Consultation Panels
The event focused on the theme 'Turn to Your Neighbor,' emphasizing the prophetic witness of the black church and the concept of radical hospitality towards those society has marginalized. Key segments included an invocation, welcome addresses from faculty members, and announcements regarding the schedule, which featured plenary sessions, panel discussions on topics like black women in ministry, lunch, and concurrent workshops. A major portion involved a sermon centered on Luke 14:12-24, which critiqued transactional love by contrasting invitations to friends with invitations to the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. The sermon explicitly addressed a social experiment that revealed a church culture prioritizing respectability over meeting immediate needs.