2026 CONFERENCE SESSIONS
KEYNOTE SESSION
AI, Faith, and You: Understanding and Using AI as a Tool in Ministry
Learn about the perils, promises, and theological impact of artificial intelligence in our world. This workshop will provide you with basic AI fluency and experience working with AI in a ministry context. Explore its practical uses and consider the ethical concerns it brings to our faith communities. How can we ethically and effectively integrate AI into our work while staying true to our values as faith leaders?
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Andy Morgan, Knoxville, TN
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Getting to Know Older Adults, Deep and Wide
We invest time in getting to know older adults but building quality relationships takes intention. Come and develop skills and tools for inviting deep knowing, for avoiding damaging knowing, and for growing connection and community. Questions we ask older adults are key, so we will examine questions that require deep self-reflection, pondering ideas and viewpoints, and self-revelation. We will respond to, write, and practice asking sample questions so that we leave prepared to take this practice deeper in our relationships in ministry.
Speaker: Rev. Joyce MacKichan Walker (retired), Princeton, NJ
Burnout Is Not a Badge of Honor: Practical Tools for Caregivers and Ministry Leaders Serving Older Adults
Leaders who serve older adults and caregivers often carry emotional, spiritual, and physical responsibilities that accumulate over time. Many continue to show up faithfully while managing fatigue, decision overload, and reduced capacity to lead with clarity and presence. This session provides a practical and structured approach to recognizing early signs of burnout and responding before it affects both the leader and those they serve. Learn how the REST Framework offers a clear pathway for restoring clarity, strength, and focus in the midst of demanding seasons of care.
Speaker: Dr. Renee Sunday, M.D., Conyers, GA
Faith and Creativity: Simple Intergenerational Art & Craft Projects for Spiritual Formation
Faith formation happens most powerfully when generations learn and create together. This workshop introduces simple, meaningful art and craft projects that help people of all ages engage scripture, prayer, and faith stories through creativity. Participants will explore a variety of low-cost, accessible projects that work in churches, homes, classrooms, or small groups. Each project is designed to encourage conversation, storytelling, reflection, and connection between generations. The workshop emphasizes that art is not about talent—it is about expression, participation, and spiritual engagement. Participants will leave with practical ideas, instructions, and faith connections that can be implemented immediately in intergenerational ministry settings.
Speaker: Jen Rabenaldt, CRE, San Luis Obispo, CA
Accompanying the Soul: Responding to Spiritual Distress in Later Life
Spiritual distress is a common yet often overlooked experience in older adulthood, frequently appearing as depression, anger, or withdrawal. This workshop highlights how losses, health changes, and questions of meaning can contribute to spiritual suffering—and how caregivers can respond with compassion. Emphasizing presence over answers, participants learn to recognize distress, listen for deeper meaning, and offer supportive interventions such as life review, ritual, and reflection. The core message: spiritual distress is not something to fix, but something to accompany with empathy and respect.
Speaker: Rev. Cheryl Swing, Boulder, CO
Starting a Grief Support Gathering
Looking for a new way to support grievers in your congregation? You are invited to experience our in-person grief support gathering, which offers fellowship over a meal and a brief reflection on the intersection of faith and grief. Participants are grouped into tables of four to six people, where a facilitator guides a discussion on topics related to grieving, sharing experiences, and offering a supportive environment for grieving.
Speaker: Shelley Craig, Dallas, TX
From No Hope to ReFired: A Personal Journey and a Practical Model for Third- Third Ministry
One man’s personal crisis launched a church’s new ministry for adults in the third third of life. Learn about ReFire Nation, a practical, repeatable model for helping older adults move from floundering to flourishing through connection, intentional learning, and meaningful service. This session offers older adult ministry leaders both inspiration and a framework they can take home and adapt for their own congregations.
Speaker: Barak Strickland, Dayton, OH
How to Play Well With Others: Developing Ecumenical Partnerships
Despite differences in theology, polity, and tradition, churches of different faiths CAN find ways to work together! Listen to how a Presbyterian Church and a Roman Catholic Church have worked together on ministries, all managed and led by older adults. Together, they’ve identified the strengths of each congregation, found internal and external funding sources, and formed close friendships. This presentation will use the relationship between Valley United Presbyterian Church and Epiphany Roman Catholic Church as a case study for discerning church relationships, figuring out what you can (and can’t) do together, deciding how to share responsibility, funding, publicity, and learning how to overcome denominational differences.
Speaker: Rev. Sharan Knoell, Waverly, NY
“Do Not Forsake Me” – Embracing Those With Dementia
Communication is a two-way street–except when it isn’t! Including those with dementia in your conversations doesn’t happen as a matter of course. It takes effort and time. Furthermore, not all types of dementia involve the same kind impairment. In fact, researchers think as many as 40% of all of those unable to communicate with another person due to their dementia are able to understand what is being said. Their problem is an inability to respond. What YOU say to a person with dementia matters! How you say it matters, too. This worship will describe the leading causes of dementia and will offer suggestions–and cautions–for ministry to them. It will encourage pastoral care for aging congregants and urge participants to not forsake those it is difficult to be with.
Speaker: Dr. Paul Rader, Chattanooga, TN
Dealing with Diminishment
After his great triumph over the priests of Ba’al, the prophet Elijah was forced to retire–and run for his life!–from Queen Jezebel. Feeling that his best days were behind him, and his important work done, Elijah asked to be excused from further responsibilities and life itself. God was not having it. In one of the most dramatic divine appearances in Scripture, God re-commissions the old prophet for the important work of the next phase of his life. Drawing insights from my book, “Going Public: How Biblical People Help Us Find Our Voice for Public Life,” and the insights of psychologist Erik Erikson, we will explore how we can work through the diminishment and discouragement of older age and seek to discover ways God calls us to be generative in our maturity.
Speaker: Dr. Jeff Cover, Jeffersonville, IN
Walking Wisely in These Days: Faithful Discernment for an Anxious World
Are there older adults in your community who are deeply concerned about the state of the world and the future being shaped for coming generations? A ministry at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Westminster, Colorado, offers a thoughtful, faith-rooted space to reflect on current realities through Scripture, theology, prayer and a shared wisdom and lived experiences. In this session, learn how this ministry was started, hear about some experiences within this ministry, and take home practical steps for setting up a similar ministry in your own congregation or organization.
Speaker: Rev. Denise Shannon, Westminster, CO
Holy Connections: Faith That Spans Generations
Intergenerational ministry is a practical ministry strategy for all churches, regardless of size or population (even those with mostly older adults and a few or no children). Discover the important part older adults play in intergenerational ministry and dig into resources that grow and energize relationships at home and at church. Experience an intergenerational activity for home or church that will build relationships.
Speaker: Suzie Lane, Old Hickory, TN
Intentional Ministry By, With, and For Older Adults: Becoming an Age-Friendly Congregation
Explore the growing opportunity—and responsibility—facing today’s congregations as they navigate a rapidly aging population. As churches increasingly reflect broader demographic trends, many are discovering that their greatest opportunity for vitality lies not in chasing younger generations, but in engaging, equipping, and empowering the older adults already present in their communities. Through the work of ENCORE Ministry Foundation and the Age-Friendly Congregation Certificate (AFCC) Program, this session provides a practical framework for transforming congregational life through intentional ministry by, with, and for older adults.
Speaker: John Rivas MA MRE CFRE HDP and Rev. Dr. Rick Gentzler, Brentwood, TN
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