GRACE CITY CHURCH
4377 Eastgate Mall, San Diego, CA, 92121

OUR MISSION

The EquipCon exists to encourage and equip individuals and churches in the San Diego area with the transformative power of the gospel for everyday life, fostering unity, renewal, and gospel-centered living across our communities.

music by citizens

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

  • Vice President for Thought Leadership at Redeemer City to City

    Abe is the Interim Senior Director of Global Resources at Redeemer City to City. He holds an MDiv and ThM from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary as well as a DMin from Fuller theological seminary. Previously, he was a pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC for 14 years. The last six of those years he served as the Senior Pastor of Redeemer East Side on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He currently serves on the pastoral staff at Redeemer East Harlem.

    Abe has also taught extensively both on the theory and practice of faith and work integration in the context of the local church. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Jordyn, and four children.

  • Vice President of Movement Strategic Services at Redeemer City to City

    Yucan leads the Movement Strategic Services team to strengthen and steward City to City’s ecosystem of global leaders by cultivating strong relationships, facilitating dialogue between different perspectives, and synthesizing strategies that support, catalyze, and sustain collaboration for city-wide gospel movements.

    Born in Chicago to parents of Chinese descent, Yucan Chiu came to understand and experience Jesus in his teenage years while in California. He has been a lead planter and pastor for twenty years, and also the founding director of a church planting network called the Ethnos Network - a decentralized, multiethnic, global network focused on the urban areas next to major universities.

  • CEO and Board Member of the Pinetops Foundation, CEO & Founder of Magnify

    Josh has helped launch multiple ministries like Tenx10 and Veritas Scholars, and he serves on several nonprofit and for-profit boards. He is the author of The Great Opportunity, considered the most influential research on the future of the US church this century, and is a national speaker on the future of the US church and Christian philanthropy. He has been a senior executive at several technology companies that have resulted in IPO and acquisition, and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company for nearly a decade. He holds dual degrees from Duke University, where he graduated with honors. Josh lives in Bend, OR, with his wife, Anne, and their four children, and is avid whitewater kayaker.

  • Operations Leader for Blueprint Church

    It's her joy to work and serve her local body while stewarding the operations, facilities and finance pillars. You may also see her follow her passions by leading through city projects, Known 360, missions, and the ministry where she resides in the O4W.

  • Founding Pastor of New Vision Church.

    New Vision Church is a multi-site, multi-ethnic, multi-economic and multi-generational church in San Diego California. Pete has been serving the urban communities for over 40 years. He is a church planter, teacher, entrepreneur and coach. Founder of Hope House, a long term shelter for homeless teens. New Vision Urban Impact that addresses the needs of our urban communities through recreation, education, employment case management and health. And the founder of New Vision Holdings LLC an economic engine for economic development and housing. He has served San Diego for over 36 years and is married to Julie and they have four kids, Erica, Ryan, Marisa and Cassandra. He is a graduate of Hope International University and The DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative (08). Pete's passion is to disciple others and see them live out their kingdom purpose.

  • Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church

    After seminary in 2006 Jonathan and his wife Danielle moved into the city of Boston to serve on the pastoral team of a local center-city church. After nearly 10 years of working with students from many of Boston’s major universities, Jonathan and his family moved from Boston to SoCal in the fall of 2014 to serve with Redeemer San Diego. Then, after much prayer and exploration, the Redeemer leadership team sent Jonathan and a core team of around 100 people to plant Trinity SD, hosting their first service on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019. Jonathan serves as the lead pastor for Trinity. He and his wife live in Escondido with their son Mason, daughter Penny, and youngest son Aaron. Jonathan enjoys getting his hands dirty, coaching from the sidelines of his kids games, a Facetime hang with his east coast fam, all things Justin Bieber and country music, and any outing with his wife (and high school sweetheart), Danielle.

