Leaders – Joy Skjegstad and Heidi Unruh

Limited resources don’t have to hold your church back from meaningful engagement with the neighborhood! Ministry consultants Joy Skjegstad and Heidi Unruh share a range of inexpensive ideas for local outreach that focus on creativity, celebration and connection. Energize the congregation by involving people based on what they like to do best and care about the most. Joy and Heidi will guide participants in next steps toward “less-is-more” community outreach that can happen all throughout the coming year.

Joy Skjegstad is a national speaker, author and consultant with over 35 years of experience starting and growing nonprofits and church-based community ministry programs.  She founded the Institute for Ministry Leaders at the University of St. Thomas, and has held a variety of other leadership positions with nonprofit groups. She is the author of four books: Real Connections; 7 Creative Models for Community Ministry; Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church; and Winning Grants to Strengthen Your Ministry. 
Heidi Unruh  is a writer, trainer and coach supporting God’s people in their calling to love their neighbors. A Palmer Seminary alumna, Heidi develops practical resources for effective, asset-based ministry. In addition to working with churches, her collaborations have included World Vision, Christians for Social Action (formerly ESA), the Center for Congregations, and various Christian colleges and seminaries. She brings special expertise in faith-and-work initiatives, coalition building, and trauma-informed ministry with vulnerable families and youth. She lives in Hutchinson, KS. Books coauthored by Heidi include: Churches That Make a Difference; Real Connections; Hope for Children in Poverty; Saving Souls, Serving Society; Salt & Light Guidebook; and Equipping Christians for Kingdom Purpose in Their Work. 

 Leader – Patti Berner 

This annual 90 MINUTE training includes an explanation of sexual harassment, church-based case studies of unlawful sexual harassment, information concerning employees’ rights, information addressing conduct by church leadership and the responsibilities of the church’s leadership, information on the documents the church must have in place, and information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment. This is an online and interactive 90-minute session which meets New York State Standards for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training. 

Patti Berner has a MBA in Organizational Leadership, had a successful career in the staffing and recruiting industry, and is owner of Johnston Solutions, founded in 2005, a HR consulting practice dedicated to small businesses and faith-based organizations. Currently, she is the Clerk of Session at Elmhurst Presbyterian and has served for many years as the HR Team Chairperson 

What if your church’s building is not simply an expense to maintain, but one of your congregation’s greatest resources for mission? As churches navigate declining attendance, changing neighborhoods, and financial pressures, questions about buildings and property are becoming increasingly urgent. Drawing from his forthcoming book, The Church as Community Hub: Sharing Spaces to Help Neighborhoods Thrive, Loren Richmond Jr. will explore how congregations can reimagine their buildings and land as resources for hospitality, connection, and community flourishing.
Through real-world examples of churches utilizing their property for housing, childcare, food programs, social enterprise, shared space, and other community initiatives, participants will consider what’s possible in their own contexts—and practical first steps for getting started. The webinar will also address common pitfalls, including allowing revenue to drive mission, evaluating church property solely through financial return, and waiting until a crisis forces a decision.
Rev. Loren Richmond Jr. is a pastor, chaplain, nonprofit leader, consultant, and founder of the Future Christian Podcast. His work focuses on helping churches and nonprofit organizations navigate leadership, ministry, and change. Loren currently serves as a hospital chaplain and works with churches and nonprofits through consulting, coaching, and leadership development. He holds a Master of Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary and an MBA in Nonprofit Management from Hope International University.
A writer, speaker, and podcast host, Loren explores theology, church life, and the future of the church through his Substack newsletter, The Church Nerd, and the Future Christian Podcast. Drawing from experience across multiple Christian traditions, he is passionate about congregational vitality, thoughtful leadership, and helping communities discern faithful next steps. Loren lives in Thornton, Colorado, with his wife, Corinna, and their family.  

