THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
Join us in-person (limited in-person registration available)
Emmanuel Chin Baptist Church, 4330 S. 84th Street, Greenfield
Scroll down for the schedule of events in-person.
Join us for worship online for free!
Facebook Live on Friday, October 9th at 7 p.m. and Saturday, October 10th around 10:30 a.m.
SPEAKER INFORMATION
Rev. Dr. C. Jeff Woods
Friday Workshop for Clergy 4-6 p.m. & Saturday Workshop 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Dr. C. Jeff Woods is currently serving as Associate General Secretary for Regional Ministry for the American Baptist Churches USA. Previous roles include serving a term as General Secretary and serving as the Executive Minister for ABC of Ohio. He also served four pastorates within the ABC Region of Indiana-Kentucky including nine years as Senior Pastor of the FBC of Rushville.
Dr. Woods earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1987 majoring in both higher education administration and educational inquiry methodology. He also holds a M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a B.S. from Purdue University in Management and Statistics. Scholarships and fellowships allowed his entire education to be tuition free. His leadership development includes training from the Heifitz group on Adaptive Change, the Leadership Circle, and the Tavistock Institute in Leicester, UK. He is trained as a Master Facilitator and is a certified nonprofit consultant from Board Source, Inc.
Also an author, his formal publications include seven books and over forty articles and evaluation reports in various religious, academic, and business journals. Some of his books include, Designing Religious Studies, published in 2015 by Wipf and Stock, On the Move, published by Chalice Press in 2009, Better Than Success, Eight Principles of Faithful Leadership, published by Judson Press, and three additional books by the Alban Institute.
As a speaker, consultant, and resource person to congregations, regions, judicatories, and nonprofits, he has worked with groups in nearly every state and province in North America as well as internationally, teaching the first research class for Doctor of Ministry students at the Myanmar Institute of Theology. He has received numerous research and application grants and worked on a variety of boards, study groups, and think tanks, including his service on the Lilly Foundation sponsored Pulpit and Pew Project and the White House Community Corps.
He and his wife, Kandy, have been married for 43 years and reside in Newark, Ohio. They have two adult children, Brandon and Kelsey, and five grandchildren.
Rev. Dr. Hrang Hlei
Friday Worship Service, 7 p.m. & Saturday Workshop 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Rev. Hrang Hlei, PhD, is an ordained American Baptist minister. He came to the US as a seminary student, and currently serves as the Congregational Care pastor at Indiana Chin Baptist Church, Indiana. He also holds a leadership role as newly elected General Secretary for Chin Baptist Churches, USA, which connects over a hundred local congregations across the country. He did his doctoral research among the Chin immigrant churches and published it as "The Formation of Chin Immigrant Congregations in the United States: Discovering Their Ecclesiological Identities." Rev. Hlei is passionate about helping and nurturing immigrant churches in God's calling to preach the gospel and make disciples here in the US and beyond.
Rev. Dr. Pam Durso
Saturday Devotional, 9 a.m.
President Pamela R. Durso was appointed as the 11th president of Central Seminary in Overland Park, Kansas by the Board of Directors in February 2020 and began her tenure on June 1 in the midst of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. With most of the seminary faculty and staff working from home and classes confined to the zoom online platform, her first weeks as president were not what anyone expected, but the seminary community welcomed her virtually and in socially distanced ways.
President Durso holds two degrees from Baylor University, earning a B.A. degree in religion in 1983 and a Ph.D. in church history in 1992. She received a Master of Divinity degree in 1987 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 2003-2009, she served as associate executive director-treasurer of the Baptist History and Heritage Society and from 1999-2003, she was assistant professor of church history and Baptist heritage at Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina. She also was an adjunct faculty member for ten years at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, teaching Baptist history and church history electives.
From 2009 until 2020, President Durso served as executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry, where she was a resource for women serving in all areas of Christian ministry. She has used her voice as an advocate for women ministers, calling on Baptist churches to re-imagine their futures, to re-think their leadership, and to re-create their identities.
President Durso is the author and/or editor of ten books, including The Story of Baptists in the United States, which she co-wrote with her husband Keith, and The Power of Woman: The Life and Writings of Sarah Moore Grimké, which was based on her doctoral dissertation. She has also written numerous journal articles and book chapters. The recipient of numerous awards, President Durso was presented with the Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler Leadership Alumni Award from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (2018) Lifetime Achievement Award by Christians for Biblical Equality (2015), and the Baptist History and Heritage Society’s W. O. Carver Distinguished Service Award (2010).
Rev. Max Ramsey
Saturday Worship, 10:30 a.m.
Rev. Max Ramsey is the pastor of Immanuel Church, Brookfield, where he has served since 2000. He is also the co-founder with David Nelson of StreetLife Communities in Milwaukee.
