Lead pastor at Gateway Community Church, John Burke and his congregation are dedicated to helping unchurched people become a unified community of growing Christ-followers, no matter what their background or past. He is the author of the book No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come-as-You-Are Culture and also author of the book, Soul Revolution, which will be released at the Summit. Burke is the founder and president of the Emerging Leadership Initiative, a collaboration of progressive, like-minded churches partnering together to provide the foundation for a church planting movement aimed at reaching postmodern America.
“I believe it's time for Christian leaders to gather up courage and plunge into the swirling mess of the cultural flow.”

Senior Pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church, Efrem Smith serves close to 1,000 people with the vision to be an urban, multi-ethnic, relevant, holistic, and Christ-centered community. He is an internationally recognized leader, speaker, and consultant on diversity and multi-ethnic issues. Smith has held leadership positions in both church and parachurch organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of America and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Hip Hop Church.
“For the Church to bring the gospel into our postmodern world, we must wrestle not only with our culture, but also its subcultures of hip-hop and multiculturalism.”

The primary job of spiritual leaders is to create environments where God can cause spiritual growth. In this session, John Burke, senior pastor of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, describes three essential elements of environments that help people find God. Then, Efrem Smith describes the need for leaders who can navigate our multicultural world and shares biblical guidance for becoming a leader who loves across barriers of all kinds.