WORSHIP

MONDAY, JUNE 15 | Evening Worship

CONCERT OF PRAYER | 7:00 PM

Brandon Addison

Brandon Addison, PCC, is an executive leadership coach and pastor serving churches in the Presbytery of the West. He works alongside pastors, CEOs, and leadership teams to strengthen organizational health, cultivate emotionally aware leadership, and guide organizations through seasons of growth, change, and renewal. Brandon also serves as a Chair with C12 Business Forums in Denver, where he coaches Christian business owners and executive leaders seeking to integrate faith, leadership, and mission. He holds degrees from the University of Georgia and Covenant Seminary and is completing doctoral studies focused on neuroscience and leadership development. Brandon and his wife, Amy, live in Colorado with their two children.

TUESDAY, JUNE 16 | Morning & Evening Worship

WORSHIP | 9:00 until 9:45 AM

Tim Sansbury

Dr. Sansbury is a professor, pastor, speaker, and academic leader at Knox Theological Seminary in South Florida, where he is passionate about helping believers think deeply and live faithfully. His work focuses on bringing clarity and coherence to Christian faith and doctrine—especially where theology meets science. His research explores questions about time, eternity, divine sovereignty, and how God’s purposes relate to human and natural causes.

Dr. Sansbury earned his undergraduate degree in Physics from Georgia Tech before pursuing theological studies, completing an MA at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and a PhD at Princeton Theological Seminary. His doctoral work on God’s eternity was later published as Beyond Time: Defending God’s Transcendence.

Tim is married to Nancy and has three daughters—Anna, Emily, and Paige—and two stepsons, Marlon and Vincent. He is a multi-generational Miami native who is passionate about boating, fishing, and hoping against hope for the Dolphins.

WORLD OUTREACH | 7:00 until 8:00 PM

Ed McCallum

Ed McCallum is an ordained Teaching Elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church serving as a World Outreach Associate for the International Theological Education Network (ITEN). Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Ed and his wife Nan have had a focus in Southeast Asia since July 2017. Ed has written and taught pastor training curriculum in accessible English for ITEN’s Ministry Leadership Training Institute.

Prior to joining ITEN he served for nineteen years as Assistant Stated Clerk of the General Assembly as a resource person to EPC presbyteries, churches, ministers, denominational committees, coordinated the annual national meetings of the EPC and edited numerous denominational publications. One of Ed’s special interests is affirming the small church in its missional thinking and practice, growing from his time as a pastor of a small EPC church in Tucson AZ.

 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17| Morning & Evening Worship

WORSHIP | 9:00 until 9:45 AM

Megan Hackman

Megan Hackman began praying for an adjacent community while pastoring at Chapel Hill in 2018. Those prayers developed into a sense of call to church-planting. Megan now leads a local church in Port Orchard, WA– Kitsap House– which celebrated its third birthday this February. Megan and her family (Pastor and LMFT, Larry Hackman and two children) host many meals, love their neighbors, enjoy their Pacific Northwest woods and garden, and seek out opportunities to be on the water. She’d love to talk prayer, Jesus, seeds, raising kids, Sabbath, paddleboarding– preferably over really good coffee.

WORSHIP | 7:00 until 8:00 PM

Keon Abner

Pastor Keon L. Abner is a Cleveland native and the founding Pastor of Bridge City Church, a gospel-centered, justice-oriented, multiethnic congregation in Cleveland, Ohio. He serves as a Pastor in the Presbytery of the Alleghenies of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and as the Regional Church Planting Director for the EPC’s Northeast Region, where he supports and serves church planters across multiple presbyteries. With over 15 years of diverse ministry experience, Pastor Keon is committed to biblical faithfulness, leadership development, reconciliation, and community transformation. As Lead Pastor, he provides vision, preaching, and strategic leadership for Bridge City Church’s mission to make disciples and partner in the restoring grace of Jesus. Keon is married to the love of his life, Ashley Cherise, a licensed esthetician. Together they are raising three daughters—Kailyn, Ashtyn, and Brooklyn—and their thorn in the flesh goldendoodle, Kash. He enjoys storytelling, good food, and unhurried time with family.

