Clergy around the world will have the opportunity for continuing education and panel discussions during the Seventh-day Adventist Ministry Professional Growth Seminar April 21.

The global continuing education program will be available on the Hope Church Channel television network in North America, on the Hope Channel internationally and on the Web at MinisterialAssociation.com.

"Participants will get from-the-trenches experiences that will sharpen and inform their ministry whether they be a pastor, chaplain, lay preacher, administrator, or seminarian," says Pastor Anthony Kent, event coordinator and associate ministerial secretary for the Adventist Church. "This event brings together experts who have preached around the world and taught thousands of others."

This year's theme, "Beyond Pulpits and Pews," will focus on taking Christianity beyond the walls of church, organizers say.

Scheduled speakers include Fred Craddock, selected by Newsweek magazine as on of the 12 most effective preachers in the English-speaking world; Michael Quicke, professor of preaching at Northern Seminary in Illinois; Israel Bamidele Olaore, senior university pastor and head of the Division of Spiritual Life at Babcock University, Nigeria; Chris Oberg, senior pastor of La Sierra University Church in California.

"This is the first year to feature a speaker who is currently ministering in Africa," Kent says. "We are particularly pleased that the Ministry Professional Growth Seminar is becoming more international in its focus."

The program will broadcast from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee, United States.

Participants are eligible to earn 0.5 unit of continuing education. According to Kent, more than 10,000 clergy registered for last year's seminar.

The Ministry seminar is an initiative of the Ministerial Association of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, which also produces Ministry magazine, a professional journal received by more than 75,000 clergy of various faiths.

For seminar broadcast schedules and other information, see MinisterialAssociation.com or hopetv.org.