Baptist leaders among speakers at Ascent Summit 2026

Several Baptist leaders will be among the keynote speakers at the inaugural Ascent Summit, March 10-12 at Columbia Church in Falls Church, Va.

Ascent Summit 2026 marks the formal public launch of Ascent—an emerging mission connection point for churches in North America committed to the shared goal of living out the Great Commission locally, regionally and globally.

“A Hopeful Witness for a Joyful Church” is the theme of the summit, featuring presentations by Texas Baptists Executive Director Julio Guarneri, Baptist General Association of Virginia Executive Director Wayne Faison, Chicago pastor Charles E. Dates and Raphael Anzenberger, executive director of the French-speaking Baptist Union of Canada.

Other featured speakers include author and Bible teacher Beth Moore; Ed Stetzer, dean at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology; Mia Chang, lead pastor and planter of NextGen Church in Princeton Junction West Windsor, N.J.; leadership coach Jorge Acevedo; Jason Persaud, national director of church engagement with Alpha Canada; and Joy Moore, president of Northern Seminary.

‘A new missional movement’

Summit organizers note the Ascent movement has developed over the past nine years.

“In June of 2016, I, along with seven other Baptist leaders from Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma, met at Belmont University to discuss how we might find our way forward in a significant and synergistic missional endeavor that honored our ecclesiology and our theology,” Pastor Dennis Wiles of First Baptist Church in Arlington wrote in an email.

“We immediately recognized that many others were interested in this conversation as well, so we expanded our circle to include several new voices. Over time, we gained momentum and found common bonds across the denominational spectrum in North America.

“We discovered many pastors, denominational leaders, mission organization leaders, seminary presidents/deans, and fellow believers who longed to be a part of a new missional movement that could galvanize our efforts and result in the re-engagement of gospel witness to North America for the glory of God.”

‘Deep fellowship as centrist, orthodox Christians’

Todd Still, dean of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, has been part of the group that has met, prayed and envisioned “what a missional, multi-denominational movement centered upon the proclamation and incarnation of the gospel of Jesus Christ through local churches might look and be like in our day.”

“The answer toward which we have been led is Ascent,” Still said.

The initial 2016 gathering in Nashville has “grown to include a myriad of churches, numerous missional organizations, several theological institutions, and denominational judicatories across North America,” Wiles said.

“We have found deep fellowship as centrist, orthodox Christians who can affirm the Lausanne Cape Town Commitment and who desire to partner together in gospel witness, church planting, theological education, and various other missional endeavors,” he said.

The initial group has hosted two “invitation-only” gatherings—including an event last year in Virginia—“where leaders from across our continent have met to worship, plan, pray, learn and partner together in ministry,” Wiles noted.

‘A historic gathering’

Wiles called the Ascent Summit next March a “historic gathering of fellow believers.”

“There will be inspiring worship, informative workshops, opportunities to learn about the ongoing work of Ascent, and the chance to discover new connections in mission and ministry,” Wiles said. “Numerous Texas Baptist churches and leaders are already a part of this movement.”

Summit sponsors include Truett Theological Seminary, Arlington-based Restore Hope and the On Mission Network.

“I look very much forward to seeing a goodly number of Texas Baptists, as well as Truett alumni and friends, there and to witnessing what the Lord will continue to do through Ascent in the days and years to come,” Still said.

Wiles similarly encouraged Texas Baptists to consider attending the Ascent Summit.

“It promises to a signal event, where we turn the page in the witness of the church in North America,” he said.

Early registration for the event is open online. For more information, click here. To register, click here. In addition to discounts for early registration, the tiered pricing structure offers further discounts to registrants who incur the additional expense of air travel.