2018BISHOP’S CONVOCATION

PROGRAM AGENDAJANUARY 20, 2018

8:00 - 9:00 am Check-in/Attendee Arrival

9:00 - 9:10 am Welcome & Opening Remarks Rev. Stephen Clark President, Virginia United Methodist Foundation

9:10 - 9:20 am Worship

9:20 - 10:00 am Keynote Address Bishop Sharma Lewis

10:00 - 10:15 am Break

10:15 - 11:00 am Plenary Address Dr. April Maskiewicz Cordero, PhD Biology Professor, Point Loma Nazarene University “Exploring the Coexistence of Evolution and Christianity”

11:00 - 11:15 am Break

11:15 - 11:30 am Facilated Q&A between the Bishop and Plenary Speaker

11:30 - 12:10 pm Workshop I Jennifer Secki Shields Founder & Director, Discovery & Faith “Stumbling Blocks & Building Blocks: Learning How to Follow Jesus in a Science-Shaped Culture”

12:10 - 12:50 pm Lunch Break

2018BISHOP’S CONVOCATION

12:50 - 1:30 pm Workshop II Bill Maisch Pastor, Poolesville Memorial UMC (Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference) Bringing science to bear in sermons, worship and ministry

1:30 - 2:15 pm Workshop III Michael Wriston, PhD Creation care and end-of-life medical ethics

2:15 - 2:30 pm Break

2:30 - 3:00 pm Workshop IV Putting It All Together

3:00 pm Closing Remarks

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

April Maskiewicz Cordero, PhD is a biology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University and a BioLogos Voices speaker. Her audiences range from congregations to professors to high school students and she has spoken alongside N.T. Wright, Deborah Haarsma, and Darrel Falk. In 2016, April gave a TEDx talk on evolution and faith, and in 2014 she was featured in “From the Dust,” a BioLogos sponsored documentary. April conducts research on best practices for helping learners understand and accept biological evolution, and is active in several professional development projects with schoolteachers as well as university biology faculty. She is co-author of the book Renewal in Love: Living Holy Lives in God’s Good Creation, and over the past 15 years she wrote chapters for four edited books, published 15 refereed papers, and presented at 23 professional conference presentations.

Jennifer Secki Shields is the founder and director of Discovery & Faith, a new ministry initiative to provide resources that help children and youth experience the harmony between science and biblical faith. She served as a Director of Christian Education on the Arlington District for nearly 16 years, bringing her background in evolutionary biology to bear on the questions she received from children, youth, and adults. The work of Discovery & Faith is based on the real “rubber meets the road” challenges for discipleship and evangelism in a culture that is strongly impacted by science.