Leader – Sara Pantazes 

The start of the second Trump administration has been a whirlwind, with a general sense of fear and suffering on the rise. Many adults are having a hard time finding their way through it, let alone helping their kids who are listening, observing, and trying to make sense of it all too. This webinar will provide practical tips for faith leaders and parents to have conversations with children about these times we are living through and how they can respond as people of faith.
Sara Pantazes is the Director of Faith Formation at First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania and the creator of the Young Justice Builders program. She has a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Union Presbyterian Seminary. She lives in southeastern Pennsylvania with her family. 

Leader – Jim Merhaut 

Change happens quickly these days; it’s not your imagination. In the old days, major change in organizations happened when leadership was passed from one generation to another. Today, we can experience major organizational changes 15 times or more over the course of a career! Sometimes we change willingly through planning; other times we are plunged into it from outside forces like a pandemic. Reinvention is a field of study within the realm of managing organizational change, and it is a way to build a healthy change process into your church so that change becomes a friend and an ally that builds ministries that are powerfully transforming. It also helps you build an organizational immune system that will protect your church from those unexpected disruptions, like the pandemic. And there will be more things like that in the not-so-distant future. This webinar will help you get ready! 

Jim Merhaut is an award-winning author, national speaker, internationally-known leadership trainer, and ICF-Certified Coach. He holds a Master of Science degree in Education from Duquesne University with an emphasis in adult formation. Jim has authored and co-authored several books and published dozens of articles and essays on leadership and ministry. Jim’s website is www.coachingtoconnect.com. 

This annual 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 60-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 and has served for many years as the HR Team Chairperson at EPC (Elmhurst Presbyterian Church) in Elmhurst, Illinois. 

Leader – Gordon T. Smith 

We need to read the times and rather than bemoaning the changes in our culture, we turn from regret and nostalgia and ask:  what does it mean to be the church at this time and in this place?   And what does it mean to respond to our circumstances with creativity, theological integrity and resilient hope? 

 Gordon T. Smith, Ph.D, is the executive director of Christian Higher Education Canada, a position he assumed after several decades in senior leadership in academic institutions.   He is also a Teaching Fellow at Regent College and has a number of publications including   Wisdom from Babylon:   Leadership for the Church in a Secular Age (IVPress Academic, 2020). 

Leader – Matthew D. Taylor 
Christian nationalism has been a major force in American politics since the country’s beginnings, but, within the past decade, we have seen a marked shift in the tone and tenor of Christian nationalism. Who are the leaders and what is the theology behind this change? What does this shift signal about our changing politics and the balance of church and state? 
Matthew D. Taylor is senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, where he specializes in American Christianity, American Islam, Christian extremism, and religious politics. His new book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening Our Democracy (Broadleaf, 2024), tracks how a network of Christian leaders called the New Apostolic Reformation was a major instigating force for the January 6th Insurrection and is currently reshaping the culture of the religious right in the U.S. He is also the author of Scripture People: Salafi Muslims in Evangelical Christians’ America (Cambridge, 2023). Taylor holds a PhD in religious studies and Muslim-Christian relations from Georgetown University and an MA in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He also serves as an associate fellow at the Center for Peace Diplomacy in New Orleans, where he works on preventing religion-related violence surrounding U.S. elections. 

Leader – Karl Vaters  

We must stop treating bivo/covo pastors as second-tier ministers. They are the future. And the future is now. Most of our churches and denominations were designed with the expectation of a full-time pastor as the norm. For many generations it was possible for a church with just a few dozen people to fully support a minister and their family. Not anymore. In this talk, Karl Vaters, from Helping Small Churches Thrive, will share eight adjustments that congregations and pastors must seriously consider in the new reality of a side-hustle world. 

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com. His heart is to help pastors of small churches (up to 90 percent of us) find the resources to lead well, and to capitalize on the unique advantages that come with pastoring a small church – something virtually every pastor will spend at least some of their ministry years doing. He also believes that big and small churches can and should work together more often – to the benefit and blessing of everyone.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast, The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.  

This annual 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 60-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 and has served for many years as the HR Team Chairperson at EPC (Elmhurst Presbyterian Church) in Elmhurst, Illinois.