THURSDAY, JUNE 18| Morning & Evening Worship

WORSHIP | 8:30 until 9:45 AM

Moderator’s Communion Service: The Church is made up of Living Stones laid on the foundation of The Rock (1 Peter 2: 4-8).

Dave Strunk

Dave Strunk is lead pastor at Church of the Redeemer in Alcoa, TN. Dave has been married to Laura for 20 years, and they have three children: Lucy (15), Maisie (13), and Davey (10). Dave is originally from Knoxville, TN, and met Laura in high school. They both went to the University of Tennessee, and shortly after graduating got married and moved to Denver, CO. For all 10 years they lived there, Laura was on Young Life staff and Dave volunteered, worked for, served, and got ordained at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, where all three of his kids were born and baptized. In 2016, Dave felt a call to plant a church as an evangelistic strategy back home in Tennessee through a wonderful and supportive mother church, Cedar Springs Presbyterian in Knoxville. Church of the Redeemer, as the plant came to be called, was localized as a church in 2019, and is in Maryville, TN. Dave loves the EPC and his presbytery (Southeast). Dave’s hobbies are flower gardening, reading novels, writing poetry, and playing board games with his children.

WORSHIP | 7:30 until 8:30 PM | Memorial Service

Brad Strait

Dr. Brad Strait is Lead Pastor at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in Englewood, Colorado, and a former Moderator of the EPC. He teaches Leadership and Spiritual Formation at Denver Seminary and has served as a chaplain for several police and fire departments, and the Colorado House of Representatives. He has trained pastors in 28 countries around the world, exhorting people toward a deeper relationship with the living, incarnational Jesus. His passion is intimacy with God as this applies to prayer, missional living, and world Christianity. He has been married to his wife, Cathy, for 45 years, and has three daughters and six grandchildren. His stories of spiritual life, travel, and humor can be found at bradstrait.com.

TUESDAY, JUNE 16 | 10:00 to 11:15 AM | PLENARY SESSION 1

PREACHING FOR SPIRITUAL FORMATION

How can we speak to matters of culture in a meaningful and Christ-oriented way? How can we connect spiritual formation to preaching? What are some simple practices that can strengthen what you’re already doing? This teaching will be followed by some practical help on a simple sermon structure that can lower prep time, and strategies to engage listeners & keep them connected. 

 

SPEAKER | Glenn Packiam

Glenn Packiam is the Lead Pastor of Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, California, and a Senior Fellow at Barna Group. He is the author of, “What’s a Christian, Anyway? Finding Our Way in an Age of Confusion and Corruption” (March, 2025), along with eight other books, including two bestsellers—“The Resilient Pastor” and “The Intentional Year” which he co-authored with his wife, Holly. He earned a Doctorate in Theology and Ministry from Durham University, England. Glenn and Holly have four children and live in Orange County, California. Learn more at glennpackiam.com.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17 | 10:00 to 11:15AM | PLENARY SESSION 2

DISCIPLES SENT TOGETHER

This interactive panel conversation will invite the EPC to reflect on our shared identity as a people sent together for the sake of the Great Commission. Members of the Gospel Priorities Team will share stories from across the denomination that highlight how our connectional life fuels global mission and local faithfulness. We will tell stories and share hopes for the future of our common work, with opportunities for question-and-response. We will conclude in prayer for the reach of the gospel from our congregations to the nations.

MODERATOR | Michael Davis

Michael Davis Sr. serves as the Assistant Stated Clerk and Chief Collaborative Officer of the EPC, providing strategic leadership for the denomination’s Gospel Priorities, Church Planting, Church Health, Global Movement, and Effective Biblical Leadership initiatives. He lives in Memphis with his wife Serena and their three sons.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

PANELISTS

Gabriel de Guia

Gabriel de Guia is the Executive Director of EPC World Outreach, the global missions arm of the denomination. EPC World Outreach aims to serve the Church by empowering Spirit-filled witnesses to make disciples and plant reproducing churches among those with least access to the gospel. Gabriel leads the Global Movement initiative, one of the four Gospel Priorities of the EPC, alongside Church Planting, Church Health, and Effective Biblical Leadership. He is also a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando in the FL/Caribbean Presbytery.

