More Than Enchanting: Breaking Through Barriers to Influence Your World

Women have always been central to the life of the church. From the early hours of the first Easter, when women were charged to announce the resurrection of Jesus, to the state of the contemporary church, where women outnumber men in pews and positions of service. But as central as women have been, they've also found themselves regularly marginalized--and not only in the church but in the neighborhoods, cities and societies they inhabit. Sometimes they've had to endure the well-intended biases or benign neglect of the leaders of their communities; sometimes they've been sidelined by their own crises of confidence. Sometimes they've had to contend with both at once. Women who doubt their influence, who struggle to accept their distinct strengths and talents for what they are--gifts given through them to the world--suffer for it. The church, and really all of society, suffers with them. Jo Saxton invites women to discover (or rediscover) the gifts and talents that God has vested in us, and more important, the calling he has placed on each of us to seek first the kingdom of God where we are.

Born and raised in London, Jo Saxton worked at the influential St.Thomas's Church, Sheffield, before moving to southern California with her pastor husband, Chris, and two daughters. Jo is a popular speaker throughout the United States and England, and a director of 3D Ministries, an organization that equips church leaders to create missional, discipleship-centered communities.

Alan Hirsch is the founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network. He is the co-founder of shapevine.com, an international forum for engaging with world transforming ideas. He leads Future Travelers, a learning journey applying missional-incarnational approaches to established churches and is an active participant in The Tribe of LA, a Jesus community among artists and creatives in Los Angeles. Known for his innovative approach to mission, Hirsch is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His popular book The Shaping of Things to Come (with Michael Frost) is widely considered to be a seminal text on mission. Alan's recent book The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to movements. His book ReJesus is a radical restatement about the role that Jesus plays in defining missional movements. Untamed, his latest book (with his wife Debra) is about missional discipleship for a missional church. His experience in leadership includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized as well as heading up the Mission and Revitalization work of his denomination. Hirsch is an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S.

Deb Hirsch is a speaker, church leader and writer who has led churches in both Australia and Los Angeles. She is one of the founders of Forge Mission Training Network and is a member of the Forge America national team. She also serves as a board member for Missio Alliance and was part of the leadership team of Christian Associates, a church planting movement in Europe, North & South America. She is the co-author (with Alan Hirsch) of Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship, and her new book Redeeming Sex reflects her own journey and attempts to bring new conversations about sexuality into the context of the church. Deb has been involved in social work, community development and as a trained counselor has worked in the field of sexuality for over twenty-five years. She and her husband live in community with others in Los Angeles.