BOTKINS — Christian singers Derek Johnson of Jesus Culture, Jimmy Needham, Matt Hammitt, formerly of Sanctus Real, and Howard Worship will headline a new, local conference urging attendees to hold onto their dreams.
Dream On: The Conference will be March 25 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Only Believe Ministries building, 13815 Botkins Road, Botkins. It is open to the public. The fee to attend the full day event, which includes an evening concert by Johnson, is $25.
Tickets to the concert only are $15. The concert begins at 7 p.m.
Registration is available online at www.dreamon.world. Tickets will also be available at the door.
The conference is a project of Dream On: Global, a nonprofit organization founded in 2016 by Ben Swartz, of Wapakoneta.
“Our mission is to get people to dream again,” Swartz told the Sidney Daily News recently. “A lot of people give up on their dreams and settle for doing things they don’t want to do in life.”
Dream On: Global was established to develop conferences as religious events that encourage people to focus on their specific areas of interest, “to create environments where people can dream again; to reignite passions, purposes, and dreams through the power of the Holy Spirit; to bridge transformed lives to the lives that need touched in Honduras and abroad through special projects, feeding programs, dream on conferences and orphan care. Those who dream the most DO the most,” the DreamOn.World website says.
In Botkins, “there will be three themes:” Swartz said, “discovering your purpose, resparking your dreams and discovering that anything is possible. People will get practical information on how to pursue (an) area of interest.”
The Botkins conference will include plenary speakers and break-out sessions. Attendees can select which workshops they’d like to participate in.
The following sessions have been scheduled:
• Pursuing your dreams in music, led by Becky and Derek Johnson.
• Pursing your dreams in music and song writing, led by Matt Hammitt.
• Pursuing your dreams in missions, led by Josh Ercoli, founder of Souled Out International.
• Pursuing your dreams as a family, led by Dr. Josh Steinke, a chiropractor in Wapakoneta.
• Pursuing your dreams in business, led by Steinke.
• The Process of the Dream: From the Pit to the Palace, led by David Norris, senior pastor of City Church for All Nations, in Bloomington, Indiana.
• Pursuing your dreams in adoption, led by Andy Lynch, a sportscaster for WTLW-TV, Lima.
• Pursuing your dreams in sports, led by Lynch.
• How to Navigate Your Wildest Dreams, led by Pastor Jared Boyd, a graduate student in Christian leadership at Lee University.
• Focusing on the Dream, led by Derek Spencer, a Christian singer/song writer.
“At the end of the day, I really feel everybody has that dream down inside them that they want to do. I hope they’ll walk away ready to take the first step to pursue their dreams,” Swartz said.
He hopes that 600 people will attend the conference and that the audience for the concert will number 1,000.
Swartz plans to repeat the conference in Honduras.
In addition to the conference, Dream On: Global offers dream coaching by volunteers. There is no fee for coaching.