Before joining EPC World Outreach in 2021, Gabriel dedicated 26 years to ministry with Cru, spending the last 12 years working with the Jesus Film Project. In that role, he focused on bringing the gospel and the Word of God to unreached people who had never heard the story of Jesus in their heart language. Gabriel and his wife have been married for 18 years and are proud parents of three sons.

Marc de Jeu

Marc de Jeu is the National Director of Church Health for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), where he brings a broad experience from a variety of ministry roles. Over the years, Marc has served as a ministry director, solo pastor, associate pastor, church planter, and lead pastor, working with congregations in rural, urban, and suburban settings.

In addition to his leadership within the EPC, Marc shares his passion for community by teaching Sociology and Community Development at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Emily, are grateful to call Beaver Falls home, where they are raising their three children—Joe, Will, and Katie.

Tom Ricks

Tom Ricks holds a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Covenant Theological Seminary. From 1990 to 1998, Tom served in various roles at Central Presbyterian Church EPC in Clayton, Missouri, including Associate Pastor of Outreach and Evangelism and interim Lead Pastor, under EPC founding father Andy Jumper. In 1998, he helped plant Greentree Community Church in Kirkwood, Missouri, serving as Lead Pastor until 2022. When he then transitioned to EPC National Director of Church Planting. 

Annie Rose

Annie Rose serves as the National Director of Ministerial Health for the EPC and as the Stated Clerk of Rivers & Lakes Presbytery. Her passion is to help leaders tend their own souls so that ministry flows out of a thriving relationship with Christ. Annie, her husband Joel, and their two teenage daughters live in Naperville, Illinois.

GOSPEL PRIORITIES EQUIPPING SESSIONS | TUESDAY | 1:00 to 2:30 PM

ALL – All Believers & All Nations

TEAM: World Outreach
Speakers: World Outreach Mobilization Team

Mobilization Team

The seventh Essential of the Faith in the EPC declares:
“The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations.” There’s that powerful three-letter word: ALL. Through our church’s mission programs, many of us are actively engaged in reaching all nations. But are we engaging all believers in that mission? Is the Great Commission reserved for a select few who are called to go—and for those who serve on missions committees? Or is it meant to be woven into the very fabric of church life—across committees, ministries, programs, and generations? Join us for a thought-provoking and interactive session as we explore practical, actionable ways to mobilize every believer in the life of the church to participate in God’s mission to all nations.

Aaron’s Oil: Session Unity, Congregations Blessing

TEAM: Church Planting and Effective Biblical Leadership
Speakers: Tom Ricks and Annie Rose

Psalm 133

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.”

Unity between elders (TE & RE) is crucial to a healthy congregation. Creating and protecting that unity can be elusive. How can a Session shepherd the people of God wisely and bless each other in the process? Join us as we share stories and practical tips for cultivating a Session that is a healthy and effective ministry leadership team.

 

Tom Ricks

Tom Ricks was ordained in the EPC in 1994. He has worked in a variety of capacities, but his greatest blessing was serving as the planting and lead pastor for 23 years of Greentree Community Church in Kirkwood, Missouri. Greentree was one of six congregations Tom and his congregation planted during that time, so he understands the vital importance of Session unity. Tom currently serves as the National Director of Church Planting for the EPC. He and his wife Cindy have three children and seven grandchildren.

Annie Rose

Annie Rose had the privilege of serving as a Ruling Elder for seven years before she became a Teaching Elder. Annie serves as the Stated Clerk of Rivers & Lakes Presbytery and as the National Director of Ministerial Health for the EPC. Her previous experience was as an Associate Pastor in an EPC church, the executive director of a jail ministry, and a director of a crisis pregnancy center. Her passion is to help leaders tend their own souls so that ministry flows out of a thriving relationship with Christ. Annie, her husband Joel, and their two teenage daughters live in Naperville, Illinois.

