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Photo by Garrett Heath \/ The Collegian<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campus was filled with worship and encouragement this past weekend as pastors and church staff from around the area gathered at the Center for Rural Ministry\u2019s annual conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conference was held on campus September 11 and 12, and welcomed attendees from rural churches across five nearby states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming from a myriad of denominations, these ministers of the body of believers sat under keynote speakers and workshop sessions on an array of topics concerning the conference\u2019s overall theme, \u201cRooted: Cultivating Faithful Presence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faculty and staff, Grove City College students and Center for Rural Ministry (CRM) partner ministries also gathered to glean from conference presenters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s keynote speaker, Scott Sunquist, was from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he is a professor of missiology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conference also featured plenary speakers Joel Seymour, the super regional leader for Vineyard USA, Bill Sukolsky, a CRM pastor liaison, and assistant professor of biblical and theological Studies Charles Cotherman. Workshop tracks were also offered in a variety of spheres, including Community Formation & Resilience in the Early Church and Rooted Youth Ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Churches in rural areas face many challenges unique to their place. Pastoring as a profession and calling can be lonely and isolating, and pastors in a rural church context face not just the challenges of their body but the challenge of lacking a community of support that may provide wisdom and encouragement for facing those challenges in a biblical and godly way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CRM conference offers a way for these pastors to build friendships with their fellow laborers. Adelia Matson, the CRM administrative director, pointed out that one of the most impactful ways CRM can bless the conference attendees has been to recognize and celebrate the work God is doing in rural contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think one of the best things that happens is that rural pastors are encouraged that small places matter and that it doesn\u2019t just matter to us and to each other and even to the ministry, but it really matters to Jesus,\u201d Matson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether conference attendees were Grove City College students looking to widen their Kingdom perspectives or local rural pastors seeking encouragement in the God-given calling placed on their families and them, the conference had something for attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anastasia Brown, a student fellow with CRM, said her father, a rural pastor in the area, has been immensely blessed by the friendships he has been able to form and continue because of the annual conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always, at its root, this opportunity for pastors to connect and be encouraged,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with the blessing of relational connection, Brown emphasized the beauty of speakers and attendees coming from different denominational backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s across denominational lines entirely. And the speakers and everyone who\u2019s attending, it\u2019s such a spectrum,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd the thing that brings us together is that we\u2019re involved in rural ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another student fellow, Madelyn Taliaferro, echoed this sentiment, extending it to include the benefit for college students who attend the conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing at the annual conference has given me a greater appreciation for churches that don\u2019t necessarily teach the same things that I grew up with, and it was really encouraging to see a group of people unified, in Christ, but also with their specific calling in their place, not necessarily their denomination or church tradition,\u201d Taliaferro said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Center for Rural Ministry hosted their sixth annual conference at Grove City College. By Maya O’Dell \u00b7 Contributing Writer Photo by Garrett Heath \/ The Collegian The campus was filled with worship and encouragement this past weekend as pastors and church staff from around the area gathered at the Center for Rural Ministry\u2019s annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[209],"tags":[178,19,277,271,226],"class_list":["post-3101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-2026-edition","tag-community","tag-events","tag-maya-odell","tag-sept-18-2"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk.webp",1170,744,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk-300x191.webp",300,191,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk-767x488.webp",767,488,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk-1024x651.webp",1024,651,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk.webp",1170,744,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/crm-cmyk.webp",1170,744,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"puruckermt24","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/puruckermt24\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Center for Rural Ministry hosted their sixth annual conference at Grove City College. By Maya O’Dell \u00b7 Contributing Writer Photo by Garrett Heath \/ The Collegian The campus was filled with worship and encouragement this past weekend as pastors and church staff from around the area gathered at the Center for Rural Ministry\u2019s annual…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3103,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions\/3103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}