Students encourage one another at Lead Defend 2025 in Little Rock. (Photos by Cassidy Higgins/ABSC)
LITTLE ROCK – More than 1,900 students, young adults and church leaders converged at Immanuel Baptist Church and the City Center in Little Rock on Saturday, March 8, for the 2025 Lead Defend apologetics conference.
Lead Defend and Lead Defend Foundations featured nationally known guest speakers, such as Jamie and Tara Dew, Sean Emory and Lee Strobel, along with breakout sessions led by a variety of ministry leaders. These dynamic speakers provided genuine evidence that backs up the claims of Christianity.
“This generation is asking good, honest questions. They’re not just making assumptions that what they have always been told is true. I think that they’re very curious and interested and they really want genuine and authentic answers,” Forefront Church Pastor Lee Kemp said. He said one of his students has grown up in an atheist household, and the messages Saturday were “perfect for her to hear.”
From the main stage and in the breakouts, all involved were given a biblical worldview on difficult and hot topics. A Cooperative Program ministry of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC), the apologetics conference is geared toward helping students wrestling with their own beliefs and doubts find answers and help solidify their commitment to Christ.
“We’ve been coming to Lead Defend for several years. I think it is a great event that encourages (students) to take ownership of their faith, to learn how to lead in their schools, in their communities, and in their youth group,” said Benjamin Carpenter, minister to students at Lonoke Baptist Church.
Additionally, Carpenter said the conference can help affirm a student’s calling to ministry.
“It pushes them over the edge where they can surrender and submit to that calling. It helps them to hone in on where God is leading them. That is what I’ve seen with my students. They really enjoy being here,” Carpenter said.
For instance, Lead Defend solidified First Baptist Church in Fort Smith Student Ministry Director Brad Richardson’s call to ministry.
“Being here and learning and experiencing it, that helped to affirm my call and desire to serve students,” Richardson said.
He said the conference is an opportunity to learn about faith, how to grow in it and how to share it with others. He said the design of Lead Defend draws in believers and non-believers.
“I’ve actually got a student here today who is very scholarly minded. Very intellectual. Not a believer. And he said, ‘Hey, I want to go,’” Richard said. “It is marketed to be a resource for people who are even still searching and haven’t made that decision.”
Approximately 1,989 people registered for the apologetics conference. ABSC Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) and Church Health Strategist Chris Larmoyeux said it was “exciting to see the result after a lot of hard work from our team.”
“It’s always exciting to see people from the different churches and friends and church leaders and folks from all over the state come together and to be able to impact students no matter where they are on the spectrum in their spiritual life,” Larmoyeux said.
“We always want to strengthen the faith of believers and break down barriers to belief for non-believers.”
Lead Defend podcast hosts sat down with a few of the speakers of the apologetics conference over the weekend. Check out absc.org/podcasts for upcoming episodes.
Plans are underway for next year’s Lead Defend conferences to be held on Saturday, March 7, 2026.
Lead Defend is a leadership and apologetics conference for college and high school students and young adults of Arkansas, while Foundations is aimed at students in grades 6-9.