Discipleship for the Public Square

TEAM: Gospel Priorities
Speaker: TE Michael Langer

How can we, as servants and leaders in the church, form our congregations in the spiritual, emotional, relational, vocational, ideological, cultural, and evangelical aspects of discipleship so that they engage matters of the public square in a manner that seeks to encourage what is good, restore what is broken, develop what is missing, and oppose what is evil as God defines those terms? Many pastors have long adhered to the “don’t talk politics from the pulpit” approach to pastoral leadership. Sadly, this has led to a generation of congregants who have largely been formed by online forums and social media algorithms. Conversely, other pastors have fallen prey to conflating certain
virtues of the kingdom with political party platform, while ignoring others.

Rev. Michael Langer, founder and president of Faithful Presence, an EPC Endorsed ministry in Washington D.C., will lead a conversation regarding the importance of whole-life discipleship for preparing Christians for Christ-centered participation in and for the public square.

Michael Langer

Michael grew up in Eastern Iowa, where he met and married his wife Tess in 1990. He attended the University of Iowa and spent 15 years in industrial sales and sales management. Michael left sales to pursue a Master of Divinity at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis where he graduated in 2007. From 2008-2015 he was the church planter and pastor of One Ancient Hope in Iowa City. In June 2015, he took a call to re-plant a multi-site work in the western suburbs of Chicago. During his time there, Michael also served as the City Director for Made to Flourish, a Kern Foundation-sponsored project equipping pastors to integrate faith, work, and economic principles into their discipleship plans. Michael moved to Washington, D.C., in 2018 to serve as Associate Director for another ministry focused on reaching Capitol Hill before leaving to form Faithful Presence (an EPC Endorsed ministry) in 2021.

He is now pursuing a Ph.D in Public Square Theology at Stellenbosch University’s Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology. Michael is the author of the forthcoming, “First Peter: Discipleship for the Public Square.” Michael and Tess have been married for 36 years and have four adult children, two sons-in-law, and four great grandchildren. They live outside of Washington D.C. with their cat and chickens.

Exploring Alpha and the EPC

TEAM: Church Health
Speaker: Michelle Tepper

Alpha offers EPC churches a simple, proven way to invite people into meaningful conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. It serves as a “front porch” to the church—an accessible, welcoming space that empowers members to re-engage with their communities and connect with individuals who might never walk through traditional church doors. Whether you’re exploring Alpha for the first time or considering launching it in your church, home, or neighborhood, this workshop is the perfect place to begin. You’ll hear stories from trusted EPC leaders and learn how the partnership between Alpha and the EPC can equip your church and its leaders for mission.

Michelle Tepper

Michelle Tepper serves as the Director of Denomination Engagement at Alpha USA. With two decades of global ministry experience as a pastor, evangelist, and speaker, her ministry journey has taken her from leading college ministry at a historic church in Oxford, England to sharing the gospel in universities, workplaces, and civic settings around the world. Drawing on years of ministry alongside churches from different traditions, she has seen Alpha help congregations create welcoming spaces where people can explore faith and discover a life‑giving relationship with Jesus. When she’s not speaking or traveling, Michelle is likely teaching a weightlifting or mixed‑martial‑arts fitness class at her local YMCA—or enjoying her fifth coffee of the day.  She lives in Central Florida with her husband Peter, an EPC ordained pastor, and their daughters Sophia and Zipporah.

Great Commission Near and Far

TEAM: World Outreach and Church Health 
Speakers: TE Benjamin Giffone and TE Travis Scott

Missions vs. Missional? Overseas vs. Local? Missionaries vs. Church Members? Are these things really at odds with one another? Should they be presented differently by church leadership, be promoted differently, receive funding with different priorities? How does the fact that the Church only has one Great Commission from our Lord guide us in this area? What are the common challenges and opportunities for overseas missions and missional churches and how can we learn from and support one another? Join us as we discuss these and other relevant questions.

