5-7 May 2023 Sydney, Australia

Digital Discipleship
Conference 2023

5-7 May 2023 | Sydney, Australia

Learn how to share JESUS using digital media.

What is Digital Discipleship?

Digital discipleship refers to the use of digital tools to help people become part of a movement through which Jesus intends to change the world and prepare people for His coming Kingdom. Our goal is to make disciples and inspire people to grow in discipleship. We create digital content, run programs and build communities to inspire, equip and educate church members to be effective in reaching people with the teachings of Jesus, and to help them grow in their faith.

Digital Discipleship is a ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific Division. We welcome Digital Disciples from all over the world to join the Digital Discipleship Conference in Sydney during May 2023.

Keynote Speakers

An unparalleled lineup of digital evangelists from across the globe have come to share their secrets in digital evangelism.

Justin Khoe

Justin Khoe

Justin Khoe is a digital missionary. He has over ten years of preaching, literature evangelism, and teaching experience under his belt, Justin’s current focus is to leverage social media to help reach the unchurched.

He is the founder of the Empty Pews to a Million Views challenge, which is a a 90 Day Coaching Program to help churches & pastors reach their first million people with the gospel through social media. He also operates the Digital Missionary Academy with quarterly intake of students to train them how to be effective in sharing their faith online.

He has thousands of followers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms. He has proven that the principles of what he teaches work, he generates thousands of engagements with people talking about Jesus and hundreds of requests for Bible studies each month from the online content he creates.

Heather Thompson Day
via Zoom

Heather Thompson Day

Dr. Heather Thompson Day is an interdenominational speaker, an ECPA bestseller, and has been a contributor for Christianity Today and Newsweek. She is also the host of Viral Jesus, a new podcast with Christianity Today that already has over 150k downloads.

Heather is an Associate Professor of Communication at Andrews University. She is passionate about supporting women, and runs an online community called I’m That Wife which has over 270k followers.

Colby Maier

Colby Maier

Colby Maier is a pastor and speaker based out of Portland, OR. He helps people discover who God created them to be.

He pastors a new church in the city called Bloom, where we empower others to walk in their God-given calling and practice the way of Jesus together!

He earned a Master of Arts in New Testament Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology & Biblical Languages from Andrews University. He is currently developing PhD proposals on congenital disability within the corpus of Johannine literature in the New Testament.

His life’s passion centers around being with Jesus, learning new things about Jesus and sharing Jesus with others.

Tim Gillespie

Tim Gillespie

Dr. Timothy Gillespie, DMin. is lead pastor of Crosswalk Church at the Redlands, CA campus, and lead pastor of the Crosswalk Network of Churches. He earned a doctorate in Semiotics and Future Studies from George Fox University. He's an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific and La Sierra University.

He’s done TedX talks, been published in many compilations and authored a book with his father, Dr. V. Bailey Gillespie entitled “Love Them and They Will Come”, focusing on the importance of young adult retention and engagement.

He’s married to Sara Gillespie, creative director of The ONE Project and a designer. They have three amazing children — Hannah, Jacob, and Isaac.

Dave Adamson

Dave Adamson

Dave has grown and led online communities of more than 80,000 people each week.

He has worked with churches and ministries around the world as a social media and digital ministry consultant, helping them develop strategies for online ministry, social media and YouTube.

Now, as the Orange Director for Australia and New Zealand, he partners with 200+ churches in Australian and NZ, connect lead and senior pastors with reThink Leadership, works with North Point Partner churches in Australia, and creates online and digital strategies and masterclasses for 10,000+ churches around the world.

Melody Tan

Melody Tan

Melody has over ten years’ experience in writing, editing, web management, publishing and consulting, spanning four countries: Australia, Singapore, USA and England (both remotely and on location). Her background is in news and feature-writing. She also has a few years of experience in public relations and so is familiar with hunting, writing and producing content that is valuable, attractive and relevant to different audiences.

In 2013, she graduated from the University of Sydney with a Master of Publishing and in 2014, she became an Accredited Editor with the Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd).

Melody launched and is currently the editor for Mums At The Table, a monthly lifestyle magazine for women, especially mums. She is also a presenter on the Mums At The Table weekly TV show where she researches and discusses topics that affect everyday women, and interviews special guests.

Kiran Skariah

Kiran Skariah

Kiran Skariah, also known as PastorSKAR online, has a passion to see the next generation be all they can be.

Based in Sydney Australia and having graduated from William Carey Christian School as School Captain in 2009, Kiran studied at Morling Theological College where he completed his Bachelor of Ministry and started working at his local Church as a Youth Pastor.

After gaining a decade of Youth Ministry experience at his local Church and serving full time as Associate Pastor there, Kiran realised the huge need for a safe, welcoming space for all in the online world, where honest faith conversations can spark and people can be themselves, ask questions and connect in a way that was previously unimaginable.

With a goal to impact the world in mind, Kiran started livestreaming on the world’s largest streaming platform, Twitch.tv and over weeks, months and years, dedicated himself to building a free, accepting, family-friendly community where gamers and non-gamers alike can gather and share a laugh, have some fun, and for those that were interested, talk about their faith.

Terry Benedict

Terry Benedict

Terry Benedict is an American film producer. He is the founder and CEO of The Shae Foundation. He co-produced Hacksaw Ridge, nominated for six Academy Awards.

What you’ll learn at the conference

Register and enter the draw to win a place at the online Digital Missionary Academy hosted by Justin Khoe, plus Digital Discipleship caps, shirts and books.

Terms and conditions

Workshop Sessions

Workshops in each session run concurrently, so you need to select one workshop from each session to attend.

