Invite Chris to Speak
If your church, small group, or ministry team is working through the kinds of questions I’ve been writing about — how the gospel meets people in grief, marriage, friendship, work, family tension, and the everyday relationships that shape a Christian life — I’d be glad to come and walk through it with you.
About Chris as a speaker
For more than three decades, I’ve served in pastoral ministry. I’ve also worked in the marketplace, raised children, fostered children, and watched up close how the gospel does and does not change the way people love one another. Everything I write — and everything I speak on — comes out of those same trenches. The ordinary, mostly-private places where Christians struggle to live what they say they believe.
I’m not a conference-circuit speaker, and your event doesn’t need to look like a conference for me to come. I’d just as soon sit in a church basement with fifteen small group leaders as stand on a larger platform. Both are good. The content is built to land at either scale.
What I speak on
My speaking topics flow directly from the books and the writing behind them.
From He Wept: Grace in the Valley of Loss and the God Who Does Not Look Away
- Romans 8:28 for the grieving — what it does and doesn’t promise
- The God who weeps: Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus
- Sovereignty without sentimentality
- Walking alongside someone in fresh grief
- Pastoral care for the long, quiet grief that doesn’t end
From Grace in Everyday Relationships
- Why our best relational intentions keep failing
- Ordered loves: the Great Commandment as our compass
- Union with Christ as the power source for change
- Marital peacemaking — listening, timing, and tone
- Honor without obedience: adult family dynamics
- Setting wise boundaries with difficult relatives
- Gospel forgiveness as a daily practice
- Guarding the tongue at work and at home
- Resisting the marriage idol: caring well for singles in the church
- Hospitality for the lonely — making room
Cross-cutting themes for pastors and ministry leaders
- Shepherd leadership: authority as service
- Rebuilding trust after sin or betrayal
- Spiritual friendship in a busy church
- Helping a congregation grieve together
I’m happy to combine topics across the books or to spend the whole time on a single theme. If you have a specific need that doesn’t quite fit one of the categories above, tell me what you’re navigating and I’ll see whether I’m the right fit.
Formats and group sizes
I’ll come to a Sunday school class of eight or speak at a conference of eight hundred. The format follows the need.
- Single sessions — Sunday morning sermon, evening teaching, small group night
- Weekend retreats — three to six sessions across two or three days
- Small group curriculum kickoffs — for churches launching the 12-week Grace in Everyday Relationships study, I’m glad to speak the opening session, train the leaders, and answer questions about working through the material
- Multi-week teaching series — in person or remote
- Conferences and seminars — keynotes, breakouts, panels
- Pastors’ and ministry leaders’ gatherings — a different audience with different needs; let’s talk
I’m comfortable preaching, teaching, leading discussion, and sitting on a panel. Whichever format actually serves your people, that’s the one I want to do.
Logistics
I’m based in Saltillo, Mississippi, and I’m willing to travel. For churches in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana, travel terms are usually simple. For events further afield, we’ll figure it out together.
Honoraria are flexible. I’m a pastor first, not a hired speaker. I’d rather come to a smaller church that can’t afford a high fee than miss the chance to serve people who need the material. If your church or group is on a tight budget, please don’t let that keep you from reaching out.
A few practical notes:
- Two to three months of lead time is ideal for a weekend; longer for a retreat
- I’m happy to do live Q&A and informal conversation alongside the formal sessions
- I’ll bring author copies of the books for your attendees at cost
- For groups using the Grace in Everyday Relationships small group study, I can coordinate timing with your curriculum schedule
Get in touch
Use the contact form below and tell me a little about your church or group, what you have in mind, and roughly when you’re thinking. I’ll get back to you.
I’d be honored to come.
— Chris
