AJ Crocker

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACSI WESTERN CANADA

🎞️ Watch a video intro from AJ

TOPIC #1: From Information to Transformation — Reimagining the Formation Mission of Christian Education

Christian schools have long excelled at teaching truth. Yet many educators are asking a deeper question: Why does information alone so often fail to produce lasting transformation?

Drawing on ACSI's Spiritual Formation Core Convictions, the work of David I. Smith, John Mark Comer, and current research on faith formation, this keynote explores how students are actually shaped. Together we will trace the history of Christian education's approach to formation, examine the challenge of fragmented faith, and consider why habits, relationships, and culture often have a greater impact than curriculum alone.

Participants will leave with a renewed vision for Christian education as a disciple-making endeavor that cultivates both the mind and the heart for Christ.

TOPIC #2: Practice Matters — Spiritual Practices for Educators Who Want to Shape Disciples

If formation happens through what we repeatedly practice, then the formation of our students is inseparable from the formation of their teachers.

This practical and encouraging keynote explores the role of spiritual disciplines in the life of the Christian educator. Building on the conviction that spiritual formation is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit, participants will discover how practices such as Scripture, prayer, Sabbath, silence, community, and intentional rhythms create space for God to shape both teachers and students.

Rather than adding one more thing to an already full schedule, this session invites educators to consider how small, faithful practices can cultivate deeper discipleship, greater resilience, and a classroom culture that points students toward Jesus.

BIO:

AJ Crocker has spent more than two decades helping young people follow Jesus and equipping the adults who serve them. He has spoken at camps, conferences, retreats, leadership events, and youth worker training gatherings across Canada, and has contributed video-based teaching resources for RightNow Media and other ministry organizations.

For 20 years, AJ provided leadership to Youth Quake, one of Canada's largest youth ministry conferences, serving more than 1,700 high school students annually. Beginning his career as a High School Chaplain and later serving as a Vice-President at Briercrest Christian Academy, College & Seminary, he invested deeply in discipleship, spiritual formation, leadership development, and mentoring young leaders.

Today, AJ serves as Executive Director of ACSI Western Canada, supporting Christian schools across the region. He and his wife Cheryl, an ACSI teacher, have three children and live in the small prairie community of Caronport, Saskatchewan.

AJ is a devoted (and long-suffering) Toronto Maple Leafs fan, a sneaker-head-on-a-budget, and spends much of his free time cheering his kids on from hockey rinks and dance auditoriums across the Prairies.