Speak Up!: Giving Voice to the Voiceless

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, 2015
9:30 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.
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 2000. 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
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 2011. 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.
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
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 2010-2018
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 1986 – 1988,
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 2015. 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
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.
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.
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.