Leaders – Ev Worthington, Science for the Church
This webinar seeks to deepen our understanding of forgiveness, especially for those involved ministry tasks such as pastoral care, pastoral counseling, Christian education, spiritual formation, and preaching. I examine biblical and practical theology for how to forgive and how to promote forgiveness. Biblical theology tells us to forgive unilaterally and every time but does not offer much about how to do it. Practical theology tells us how to help people forgive using five categories of helping (such as many kinds of prayer, using restraint, looking to models, drawing on the Christian community local church, and being able to look to God’s general revelation). Forgiveness science, a part of God’s general revelation, reveals a general stress-and-coping theory of forgiveness that leads to emphasizing the benefits of forgiving (to offender and forgiver), an injustice gap, and two different types of forgiveness–decisional and emotional forgiveness. We will conclude by looking at both decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness as through the lens of both science and Christian practice.
Everett L. Worthington, Jr. has been elder in Presbyterian Churches for nearly 5 decades, serving on session for nearly half of them.  Professionally, he taught and did research at Virginia Commonwealth University for 40 years, and now his salary is retired, but he is still active in research and speaking globally. He has published over 50 books and over 600 articles and chapters. He has taught a year at Wheaton College and spoken to Christian venues all over the world. He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia.  

If you were living in civilized places like England or the Netherlands, why would you consider boarding the Mayflower, bound for the New World? The Atlantic crossing would be a nightmare, with the threat of storms, pirates, and cramped, dark conditions. Even if you reached land, you were destined for a wild place, lacking shelter and filled with uncertainty. Your odds of survival hovered at fifty percent. 
 
Enter the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a time of transition from Queen Elizabeth to King James in England, and in the Netherlands, the Dutch Golden Age. The story of the thirty-three years leading up to the famous Mayflower voyage is told in this meticulously researched novel, combining known names like Brewster and Bradford, with the fictional London family of printer Nicholas Okes. 
 
The printing press connects the characters, with some obeying the King’s rules, and others fleeing to the Netherlands for religious freedom and printing forbidden works. Romance ripples through the families, leading them to the docks in Southampton, waiting in the shadow of the ships. Who will venture aboard, and will it be for love, land, or religious freedom? 

Leaders – Ev Worthington, Science for the Church 
This webinar seeks to equip pastors to make better interventions to promote forgiveness in local congregations. I will deal with psychoeducation, counseling, Christian education, and congregational deep dives into forgiveness. The approach will focus on REACH Forgiveness, an empirically validated method of helping people forgive (test in nearly three dozen randomized controlled trials involving over 4,500 participants in 5 countries). I will detail the 5 steps of REACH Forgiveness as well as evidence for its effectiveness, noting its connections to practical theology and other clinical psychological approaches. Finally, I examine multiple studies in Christian colleges, a secular university and churches in the USA and Australia. We will conclude with practical advice on how to better engage and cultivate forgiveness in your congregation.  
Everett L. Worthington, Jr. has been elder in Presbyterian Churches for nearly 5 decades, serving on session for nearly half of them. Professionally, he taught and did research at Virginia Commonwealth University for 40 years, and now his salary is retired, but he is still active in research and speaking globally. He has published over 50 books and over 600 articles and chapters. He has taught a year at Wheaton College and spoken to Christian venues all over the world. He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia.

 Leader – Patti Berner 

This annual 90 MINUTE training includes an explanation of sexual harassment, church-based case studies of unlawful sexual harassment, information concerning employees’ rights, information addressing conduct by church leadership and the responsibilities of the church’s leadership, information on the documents the church must have in place, and information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment. This is an online and interactive 90-minute session which meets New York State Standards for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training.  

Patti Berner has a MBA in Organizational Leadership, had a successful career in the staffing and recruiting industry, and is owner of Johnston Solutions, founded in 2005, a HR consulting practice dedicated to small businesses and faith-based organizations. Currently, she is the Clerk of Session at Elmhurst Presbyterian and has served for many years as the HR Team Chairperson 

Leader – Keith Clark-Hoyos
Many church leaders know Robert’s Rules of Order, but fewer realize that it is only one of several approaches churches use to make faithful, effective decisions. Across Christian traditions, congregations and governing bodies have adopted a variety of models—including consensus, discernment-based processes, simplified parliamentary procedures, and hybrid approaches that blend multiple methods. 

