Humor is therapeutic and can be powerfully healing! It is essential for well-being and wholeness. It connects us to each other and helps us develop a more positive perspective. If you would like a chance to smile, breathe, and laugh, this session is for you! We will engage in some simple breathing exercises and consider some strategies on how to live a more joyful life and ministry!

Pastor Adrienne Martin
Adrienne lives in Charlotte and serves as an associate pastor at Christ, Charlotte. She has always loved to laugh but discovered the therapeutic practice of humor when she attended the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH) and participated in the Humor Academy in 2021-22. Experiencing the great benefits of humor, she hopes to share what she has learned. For Adrienne, laughter is like a snow day: a pure gift of God’s grace. Luckily, we can laugh more than it snows!

Where did you see God in this? How was community built or nourished? How were lives changed? These three questions help stories go beyond reporting; beyond the typical “who/what/where/when” that many of us learned in school. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to transform your same old promotion and reporting into engaging stories of ministry. Your communications can be an evangelism tool—a snapshot of your congregation’s ministry.

The Rev. Tim Brown
Pastor Tim is a pastor in the ELCA. After serving in the parish for over a decade, he began as one of the curators of the Anam Cara Community and as the ELCA Director for Stewardship. He's deeply steeped in his Celtic roots and finds beautiful symmetry between ancient spiritual practices across the world that focus on peace, grace, and love (you know, the things Jesus practiced). He blogs regularly at Reluctantxtian.com, has a weird obsession for learning about the saints of the church (both official andunofficial), and is a writer at heart (and, hopefully, by profession).

Join us as we share stories and explore the transformative and kingdom ministry happening through The Dwelling in Winston-Salem. Discover how this ministry is reshaping communities and hearts through radical and unbound welcome. We’ll l delve into practical strategies for your congregation to engage meaningfully with unhoused populations. Learn how to extend compassion, support, and resources in tangible and non-harmful ways. This workshop promises to equip you with the tools and insights needed to make a difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness in your own backyards. Don't miss this opportunity to be inspired and empowered to be agents of change in your community.

Presented by Pastor Emily Norris
Passionate about faith, service, relationship-building, learning, and love, Pastor Emily thrives on kindness, travel, advocacy and justice, hard work, community organizing, creative and effective communication, organizational systems, fun stationary, and Diet Coke. She adores her dogs and tolerates the cat. Currently balancing life as a mission developer, pastor, and full-time human. Actively trying to be her best self, all while loving her neighbor, Emily was ordained in May of 2020 and serves as the Lead Pastor and Developer of The Dwelling, Winston-Salem.

Join Lisa Kennedy and LR Professor Trula Baker to learn how you can better your ability to welcome the deaf and hard-of-hearing community into your congregation. This workshop will cover common mistakes to avoid when welcoming someone who is deaf, how to be more welcoming and accessible to people in the deaf community, gain resources to better your ministry, and learn some common ministry phrases in ASL (American Sign Language), such as, “The Lord be with you!” and “Thank you for joining us!”

Presented by Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy is the Deaf Service Specialist for the Morganton Regional Center with the Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DSDHH). A graduate of the North Carolina School for the Deaf, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Gallaudet University. Lisa has a passion for and is an ally to the Deaf and DeafBlind communities.

The Leadership Renewal Team is launching cohort groups as a source of inspiration, encouragement, provocation, and community for deacons and pastors. The hoped-for outcome for these groups will be (1) renewed leadership energy, (2) greater kingdom impact, and (3) a more sustainable joy-filled ministry. Come learn more about this new effort.

Presented by the NC Synod Leadership Renewal Team
The Leadership Renewal team is a new effort of the synod to provide support, encouragement, and resources for leaders as they minister boldly in their local communities.

Have you ever had dreams of making your space more welcoming and open? Were those dreams stunted by a load-bearing wall? Join the evangelism team to explore ways to be hospitable and welcoming even when your space feels like an ongoing barrier.

Presented by the NC Synod Evangelism Team
The evangelism team of the synod encourages congregations and leaders to minister through a lens of welcome and hospitality. The team aims to equip all of us to tell the good news of Jesus in our lives.

Join chaplains serving in locations throughout this synod to talk about chaplaincy ministry. You will explore what it means to be present with others in difficult times.

Presented by Specialized Pastoral Care Team Members
The Specialized Pastoral Care team is a team of chaplains serving in various settings (military, hospital, hospice, nursing homes, and more) that gather together for mutual support, encouragement, and ongoing education.

There is a lot of talk about trauma these days—but what exactly is trauma? How can Christian communities not only stop causing trauma but become places that support people in healing from trauma? In this conversation, the Rev. Elizabeth Rawlings will discuss the importance of churches and other Christian communities becoming trauma-informed spaces and share a framework for how communities can do this work.

Presented by Pastor Elizabeth Rawlings
Pastor Elizabeth (she/they) is the pastor and facilitator for Community of Spiritual Practice in Asheville, NC, where she creates spiritual community for people who have experienced religious/spiritual trauma. Pastor Rawlings began creating community for people who have experienced spiritual trauma as a campus pastor at the University of Washington, where once she and her co-pastor began talking about mental health, it drew in people who needed that conversation. To better serve their community, Pastor Rawlings began reading as much as she could about trauma, consulting with mental health workers, and taking classes in trauma work. Pastor Rawlings has been writing and presenting on trauma-informed work since 2016.

Description is coming!

Presented by the ADST Team

Come to discuss and learn more about the new social statement being developed to go before the 2025 churchwide assembly for approval. This document aims to be a faithful and considered statement of our beliefs and values around the role of the church in public and political life, written to guide and inspire discussion and reflection across the church. Spend time with the draft before the gathering if possible, and come prepared with your thoughts and questions. Let us reflect together on the issues of civic life and faith and share our feedback with the team behind the latest draft.

Presented by Deacon Dr. Mindy Makant
Dr. Mindy Makant is associate professor of religious studies and director of the Youth and Family Ministry Program at Lenoir-Rhyne University. She previously held the roles of director of the Living Well Center for Vocation and Purpose and dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Makant is an ordained deacon in the ELCA and a certified spiritual director. She currently serves on the ELCA’s Task Force on the Social Statement on Church, Government, and Civic Participation. She chairs the synod’s task force responsible for the synod’s relationship with its companion church in Costa Rica.