  • Executive Director of City to City Los Angeles

    Over the course of his career, Larry Acosta founded the Hispanic Ministry Center, Urban YouthWorkers Institute (UYWI) and KIDWORKS, a community development corporation that reaches and educates at-risk youth in Central Santa Ana, which he co-founded with his wife Jayme.  Under Larry’s leadership, UYWI grew from a local, Southern California ministry, to a national urban leadership development organization- training next gen. ethnic pastors and leaders in over 32 cities across the U.S. Larry is currently the Executive Director and Lead Catalyst for City to City Los Angeles. His vision is to see 100 multiethnic, Gospel centered churches planted or re-planted throughout Southern California by 2026. After graduating from Biola University and Talbot School of Theology, Larry completed his doctorate in Leadership Development at Fuller Theological Seminary. He also serves on the boards of Kingdomworks SDG and Azusa Pacific University. Larry is married to his lovely wife Jayme of 31 years, and they have four young adult children that they are crazy about...most days- Brock, Karis, Malia and Diego.

GOSPEL MOVEMEnt

This conference is designed to equip and mobilize believers to live out our faith together in ways that spark a movement of gospel impact in San Diego. Through engaging speakers, interactive sessions, and meaningful worship, we will explore what it means to be part of a gospel movement—one that seeks to be a people transformed by the gospel, moving forward with boldness and purpose to see lives and communities changed for the glory of God.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY / MARCH 21 / DAY 1

8:00AM - Registration
8:30AM - Breakfast
9:00AM - Main Session 1
10:15AM - Break
10:30AM - Main Session 2
12:00PM - Lunch
1:00PM - Breakouts
2:00PM - Main Session 3
3:00PM - Main Session 4
4:00PM - Break
4:15PM - Main Session 5
5:00PM - Closing Prayer
8:00PM - Citizens Concert (doors open at 7pm)

SATURDAY / MARCH 22 / DAY 2

8:30 AM - Breakfast
9:00 AM - Main Session 1
10:30 AM - Break
10:45 AM - Breakouts
11:45 AM - Lunch
1:00 PM - Main Session 2 - Gospel Fluency
2:30 PM - Breakouts
3:30 PM - Break
4:00 PM - Main Session 3 - Gospel Renewal
5:00 PM - Closing Prayer

Breakouts

FRIDAY / MARCH 21 / DAY 1

Vocation, Calling, & Work
Geoff Hsu, Flourish San Diego
How do we form the kinds of disciples that joyfully live into their vocation to love their neighbors and shalomify cities? Learn how to articulate the sacredness of ordinary vocations and how to live in accordance with God’s design for us.

Volunteer Development: Empowering Disciples to Contribute
Mike Crain, Ministry Architects
Do you have a need and desire to grow your volunteer team? This workshop provides essential principles and practical steps for volunteer recruitment, matriculation, training, and appreciation to build a team of people who enjoy serving in your ministry.

Leadership for a Lifetime
Doug Meye, Aspire
God has called you to leadership. Do you also know that God is the primary actor in your leadership development? This breakout will look at how God seeks to deepen and develop you over a lifetime so that you minister with joy, lead with a right spiritual authority and finish well.

The Personal Life of the Leader
Larry Acosta, City to City Los Angeles
Come and be reminded of the healthy rhythms that keep our hearts “fully alive” and keep us in ministry for the long haul. Under pressure, we all tend to default to emotionally UN-healthy practices, so let’s instill some “Best Practices” for us all to become better, healthier and stronger as Christian leaders.

Leading a Sending Church
Jeremy Aylett, Send Network
What does it look like to be about God’s mission and church planting within our city?

SATURDAY / MARCH 22 / DAY 2

Listening Conversations: Building Bridges to the Gospel
Lauren Crain, Bridges International
In our pursuit to follow Jesus, how might we come alongside our non-believing friends? As we see in the Scriptures, He asked thoughtful questions, and listened with compassion to those who didn’t yet know Him. If you desire to explore where someone is in their spiritual journey in order to guide them to Christ, this breakout is for you!

