toured incessantly across North America and even Japan, including a series of major festival appearances, headlining shows and opening for Casting Crowns on the entire Fall 2007 through Spring 2008 "The Altar and the Door" arena tour.
Hawk Nelson is a Canadian-based group of lead worshippers who have been playing together for a number of years. Since 2004, music lovers have enjoyed a real camaraderie with rising pop-rock band Hawk Nelson, helping the quartet sell nearly half a million albums, land personal appearances on major television and motion picture projects, and gain high-profile song placement ("Bring 'Em Out") with NBC's NFL Sunday Night Football campaign. Hawk has been one of the most popular festival Christian artists.
Is there anyone else performing at SEC?
Jared Hall, the Texas-born Illusionist, is no newcomer in any since of the word. He started doing illusions at the age of ten and by the time he was in High School he had become known around town as the magic guy. “I would do tricks everywhere I went. I realized that I could get most anyone’s attention with what I was doing, because they could not explain it,” says Jared. God called Jared to ministry while he was a student in high school in Baytown, Texas. While in school, he began using illusions, comedy, and even mind-blowing stunts to capture the attention of students and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
Jared's opportunities to share his faith through his illusions increased while he attended college; and presently, he is traveling full-time performing over 150 shows a year. The illusions that Jared performs don't just entertain and capture the attention of audiences, but are great tools to illustrate the message of the Gospel as well. With his ability to captivate the attention of the audience quickly through humor and exciting illusions, Jared appeals to all ages, denominations, and types of people that attend his shows. Those who would normally never set foot inside the church are attracted and interested in an "entertaining magic show." That is what Jared's ministry is all about. Not only is his performance enjoyable and entertaining, it's also evangelistic. This is what makes his ministry unique and effective. This past year, God has opened many doors and has given Jared the opportunity to share his presentation with over 160,000 people.
Jared Hall will keep you on the edge of your seat, unable to look away as he makes audience members float, performs a strait jacket escape, or simply finds your chosen card. There was a time in his life that doing illusions got Jared into detention. Now it gets him into places where otherwise the truth of God might not be taken. Jared uses illusions and comedy to present the gospel in relevant, engaging ways. Traveling extensively across the nation, Jared does shows for many conferences, festivals, outreach events, youth camps, and upward award nights. He has shared the stage with many artist including Jeremy Camp, David Crowder Band, Steven Curtis Chapman, Shane and Shane, Bebo Norman, Building 429, Superchic, Family Force Five, GRITS, Pillar, John Reuben and Leeland.
Jared's message is clear and effective. He has seen thousands of lives touched by God through his ministry. Jared's prayer is that you would partner with his ministry so that many more lost people can hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.
What is Faith Night at the Ballpark?
Each year, the Texas Rangers host a faith concert series. This year, the second installment of the faith concert series falls on the evening of August 2, 2008. Mercy Me will be the featured artist. For more information on Faith Night at the Ballpark click here.
I heard that if I purchase SEC tickets with Faith Night at the Ballpark that I will get two (2) adult tickets free. Is this correct?
Yes! When you purchase SEC tickets with the Faith Night at the Ballpark option, you will receive two (2) adult tickets free. You will pick up your Faith Night tickets at the SEC registration area. When you pick up your tickets, you will also receive a $24 refund.
How much does SEC cost?
There are various price breaks for SEC. This year we have secured a block of tickets to Faith Night at the Ballpark. Click here (link to Faith Night FAQ) for more information on Faith Night at the Ballpark. Due to the Faith Night purchase option, we have two price groupings list below:
SEC Only:
Before July 18...$18
After July 18...$22
At the door...$25
SEC w/ Faith Night:
Before July 18...$30
After July 18...$34
Not Available
Where can I register for SEC?
You can register for SEC online at www.planetstudents.org/sec or click here. Registration for SEC is allowed at the door of the event, but we strongly encourage groups to register online.
What area hotels can accommodate our group?
There are a number of hotels near the Arlington Convention Center that would be more than happy to accommodate your group. Click here for more information on these hotels.
Is food provided at SEC?
Food will not be provided at SEC. The Arlington Convention Center, however, will sell concessions at the event. There are also a number of eateries near the Convention Center. Click here for more information on area restaurants.
Will merchandise be sold at SEC?
Yes, there will be a number of opportunities for your group to purchase merchandise. We will be selling tshirts and other items in addition to the merchandise at each artist booth. Merchandise will likely sell for $10 and up.
When will the artists be performing?
Leeland will be performing on Friday night. Hawk Nelson will be performing on Saturday morning. SPUR58 will be leading worship both Friday and Saturday. Jared Hall will also be performing on Friday and Saturday.
Will refunds be given for tickets purchased?
Refunds will not be given for any reason. You may resell your tickets to another group for the same price that the tickets were purchased at.