This webinar will explore the strengths, limitations, and appropriate uses of four major decision-making models used in churches today: parliamentary procedure, consensus, discernment, and hybrid systems. Participants will learn how different traditions approach decision-making, what governance safeguards every church should maintain regardless of method, and how to match a decision-making process to the type of issue being considered. 

Whether your church is struggling with contentious meetings, seeking more meaningful participation, or looking for a process that better reflects its values and culture, this session will provide practical guidance and resources for moving forward. 

Participants will learn: 

• The differences between parliamentary, consensus, discernment, and hybrid decision-making models. 

• How various Christian traditions approach governance and decision-making. 

• The governance safeguards every church should maintain, regardless of process. 

• When different decision-making models are most effective. 

• How to evaluate whether your current approach serves your church’s mission and culture. 

• Resources for further study and implementation. 

This webinar is designed for pastors, board and council members, elders, deacons, trustees, finance leaders, judicatory staff, and anyone responsible for guiding faithful and effective church decisions.
Keith Clark-Hoyos is the Founder and Partner of Church Training Center, where he serves as a consultant, coach, and spiritual guide—supporting church leaders as they align with God’s calling, lead with clarity, and steward resources with integrity. Church Training Center provides practical, Spirit-led support for congregations and judicatories through coaching, consulting, training, and church-specific accounting services that bring steadiness to governance, finance, and leadership development. Keith holds a Master of Arts in Ministry, Leadership & Service from Claremont School of Theology and is the author of eight titles on discernment, church governance, and church finance. 

Leader – Rev. Kerstin Weidmann 
Many congregations just hope to quickly find their next settled pastor as their current one retires or leaves for a different reason. However, the time of transition is pregnant with opportunities to redefine the vision and mission of a congregation under current circumstances. An intentional interim minister guides a congregation through this time of transition, helping them prepare to find a settled pastor who is a good fit. This webinar introduces participants to intentional interim ministry and its benefits for a congregation in transition. Furthermore, it explains how intentional transitional work is different from pastoral supply and coverage. Participants are encouraged to come with their questions! 
This webinar is mainly geared toward lay leaders of congregations going through transition or anticipating the leaving of their pastor, but anyone interested in the topic of intentional interim ministry is invited to attend. 
Rev. Kerstin Weidmann is a part-time faculty member of the Lutheran Transitional Ministry Association and regularly teaches prospective intentional interim ministers on a variety of topics. She currently serves Old Steeple Community Church (UCC) in Aquebogue. She has dual standing in the UCC and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Before accepting the (settled) call to Old Steeple, she served as an intentional interim minister herself, helping congregations with assessing the past, taking stock of the present, and developing a vision for the future, as they discerned what they are looking for in their next settled pastor. 

In our happiness-obsessed society, we can become isolated in comfort zones and overly focused on temporary pleasures. Kids naturally do the same. In our effort to protect and help them, we often shield them from discomfort. But are we unwittingly denying them experiences that will form them into strong, capable adults? Could it be that we’re training them to believe that challenges ought to be avoided, and that if they’re struggling, they’re not well? In The Happiness Crisis, global educational leader Jon Eckert speaks from decades of experience, explaining how he has seen parents, teachers, and coaches nurture transformation in kids ages 9 to 22. With practical wisdom, humor, and real-world evidence, he’ll show you how to invite young people into challenges, risks, and adventures; prioritize real-life connections that show others they matter; resist living in echo chambers and chasing fleeting success; and welcome kids into lives that move beyond circumstantial happiness to lasting joy. Decades from now, the most resilient adults will be the most joyful. They’ll know that joy isn’t freedom from struggle; it’s the fuel that allows them to struggle well.
Young people can begin living that way now—if we invite them to.  

Dr. Jonathan Eckert was a public school teacher outside of Chicago and Nashville for 12 years. He earned his doctorate in education at Vanderbilt University and served as a U.S. Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellow in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Currently, he is the Lynda and Robert Copple Chair and Professor of Educational Leadership at Baylor University, where he supports leaders through the Center for School Leadership. Leading professional learning across the country, he catalyzes teaching and leading for each student. He is the author of The Novice Advantage and Leading Together.