Session 1

TikTok Masterclass

Colby Maier

How to build a church social media plan

Dave Adamson

The power of stories

Jarrod Stackelroth

Session 2

Facebook Masterclass

Jess Partridge

How churches can use social media

Tim Gillespie

How to be the guide and not the hero: StoryBrand process

Brad Kemp

Session 3

Instagram Masterclass

Colby Maier

What is Twitch and how to be effective with the gaming community

Kiran Skariah

What makes an effective church website and how to get more traffic to your site

Joyce Taylor

Session 4

YouTube long and short form insights

Justin Khoe

Insights from movie making

Terry Benedict

Podcasting masterclass

Heather Thompson Day
via Zoom

Early Bird sale ends today

Your all-access pass in Sydney on 5-7 May 2023

Adult Child under 18
Entire Conference
Including Awards Night $238 $255 $204 $221
Excluding Awards Night $167 $185 $130 $144
Single Day or Session
Friday Only $50 $28
Saturday Only (excluding Awards Night) $118 $89
Awards Night Only $77 $83 $72 $77
Sunday Only $50 $28

Book Now

Infants that do not require catering will be admitted free, but do need to be registered to assist with planning.

Conference Registration
  • Learn from some of the best digital discipleship practitioners in the world
  • Be inspired about how God can use you
  • Network with other people interested in sharing their faith online
  • Join engaging workshops, opportunity to ask questions
  • Two meals included, Saturday lunch and dinner – let us know your dietary needs
  • Morning and afternoon teas
  • Attendee’s gift pack
  • Accommodation not included – choose from a wide range of nearby options

$268

sale price full price
$248 $268

Register Now

Registrations close on May 1, 2023 unless all tickets are sold prior to this date.

Got questions? Contact Us

Conference Venue

Novotel Sydney Parramatta

More about the venue

Agenda

Friday May 5
6:00Registration (pre-purchased tickets essential)
7:00 Evening program
  • Welcome
  • The importance of influence – Tim Gillespie
  • How to use social media to find people who want a Bible study – Justin Khoe
9:00Close
Saturday May 6
8:15Registration (pre-purchased tickets essential)
9:00 Morning program
  • What is community? (ekklesia) – Tim Gillespie
  • How to use digital ministry to reach people and make disciples – Dave Adamson
  • How to create authentic communication and content – Heather Thompson Day (via Zoom)
  • Sharing Jesus via short video across multiple platforms – Colby Maier
  • How to write great content that hooks and holds attention – Justin Khoe
12:30Lunch (included)
1:30 Afternoon program
  • Panel discussion – How can AI help digital disciples create impactful content to spread the gospel?
  • How to build online and offline communities – Melody Tan
3:00 Workshop Session 1
  • TikTok Masterclass – Colby Maier
  • How to build a church social media plan – Dave Adamson
  • The power of stories – Jarrod Stackelroth
3:50 Workshop Session 2
  • Facebook Masterclass – Jess Partridge
  • How churches can use social media – Tim Gillespie
  • How to be the guide and not the hero using the Story Brand process – Brad Kemp
4:30Free time
7:00 Evening program
  • Dinner (included)
  • Keynote presentation – Creating message media for global change – Terry Benedict
  • Awards
9:30Close
Sunday May 7
8:15Registration (pre-purchased tickets essential)
9:00 Morning program
  • How influence can change you – Tim Gillespie
  • Special invitation for all content creators and content sharers
  • Insights from sharing Jesus with the gaming community – Kiran Skariah
10:20 Workshop Session 3
  • Instagram Masterclass – Colby Maier
  • What is Twitch and how to be effective with the gaming community – Kiran Skariah
  • What makes an effective church website and how to get more traffic to your site – Joyce Taylor
11:20 Workshop Session 4
  • YouTube long and short form insights – Justin Khoe
  • How to create an impact story using video - Terry Benedict
  • Podcasting masterclass – Heather Thompson Day (via Zoom)
12:00Close

This agenda is indicative only and subject to change. Please check the final agenda when you arrive at the conference.

Keynote presentation – Terry Benedict

Creating message media for global change

Raised in a conservative, Christian home, Terry’s parents did not own a television. Passionate about photography, he dreamed he would grow up to be a famous archaeologist who would discover the Holy Grail. At the age of six, he came across the book The Unlikeliest Hero, the story of a WWII army medic named Desmond Doss who refused to carry a gun or work on Saturdays, yet saved the lives of 75 men and won the Medal of Honor. Four years later, Terry met Desmond, beginning a friendship which has impacted Terry both personally and professionally.

In Hollywood he began by supervising chase scenes, most notably for The Terminator and Marked for Death. He produced commercials with stars including Madonna, Stevie Wonder and Arnold Schwarzenegger, before moving into writing and directing. After working on over a dozen independent films, Terry felt impressed to create films that inspire and promote positive messages to the global community. He produced and directed the critically-acclaimed documentary film The Conscientious Objector on the the life of Desmond Doss, and was on the production team of the feature film Hacksaw Ridge, also on the life of Doss, directed by Mel Gibson.

Terry has travelled in India and Nepal filming on social justice issues including orphans, human trafficking and women’s health. He created Hope In Motion for Child Impact, an award-winning series of television shorts which set a new standard for message media.

His passion for inspiring students led him to form SHAE, an organization with a mission of “creating message media for global change”, in an effort to make a positive difference in the global community with art and media from a Creator-based perspective.

2023 Digital Discipleship Awards

A special part of the Saturday evening program is the presentation of the 2023 Digital Discipleship Awards. This is to acknowledge those who have excelled in digital discipleship. The awards also seek to and inspire more people to use their spiritual gifts to create content, share content and engage with people online to become part of a movement through which Jesus intends to change the world and prepare people for His coming kingdom.

More about the Awards

Award Categories

More about the Awards

Frequently-asked questions