StreetLife Communities (SLC) engages in street outreach to provide essential medical care, survival resources, and hope to Milwaukee’s unhoused community.
Homelessness is not simply living without shelter, it’s disconnection from the support and relationships that provide security and meaning to our lives. It’s a physical, emotional, and spiritual predicament that creates debilitating suffering and trauma.
Max is married to Jackie. When asked for his bio, he simply said, "I am just a child of God."
Rev. Deliris and Moise Carrion-Joseph
Saturday Panel Discussion, 1:15-2 p.m. (Deliris only) and Saturday Workshop, 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Deliris and Moise serve among Haitian, Central American, and African migrants who have made their new home in Tijuana, Mexico. Moise is a business entrepreneur, and Deliris is a pastor and occupational therapist. They serve with the Baja Regional Baptist Convention, Dios con nosotros. Using his skills and ability to speak four different languages, Moise helps migrants and migrant communities achieve their new beginnings. Deliris supports Deborah’s House, a ministry for women survivors of domestic violence and their children. They strongly believe that God uses us all wherever we live, and new opportunities are open for those who trust in the Lord.
Rev. Dr. Brian Henderson
Saturday Workshop, 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Rev. Dr. Brian Henderson is an ordained minister within the American Baptist Churches, USA, with over twenty-five years of pastoral leadership across three congregations. Since 2019, he has served on the Board and Staff of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB), assuming the role of full-time Executive Director in 2024. His ministerial vocation is complemented by his commitment to social justice, interfaith collaboration, and inclusive theological engagement.
Rev. Henderson began his undergraduate education in urban ministry management at the Center for Urban Theological Studies in Philadelphia, subsequently transferring to Eastern College (now Eastern University), where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Theology, graduating cum laude. He holds a Master of Divinity from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary), and a Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in Family Systems Theory, also from Palmer Theological Seminary.
Throughout his career, Rev. Henderson has engaged in ministry and denominational leadership at local, regional, and national levels within the American Baptist tradition. He has served on numerous nonprofit boards, most recently as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado. His ministerial service has also included chaplaincy in fire and emergency contexts and certification as a funeral celebrant, with extensive experience presiding over hundreds of memorial services.
Rev. Henderson has contributed commentary and analysis to a range of scholarly and public-facing platforms, including national and local news outlets, journals, and magazines. He has also provided endorsements for a number of academic and trade publications.
Rev. Henderson’s commitment to inclusive ministry is deeply informed by his own lived experience. In 2011, after more than two decades of navigating the theological, cultural, and personal tensions surrounding sexual identity within a faith context, he came out as a gay man. This decision, undertaken through profound professional and spiritual reflection, marked a pivotal reorientation of both his personal and ministerial life. Though initially accompanied by fear of personal and vocational loss, he took the steps necessary to be true to himself, his family, colleagues, and friends, an act of integrity shaped by careful discernment. This transformative journey continues to inform a theological vision grounded in radical inclusion and a steadfast commitment to cultivating faith communities that affirm the full dignity and humanity of all persons within the life of the church.
Minister Althea Miller
Artist in Residence (All Weekend)
Althea René Miller was born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, where the graffiti and cracked Earth tell stories of revolution and perseverance. It is with this spirit that she creates. She is a minister of the Gospel, visual and spoken-word artist, dancer, and songwriter who prides herself on the powerful meaning of her first and middle names, derived from Greek and French to mean "healing" and "born again." To live up to her name, she employs art as a pedagogical tool and change agent to encourage spiritual, psychological, and emotional healing. So, Althea creates to restore and transform; to represent the interconnectedness of trauma and triumph; to chastise the strongholds that hinder freedom and authenticity. Althea creates to mirror: this world alienates, but her art demonstrates that we are never alone. She prays that her work be a chrysalis— spurring healing and rebirth; after all, it is what her name requires.
Rev. Abner Cotto-Bonilla
Guest, American Baptist Home Mission Societies
As National Coordinator for Latino Ministries and Program Director of Creciendo Juntos, Rev. Abner Cotto-Bonilla says, “I love to be a resource for ministers and leaders who want to create impact and drive innovation in their communities.” One of his goals in this role is to provide educational approaches for intergenerational and intercultural ministries within the Latino/a community. He is also committed to advocating in matters of justice.
Rev. Cotto-Bonilla’s impressive background includes having served as president of the National Hispanic Caucus, Inter-Caucus ABCUSA, and Unión de Jóvenes Bautistas de Puerto Rico. He was pastor of Misión Bautista Hispana de Westchester in White Plains, NY; a professor of Christian education at Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo; and a member of the board at Andover Newton Seminary at Yale.
Ordained in American Baptist Churches USA, Rev. Cotto-Bonilla holds a B.A. in Theological Studies from Universidad Teológica del Caribe (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) and a Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology from Yale Divinity School.
When not exploring different cultures, he enjoys long walks, baseball and coffee.