Speak Up!: Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Transcription

1 Congregational Pastors, please pass this information on to the women in your congregations. Speak Up!: Giving Voice to the Voiceless 2015 Lexington Spring Conference Photo by Chuck Summers You Won't Want to Miss This Informative, Inspiring, and Worshipful Conference! Kentucky Disciples Women's Ministries Spring Conference Submit your registration form today! Speak Up!: Giving Voice to the Voiceless Saturday, April 25, :30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. Crestwood Christian Church, Lexington, KY Rev. Amy Gopp Vigne, Director of Members Relations and Pastoral Care for Church World Service Global and former Director of Week of Compassion, is our morning worship preacher. Andra Moran, Disciples songwriter and recording artist, will serve as our featured musician of the day, accompanied by popular Nashville singer/songwriter and recording artist Sarah Williams. Kentucky's own, Deborah Garr from Seventh Christian Church, Paris, also will lend her musical talents to the day's worship.

2 Workshop Leaders for the Day Rev. Amy Gopp Vigne is our preacher for the day and will lead the workshop We Will Speak Out! This workshop will speak to the work being done by the organization of the same name. We will Speak Out! is a faith-based coalition committed to ending sexual and gender based violence. For the past five years, Amy has served as the coalition's co-chair of the US steering committee. Amy responds to her calling to the work of Christ by serving as a global activist and peacemaker-one who through dynamic preaching and creative teaching urges God's people to engage in compassionate service that imbues hope and empowerment for all. An ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Amy was Executive Director for Week of Compassion, the relief, refugee, and development ministry fund of the Disciples church. She currently serves as the director of member relations and pastoral care for Church World Service Global. Dia Davidson is a well-known and well-regarded television News Anchor for WLEX 18 and motivational speaker. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Kentucky and First Lady of Broadway Christian Church (DOC) in Winchester. Dia holds a Master of Journalism degree from Temple University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Georgia. Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dia has been with WLEX18 since She has received numerous awards while in Kentucky, including a YMCA Black Achiever award and appreciation awards from her work with Kentucky Special Needs Adoption Program and the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet Service. In addition, Dia was a 2002 Emmy Nominee for News Anchoring, received the 2000 Community Service Image Award, and a National Education Association Award for Advancement of Education through Broadcasting. Dia's workshop Papa, Can you Hear Me? will explore the roles and voices of several women in Biblical history. Attendees will look at these women's positions in the family or society of the day, explore how their

3 voices were heard by God, and how they impacted their community and changed the world. Andra Moran, Disciples songwriter and recording artist from Nashville, will lead a two-hour songwriting workshop. The workshop will focus on how music can serve as a powerful voice for the voiceless. The participants in the workshop will perform their original song in the closing worship. Andra studied music formally at Belmont University in Nashville, all the while apprenticing in a variety of settings, swapping songs and stories. Her honest, passionate writing won her the respect of her colleagues, musical friendships and regular work on stage and in the studio. Andra works actively in ecumenical settings, and in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, providing music at the local, regional and national levels for a variety of gatherings, as well as offering both concerts, workshops and consulting services on worship design, music and leadership in local churches across the country. Andra's music expresses both a deep faith and a mature sense of self. Her recordings include the Instarock Records 2012 release Harmony Grove, 2011's Little Miracles, 2009's In Small Things, 2005's Listening, 2003's acoustic EP, The Someday Sessions and 2001's If Not for This with Josh Elson. In addition to her English language recordings, Andra's bilingual album Chant Spontané was released by the Reform Church of France in Andra's songs have also been published in contemporary song and hymnal collections and are sung in churches, summer camps and dorm rooms around the world. In 2012, Andra added "author" to her resume, writing for One Great Hour of Sharing's leader devotional guide and a children's collection of devotionals for Capitol Records/Brentwood Benson. In 2013, Andra's book Brim: Creative Overflow in Worship Design was published with coauthor Rev. Dr. Suzanne Castle by Chalice Press. Brim received the Editor's Choice Award in 2014 from Worship Leader Magazine. Currently, Andra serves Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville as the Creative Director at The Bridge alongside her husband, musician Stephen Daniel King.

4 Rev. Sharon Fields, workshop leader, keynoter and preacher from Paris, Kentucky, will lead a workshop on Women of the New Testament: Finding Their Voices. This workshop features Just Women! magazine's spring issue, the Office of Disciples Women annual bible study. The focus of the lesson is the Canaanite woman, a mother and ethnic outsider, who advocates for her sick child. Because this woman is so persistent and vocal, she causes a shift in the ministry of Jesus and helps bring salvation to the world. Sharon is an educator, politician, and a minister. She was also the first African American woman to become a city commissioner in Paris, KY. In 1990, she was a teacher at Paris High School and a city commissioner. She was a commissioner, off and on, for 10 years. Today, Sharon is a member of the Paris Independent School Board of Education. She has also served as pastor of the Eminence Christian Church in Eminence. Sharon earned her undergraduate degree in education at Eastern Kentucky University, a master's degree in education at Georgetown College, a master's degree in public affairs at Kentucky State University, and a Master of Divinity at Lexington Theological Seminary. She was the first African American woman vice moderator and moderator for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) In Kentucky. Sharon is also an author, she has written numerous articles for religious magazines such as Just Women!; articles for the Bourbon Times and The Bourbon Citizen; and an article for Essence Magazine on social security benefits for out-of-wedlock children. She is the co-author of In Other Words... stories of African American involvement in the early years of the Stone-Campbell movement in Kentucky. Marissa Castellanos is a MSW and received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work from the University of Kentucky. Marissa works with Catholic Charities of Louisville as the Human Trafficking Program Manager. She provides training on human trafficking throughout Kentucky, assists in developing and maintaining statewide human trafficking coalitions and task forces, and works directly with identified victims of human trafficking throughout Kentucky. Over the past seven years, Marissa has provided case