Benjamin Giffone

Benjamin D. Giffone (PhD Old Testament, Stellenbosch) has served as Transitional Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Erie, PA) since 2024. He is also a global worker with World Outreach, serving as a theological specialized with the International Theological Education Network. Benj has served as a missionary, a music director, and as a seminary and university professor. He currently serves as a member of the faculty at a graduate seminary in Chennai, India, and teaches with ITEN partner sites in Asia. He received his undergraduate and seminary degrees from Cairn University (Langhorne, PA) and his MTh and PhD in Old Testament from Stellenbosch University in Western Cape, South Africa. His wife, Corrie, is a music teacher, and they have two children, Daniel and Elizabeth. Prior to moving to Western Pennsylvania, they served for six years at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania, supported as missionaries by individuals and local congregations.

Travis Scott

Travis is the pastor of Grace & Peace Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. Prior to that, he was a missionary in Auckland, New Zealand, where he served as a church planter and taught practical theology at Grace Theological College. Travis holds an M.Div and Th.M from Covenant Theological Seminary.  

Travis and his wife Brooke have three teenagers, one dog, and a corn snake. Besides spending time with his family, Travis’ two main hobbies are drinking coffee and training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 

Marking Toward Missional

TEAM: Church Health
Speakers: Marc de Jeu and Joshua Hayden

The relationship between congregational faithfulness, Kingdom fruitfulness, and metrics is a complicated one! Our EPC Church Health team has been pressing into the question of what it looks like when our churches are living out the aspiration of being inwardly strong & outwardly focused. As we continue discerning the missional markers of healthy congregations, we’d love to mine the wisdom of our EPC family!

Facilitated by Marc de Jeu (EPC National Director of Church Health) & Joshua Hayden (Pastor and author of Remissioning Church), this workshop will set the table with an exploration of the EPC’s particular missional identity and invite us all to share insights into what objective signs of fruitfulness we’ve seen in our contexts. We’ll be celebrating those stories and looking for common threads that could shape our understanding together of these missional markers. Join us for this practice-forming conversation!

Marc de Jeu

Marc de Jeu is the National Director of Church Health for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), where he brings a broad experience from a variety of ministry roles. Over the years, Marc has served as a ministry director, solo pastor, associate pastor, church planter, and lead pastor, working with congregations in rural, urban, and suburban settings.

In addition to his leadership within the EPC, Marc shares his passion for community by teaching Sociology and Community Development at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Emily, are grateful to call Beaver Falls home, where they are raising their three children—Joe, Will, and Katie.

Joshua Hayden

Josh Hayden is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church in Ashland, VA. Josh studied leadership and organizational change while writing Creative Destruction: Towards a Theology of Institutions to receive his Doctor of Ministry at Duke Divinity School. He’s is the author of Remissioning Church: A Field Guide for Bringing a Church Back to Life. Josh works with churches, networks, denominations and various organizations see the big picture, lead on the ground and make disciples from the inside out. He is married to Shey and they have two sons, Rowan and Eli. 

Best Practices for Recruiting & Onboarding Diverse Teams of Volunteers and Staff

TEAM: Church Health and Revelation 7:9
Speakers: TE Andrew Smith and Rufus Smith

This seminar is designed for churches interested in reaching/serving their 1-3-5 mile radius. It will equip you to recruit & onboard VOLUNTEERS and STAFF who share your Christ-centered convictions but differ in age, ethnicity, class, or able-bodied mobility.  Let’s learn some best practices as well as what Jesus & the Apostles taught us.

Andrew Smith

Andrew serves as the Program Director for Resound Project’s Emerging Leaders Programs, based out of Central Presbyterian Church in New York City. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Andrew graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont and trained for ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Since then he has pastored churches in Massachusetts, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. Prior to joining Resound Project, Andrew served as the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Kennett Square in Pennsylvania for 14 years. He is an avid fan of Manchester United and the Ireland rugby team, and loves kayaking. Andrew is married to Tara and they have two grown children, Fiona (married to Randall; mother of their grandchildren, Nathan and Marcus; and living in Boston) and Duncan (living in Scotland).

