"I have one goal for my talks...to defend and to magnify, or expand, our vision of some of the really simple things in pastoral work," stated Dave Hansen as he began his keynote presentation at the 2009 ESR Pastors Conference, The Art of Pastoring.  Hansen gave three presentations, as well as providing the Common Meal talk while he was on campus September 28th and 29th.

Dave Hansen shares his first keynote session with attendees	Conference attendees

Hansen, currently the Interim Pastor at First Baptist Church in Hillsboro, Ohio, talked about the importance of pastoral care. "Pastoral ministry is a set of very simple things to do that obviously become very difficult at times," stated Hansen. "I really want to show you how beautiful and powerful for good a lot of these simple things really are."

Hansen has served in pastoral ministry for 30 years, speaks regularly at pastors conferences and teaches Doctor of Ministry courses. He spoke on three topics during the conference, Pastor as a Parable of Jesus Christ, Four Loves for Ministry, and Praying Enough to Get Fired.  Hansen shared an alternative view of prayer as "thinking in the presence of God", and spoke to the crowd at common meal about visions and being aware of God's work in our lives.

This year, ESR also offered a free, live webcast of the keynote sessions, which was viewed by individuals from abroad that couldn't attend in person. This is an exciting addition to our campus events, making them accessible to a wider audience.

Afternoon workshops were offered by area pastors on the topics of Pastoral Transitions, Pastoral Priorities and Time Management, and Does your Church Need a Bill of Rights? These workshops offered practical advice for the work of the pastor in a variety of situations.

Attendees learn about pastoral time management	ESR Alumnus Josh Brown leads a workshop

ESR's next campus event will be the Ministry of Writing Colloquium on October 30-31st, featuring poet and author Julia Kasdorf. More information is available on our newly designed website at esr.earlham.edu.