5 management services to more than 90 survivors of either sex or labor trafficking. She works closely with social service providers, health care workers, law enforcement, and others to ensure that human trafficking is being identified in our communities and that the survivors are provided with the resources they need to rebuild their lives. Marissa will lead a workshop on the subject of the International Disciples Women's Ministries Social Action Emphasis. Her workshop is entitled Human Trafficking: A National and Local Concern. Rev. Dalene Vasbinder is the Senior Pastor at Woodland Christian Church in Lexington. Prior to her ordination in 1992, Dalene served as a Global Missions intern in El Salvador from , working in a camp for displaced people during their civil war. In her twenty-five years of ministry, she has participated in and led numerous trips to Latin America including trips to Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In July 2014, as part of her sabbatical, Dalene lived in Nicaragua to learn more about Mision Cristiana and the country. Dalene s workshop, Listening to and Learning from Voices From Nicaragua, will help you learn more about how Global Ministries of the Christian Church (DOC) works. Maybe your heart is more interested in transforming your local congregation. If any of this speaks to you, stop by and learn about CCK Global Missions Parter, Mision Cristiana, in Nicaragua, a lively, spirited group of churches working with some of the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua. Their witness is an inspiration to us all! During the working, Dalene will give a brief overview of Global Ministries partnership model, talk specifically about Mision Cristiana and suggest ways you may get involved through a learning and serving trip to Managua or serving as a host congregation to person/s from our Global Ministries partner. Caitlin Simpson is Student Body President at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Kentucky Council of Churches intern, and has been approved for ordination in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in May In March 2015 Caitlin traveled to New York City to attend the United Nations 59th Commission on the Status of Women as part of the Women's

6 Center at LPTS Delegation. Attend Caitlin's workshop Status, Faith and Justice for All: Rights of Women and Girls for a discussion on global issues of the status of women and girls. You will learn about the important role faith plays in global decision making and for the journey for a more just world for all of God's creation. The topics of discussion will range in scope from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), sex trafficking, child marriages, access to education, equal pay, sustainability and creation care, gender identity, sexual orientation and young girl's rights. As a person of faith, it is important to educate oneself about these issues as we continue to work for justice for all of God's children. Rev. Dean W. Bucalos' workshop is entitled Voices from Behind the Bars and Beyond. The United States has the largest prison population in the world. Among those incarcerated in our country are a disproportionate number of people of color. How did this happen? What can we do as followers of Christ to seek justice, be merciful and serve both those behind the bars and those returning to our communities? Dean was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has served as the pastor of congregations in Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, The University of Kentucky College of Law and Lexington Theological Seminary. He is presently serving as the pastor of New Life in Christ Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a congregation he began that is located inside a women's re-entry facility in Louisville. He is also the program coordinator of Mission Behind Bars and Beyond, an ecumenical reentry program that trains small faith-based groups to work with exoffenders upon their release from prison. Prior to his ordination, Dean practiced law in Ashland and Lexington. He serves as an adjunct professor at Bellarmine University in Louisville, where he teaches classes on Christianity and Social Justice. Dean is a trained volunteer facilitator for the Juvenile Justice Pilot Program in Jefferson County, Kentucky, sponsored by Restorative Justice Louisville.

7 Rev. Carol Wieger will lead the workshop Created and Called: Discovering our Gifts for Abundant Living. While we may be familiar with the traditional theological concepts of gifts, call, vocation, and discernment, but God invites us - in each age - to a new and deeper appreciation of their meanings for our times. This workshop invites us to claim, nurture, and use our gifts in service for ministry in our families, communities, workplaces, with friends, and as citizens of the universe. Let's develop our voices today. Carol is a member of Shepherdsville Christian Church and a graduate of Lexington Theological Seminary. She is currently serving as a Chaplain of The Shepherd's Shelter, a homeless initiative, in Bullitt County. She has over 25 years of service in Women's and Children's Ministries. Rev. Carol Poston will lead the workshop Circle of Healing: Congregational Resources for Domestic Violence Situations. In her workshop, Carol will use Faith Trust Institute's DVD resource Domestic Violence: What Churches Can Do, to explore basic information about domestic violence from a survivor's perspective and to prompt discussion as to how congregations can be supportive of battered women and work towards prevention of domestic violence. Attendees will also discuss the usefulness of this resource in congregational settings. Carol is an ordained United Methodist minister and is endorsed by the United Methodist Church as a pastoral counselor. A native of Iowa, Carol pastored churches in Iowa for 9 years before moving with her husband to Tennessee and then to Berea, KY. Carol took time off from active ministry to be with her two children. She and her daughter started to school at the same time, Carol to work on a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling, and her daughter to first grade. Carol is now a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Berea, as well as a part time chaplain at Berea-St. Joseph Hospital, a Girl Scout leader, and a cheerleader for her husband and two children.

8 Kate Snyder, Kentucky's 2014 Woman-to-Woman representative to Italy and France, will lead the workshop Stronger Together: Listening to the voice of the Protestant minority in France & Italy. Kate is a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an active member of Burgin Christian Church, where her husband serves as pastor. Her participation in the 2014 Woman to Woman Worldwide Experience was her first adventure with Disciples Women, but it certainly won't be her last! In traveling to France and Italy, Kate thought she was returning to countries she already knew and loved, but the journey challenged her to experience those places with fresh eyes. She returned home with a profound respect for the struggles - and opportunities - that arise from being a minority faith in a rapidly changing world.