Rufus Smith

Rev. Rufus Smith, IV is the Senior Pastor of Hope Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a megachurch in Memphis, Tn. He arrived in Sept. 2010. The church is “Jesus-centered, unchurched friendly & discipleship-minded”. Over the past 13 years, Hope has become a multi-ethnic, multi-economic and inter-generational congregation. In 2016, he founded the Memphis Christian Pastor’s Network (MCPN), an ethnically and denominationally diverse clergy network, seeking to redress spiritual hopelessness + joblessness among under-resourced citizens of Memphis.

He attended Houston Baptist University majoring in Theology and Psychology. And in 2019 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Grove City College in PA. Crazy about baseball, reading and domestic travel, his claim to fame is his wife, Jacqueline of 39 years and their three adult children, two of whom work in Memphis with under-resourced children: Ruth Abigail, (Furman University in SC); Rufus V (Howard University in DC); and Rhoda Anna, (Agnes Scott College, Decatur GA; BA/MA).

Replanting for Renewal: Gospel Hope for Declining and Dying Churches

TEAM: Church Health and Church Planting
Speakers: TE Stefan Bomberger, Weston Blaha, Omar Villacres

Across the EPC, many congregations are facing decline, transition, or closure—yet God continues to bring renewal through faithful church replanting. This panel features TE’s Stefan Bomberger (Manoa Community EPC), Omar Villacres (Garwood EPC), and Weston Blaha (Grace Fellowship EPC)—pastors who have led churches through the demanding and hopeful work of replanting in suburban, urban, and rural contexts.

Together, they will share honest lessons learned, theological convictions, and practical wisdom on discerning when replanting is needed, leading cultural change with humility, caring well for legacy members, forming healthy leadership and discipleship cultures, and sustaining gospel hope through seasons of loss and renewal. This conversation is designed for pastors, elders, presbytery leaders, and sessions wrestling with questions of faithfulness, fruitfulness, and long-term mission.

Come learn how God is using church replanting—not as a strategy of last resort—but as a means of resurrection and renewed mission in the EPC.

Stefan Bomberger

Stefan Bomberger is Pastor of Manoa Community Church (Manoa EPC) and Missional Director of the Philly Metro Network. He has led Manoa through significant revitalization while working regionally to support church replants, revitalizations, and collaborative mission across Greater Philadelphia. Stefan brings a strategic, systems-level perspective to replanting, especially around leadership development, asset stewardship, and sustainable models for urban and suburban ministry.

Weston Blaha

Weston Blaha is Pastor of Grace Fellowship EPC in Marshall, Texas, where he has guided a rural-context replant through significant cultural and missional change. A graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary, Weston offers practical wisdom on leading change in small-town settings, rebuilding trust, re-forming sessions, and helping congregations embrace new identity and mission while honoring their past.

Omar Villacres

Omar Villacres is Pastor of Garwood EPC in northern New Jersey, where he has led a full church replant marked by renewed theology, discipleship culture, and mission. Coming from a background in church planting and shaped by training at Westminster Theological Seminary, Omar brings a deeply pastoral and relational approach to replanting, with particular insight into shepherding legacy members, reforming leadership, and cultivating healthy disciple-making communities.

Welcoming the Generations

TEAM: Next Gen
Speakers: Meagan Kroeker, Cole Lescher, TE Stephanie Poblenz

The church may be the last place in our modern society where people of different generations who are not related can actually interact and truly know each other. Yet, we find in so many of our congregations that having different generations get together and share life together is one of the most difficult things we try to accomplish! We may be tempted to think that we need to change with the latest trends or come up with new and inventive solutions to this problem. However, what if the solution already existed in the way your congregation does life together? Join representatives from the Next Generation Council as we look at practical ideas and non-cheesy ways for generations to interact and engage with one another.

Meagan Kroeker

Meagan Kroeker, Pastor of Children & Youth at First Pres Fresno. She’s been involved in youth and children’s ministry for 14 years. She enjoys equipping Youth Leaders, teaching Bible studies, discipling students, and living out her faith boldly for God’s enjoyment. Her mission is to make disciples of Jesus who desire to make disciples. It’s a simple and beautiful call to walk with Jesus.