Soul Care: Return to Your Rest
Lloyd Gilbert, Hilltop Renewal Center
Psalm 116:7 says, “Return, O my soul, to your rest.” The roles and labels we wear can become both a distraction and obstacle in observing the Sabbath. Instead of rest, we return to performance, production and achievement. The Lord’s gift of Sabbath is not just stopping, but experiencing transforming rest. At this seminar, we will re-examine God’s word on Sabbath and learn some practices that will help us lay down our status and reputation, keeping us centered and oriented to Gospel living.

Gospel Rhythms: Flourishing as Christians in the Marketplace
Ryan Gutierrez, Fuller De Pree Center
We live in a world that has sped up and demands more from us every day. We feel this most acutely in the demands of our work. Drawing on original research and Scripture, this session will cast a vision for what it looks like when Christians flourish in their work.

Gospel Rhythms: Mental Health's Connection to our Spiritual Health
Elaine Mains, LMFT
In today's world learning about and nurturing our mental health is becoming increasingly important. Let's talk about why and how our mental health impacts our spiritual health. Are all our emotional struggles due to spiritual issues? When does something become a mental health issue? Taking care of our mental health is a critical aspect of taking care of ourselves and a part of God's Kingdom work in our lives and community.

Gospel Relationships: A Practical Model for Change and Growth
Tim & Diana Askew
Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, painful events shake our identity and safety, leading to destructive feelings and behaviors we might not even recognize or may feel powerless to change. Unless we recognize the roots of these destructive attitudes, we are doomed to repeat them and push away the ones who are most important to us. Come to this workshop and learn a practical model for healing and growth by renewing of our minds through our new identity in Christ.

Theology 101: Why What You Believe Matters
Randall Tonini & Gendarme Docena
Many Christians assume that only pastors and missionaries are theologians, but the reality is that everyone is a theologian. The real question is whether you are a faithful or flawed theologian. This workshop explores why theology matters and how it shapes your faith and everyday life.

Gospel Coaching
Ryan Ferrer
This is an introductory & foundational workshop on Gospel Coaching, where we'll explore how to glorify God through Spirit-filled, cross-centered relationships. This introductory session will define Gospel Coaching as a prayer infused,  intentional gospel conversation with focused discussion on the individual's (coachee) relational, personal, missional, and spiritual life, leading to clear objectives and appropriate strategies to fulfill their God-given role or mission. Whether you're a seasoned coach, a leader, or someone curious about personal development, this session will provide you with a solid foundation in Gospel Coaching, equipping you to inspire and support others on their journey and discipleship with Christ. Come prepared to learn, engage, and take steps toward living life fully reflecting the Gospel.

Gospel Resilience: Overcoming Pain Through Christ
Tara Schloss, Blueprint Church
Do you know how to tell the truth about what's going on in the inside? Do you know the language of your heart? The Lord has created us to live fully, love deeply and lead well. This workshop will help give tools to identify, explore and express your heart. We will unpack  the keys to struggling well and not losing heart. In a world that's tragic, God is faithful and is the only one that can bring beauty from ashes, purpose from pain and glory from shame.

Gospel Rhythms: A Sending Church
Jeremy Aylett, Send Network
What does it mean to be sent? We live in a world full of consumers, what does it look like to be a disciple that’s sent out with the mission of Jesus each day? What does it take to be a church that doesn’t sit on its hands but sends others out?

Register

Friday // Ministry Leaders

$80

One Time Payment

Friday of EquipCon is designed with pastors, church staff, and ministry leaders in mind. This ticket grants access to one day (Friday) of the conference only.

Citizens Concert
The Joy of Being Acoustic

Fri, Mar 21st, 2025, 8:00 PM
(Doors open at 7:00PM)

$30

One Time Payment

Discount code “EQUIP” for 50% off ticket.

Saturday // All Church

$80

One Time Payment

Saturday of EquipCon is designed with all believers in mind. This ticket grants access to one day (Saturday) of the conference only.

GOSPEL MOVEMENT

JEREMIAH 29:7 ESV

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare

IN SAN DIEGO

SERVE AT EQUIPCON25

EquipCON is powered by servant leaders creating a space for people to encounter Jesus, be equipped with the gospel, and empower others to live out their faith. Join the team and help make this event impactful!

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