Some 150 U.S. Christian leaders – including presidents and directors of internationally known organizations – will gather next month for an annual conference to strategize on how to bring a cultural shift to America.

Mission America Coalition (MAC) – a coalition of Christian leaders which has worked with representatives from 81 denominations and over 350 ministries – will host its annual gathering in St. Louis, Mo., on Oct 10-12. Christian leaders scheduled to speak include the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Lon Allison, director of the Billy Graham Center; and Paul Cedar, chairman/CEO of MAC.

"This is the 11th annual conference of the Mission America Coalition which is comprised of 485 Christian leaders from across the nation," said Cedar. "It is the one time each year that we try to get together in one place, at one time with the purpose to advance the cause of evangelism in the United States and beyond."

The conference with the theme "Cultural Shift: Have We Passed the Tipping Point?" will focus on how to shift American culture to one that is based on the truth of the Gospel.

"Our culture is going the wrong way and much of it is focused on spiritual darkness," Cedar said on Monday. "But our goal and prayer is to help bring spiritual light to cities and communities across the nation."

U.S. Christian leaders will speak and discuss strategies to achieve a cultural and spiritual shift using the current national MAC initiative "Loving Our Communities To Christ" (LC2C). The initiative, which has been launched in nine pilot cities since the beginning of this year, calls for local Christians and churches to pray, care, and share to change their communities and the nation.

"Christians – not merely focusing on themselves and churches not only looking inward – [are] being mobilized to begin this wonderful lifestyle that we think is very Biblical – a lifestyle of praying and caring for lost people which is the great commandment that Jesus gave us – to love our neighbors as we love ourselves," explained Cedar. "So prayer, care, and share the good news of the Gospel within the right context and appropriate time is our strategy; that is the cultural shift we are praying for and working for."

Mission America Coalition grew out of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. The U.S. Lausanne Committee was formed one year after the first International Congress for World Evangelization in Switzerland in 1974. Mission America was officially launched in 1993 when U.S. leaders met for a prayer summit and unanimously agreed the U.S. Lausanne Committee should give leadership to increasing prayer and evangelism efforts in the U.S. In 1995, Mission America developed from a committee to a coalition and a movement.