It is a joy to come alongside young people to pray, equip, and encourage them to seek after Jesus with their whole lives. As we learn to surrender more and more of our lives to God, The Lord responds by leading us to become more and more the people we are created to be.

It is a privilege to be a part of the EPC’s Next Gen Council. We hope you walk away from our time together more encouraged, equipped and connected to one another.

Cole Lescher

Cole Lescher serves at Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri, where he leads next generation ministries and cultivates intergenerational and cross-generational connections. He is passionate about helping churches become places of deep belonging through intentional hospitality, shared life, and everyday faith practices. He lives in St. Louis with his wife, Kirk, and their three wild and crazy boys.

Stephanie Poblenz

Stephanie Poblenz serves as the Associate Pastor of Family Discipleship and Care at Lebanon Presbyterian Church in Lebanon, Ohio. She deeply loves the church and creating spaces for generations to connect and be sincerely known.  She finds it a joy and an honor to be able to serve both the local church and the wider EPC family to minister to every generation that the Lord has placed in our care.

NETWORK LUNCH | TUESDAY 11:30 – 12:45 PM

Cameron Shaffer

AD INTERIM COMMITTEE ON SAME SEX ATTRACTION

Group: Ad Interim Committee on Same Sex Attraction

This is the presentation of the recommendations made by the AIC on SSA & Ordination. It will be a time to present the AIC’s work and to answer questions.

Please note: This lunch will be held in the gym to accommodate the maximum number of commissioners

Carol Williams

NETWORK LUNCH | WEDNESDAY 11:30 – 12:45 PM

Doug Resler

AD INTERIM COMMITTEE ON ORDINATION STANDARDS

Group: Ad Interim Committee on Ordination Standards

Join Co-Chairs Julie Hawkins and Doug Resler and the rest of the AiC on Ordination Standards to ask questions and dialogue around the recommendations coming before the General Assembly.

Julie Hawkins

NETWORK LUNCH | THURSDAY 11:45 – 12:45 PM

Michelle Munger

DISABILITY AND ACCESS AD-INTERIM PRELIMINARY WORK

Group: The Disability and Access Ad-Interim Committee

The church is incomplete without the presence and participation of people with disabilities. That includes the sacraments.

The Disability and Access Ad-Interim Committee has been hard at work considering the focused subject of access to the sacraments by people with disabilities. Our primary directive was to create a Pastoral Letter to help us all think through the nuance of this seldom considered topic.

Join us as we share a preliminary draft of that work and let us explain why you will want us to come share this work with YOUR presbytery this fall/winter.

Mark Jumper

BEING DENOMINATIONAL IN A NON-DENOMINATIONAL AGE

Group: EPC Chaplains

Non-denominational churches now constitute the largest number of Protestants in the US. How can denominational congregations, as a minority, work well in this environment?

We will look at denominational whys, including biblical and theological factors; numerical trends in the US and world; the health of various denominational groups; cultural tendencies, such as individualism, independence, and personal choice tending toward non-denominationalism, and how to address them; a growing perceived hunger for liturgy, connection, theological stability, Holy Spirit freedom, and interchurch cooperation; public presentation of denominational strengths; and pathways toward successful Kingdom fruitfulness in this environment. This presentation is valuable for all those in Ministry, whether pastors, chaplains, missionaries, ruling elders, and more.

Wendy Piehl

PASTOR’S WIVES LUNCHEON

Wendy Piehl is a Colorado native, wife of 28 years to Chris Piehl, Associate Pastor of Student and Family Ministries at Cherry Creek Pres, and a mother of three daughters—twin college students and one almost-17-year-old daughter with profound physical and developmental disabilities. She and her husband have served at Cherry Creek since May 2003, walking through 23 years of ministry in the same church community they deeply love. Wendy got her degree in Biblical Studies from Colorado Christian University, where she and Chris met when she was 18. She has spent most of her adult life homeschooling, special-needs parenting, and learning to depend on the grace of God as she seeks to balance family life and ministry through many changing seasons. In the spare moments she manages to find, Wendy enjoys birding, knitting, and taking long walks with her husband—where they process the challenges of parenting and ministry and solve most of the world’s problems before heading home.

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