Mountain Sky Appointment Announcements
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Mountain Sky Appointment Announcements
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‘Unprecedented’ seems like an over-used word these days, yet here we are… Opportunity and challenge both abound. The National Developers and Planters Gathering is a chance to learn the best of who we are and what we are creating from one another. Come join us in Denver, Colorado this April!
Rev. Hanna R. Broome is a native of Spartanburg, SC. She is the daughter of two wonderful parents, Mrs. Tommycine Broome and the late Robert Broome. She is an ordained Elder in the Central North Carolina Conference in the Eastern North Carolina Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Zion Church.
Rev. Broome is a graduate of Spartanburg High School. She graduated from Spartanburg Community College with an Associate Degree in Computer Technology, and she is also a graduate of the University of South Carolina-Upstate with a BA Degree in Information Systems Management. In the fall of 2014, she received her Master of Divinity in Biblical Leadership from Columbia International Seminary. Rev. Broome is currently in her Doctoral studies at Drew Theological Seminary. Rev. Broome’s previous pastorate includes Smalls Chapel AME Zion Church in Winnsboro, SC, in the Spartanburg District from 2009-to 2013, and Catawba Chapel AME Zion Church in Catawba, SC, in the Rock Hill District from 2013-to 2016.
Reverend Broome was elevated to presiding elder in November of 2016-2021 in the Eastern North Carolina Episcopal District under the leadership of Bishop Kenneth Monroe. Rev. Broome held the offices of Episcopal Director of YACM, South Atlantic Episcopal District, Chair of the Christian Education Board for the South Carolina Conference, Conference Secretary, Budget Chair of the Central Conference of the Eastern North Carolina Episcopal District, Conference Studies Teacher of Special Ministries, Chief Strategist of the Executive Committee of the Presiding Elders’ Council of the AME Zion Church. She holds current offices and positions of Director of Religious Affairs for Repairers of the Breach, Assistant Director of Church Growth and Development of the AME Zion, President–Elect of the North Carolina Council of Churches, Tri-chair for Faith Communities for the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign Moral Movement, Board Member of Pastors for North Carolina Children, Chair of Planning Department of the Governing Board of the NC Council of Churches, Co-Director of Project 100, member of National Council of Negro Women, Faith Leaders of Color against the Death Penalty and Regional Director of NC Cohort of the Oikos Institute to assist churches in their community for Social Impact.
Developed and hosted weekly and monthly workshops on diverse topics in personal transformation: ministry giftedness, life skills, mentoring, and coaching. Develop quantitative and qualitative assessments that measure competency and provide feedback on issues and topics. Spoke across the country and in Africa on topics such as women in leadership, social justice through the biblical lens, and organizational behavior. Helped to organize and facilitate workshops on topics requested by individual organizations and leadership. Prepared and delivered lectures to intergenerational and interfaith, groups on topics such as womanist theology, social justice, racism, sexual trauma, specialized ministries, leadership, discipleship, technology, and evangelism. Successfully utilized diplomatic communication and interpersonal skills to navigate and motivate internal and external participants from different faith communities and generations. Helped establish partnerships with community leaders, local organizations, and elected officials to galvanize citizens in active civic engagement and social justice endeavors. Rev. Broome is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. and is the proud mother of three sons: Michael, Mitchell, and Thomas Broome, and the “Gee-Nee” to 6 babies, five bear cubs, Michael Jr, Robert Jr., Nolan, Thomas Jr., Baby Alexander, and Princess Riley.
Rev. Broome’s motto is “…If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b)
Rodrigo Cruz was born and raised in Monterrey Mexico, where he practiced criminal law for several years. He earned his Master in Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and his Doctor in Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. In 2016, he planted a multi-ethnic (now multi-site church with 5 campuses) called The Nett Church in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
In 2019, he was voted by the Chamber of Commerce as one of the 50 most influential Latinos in the State of Georgia. In 2022, The Nett was voted as one of the 100 most reproducible churches in the country by the Outreach Magazine. Rodrigo’s most important ministry are his wife Kelly and 5 children, RJ (16), Natalia (13), Gabriel (10), Benjamin (7) and Jona (7).
Kenda Creasy Dean is an ordained United Methodist pastor and the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she works with the Institute for Youth Ministry and the Farminary. In 2013 she founded Ministry Incubators with fellow pastor and serial entrepreneur Mark DeVries to support young people, congregations and communities in faith-based social innovation.
Her current research focuses on young adults’ search for the sacred in secular spaces. She is also the faculty senior strategist and principle investigator for three on-going research projects that span multiple institutions: the Ministry Collaboratory for Young Adults, the Young Adult Leadership Network, and the Teaching Spiritual Entrepreneurship in Seminaries Project.
Kenda is the author of numerous books, including Innovating for Love: Joining God’s Expedition through Christian Social Innovation, and Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church (full list below). The 25th anniversary re-write of her landmark book The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul-Tending in Youth Ministry, co-authored with Ron Foster, will be out in Spring 2023.
Kenda hails from a long line of Ohio farmers and Kentucky coal miners, and is a P.K.—a politician’s kid. At 15 she attended a Methodist church missions camp on Lake Erie that pretty much changed everything. A Buckeye by birth, Kenda graduated from Miami University (Ohio), Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, DC), and Princeton Theological Seminary (New Jersey). She served as a pastor and campus minister in Arlington, VA and College Park, MD before earning her Ph.D. in 1997. She and her husband Kevin love digging their toes in the sand on the Jersey shore and hanging out with their hilarious grown kids.
Bishop Grant Hagiya, current President ad Interim of the Claremont School of Theology, brings over 25 years of denominational leadership and seminary education to his role. Before beginning this role at CST, he served as the Resident Bishop of the California-Pacific Annual Conference and the Desert Southwest Annual Conference. Elected to the Episcopacy in 2008, he served for eight years in the Greater Northwest Annual Conference, which includes three annual conferences: Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and the Pacific Northwest.
He is a graduate of Claremont School of Theology, where he received M.A., M.Div., and D.Min. Degrees. He graduated with an Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University in 2012. He conducted Post-doctoral research at the Harvard-Kennedy School in Adaptive Leadership and studied with Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky. Abingdon Press published his book, Leadership Kaizen, based on his dissertation on the “Traits, Qualities and Characteristics of Highly Effective UMC Clergy” in 2013. A full faculty member of the Claremont School of Theology in the past, he has continued to serve as an Adjunct Faculty member for over 25 years while serving the United Methodist Church.
He is a certified professional coach with a Professional Certified Coach certification (PCC) from the International Coach Federation. He is also a Gallup StrengthFinder Certified Coach. Most recently, he became a Certified Practitioner in Team Coaching from the Global Team Coaching Institute.
Hyepin Im is the President and Founder of Faith and Community Empowerment (FACE), a national nonprofit involved in empowering churches and nonprofits to leverage their resources by building capacity, leadership, and partnerships in economic development and serving as a bridge between the Korean/Asian American community and the greater community at large. Since its inception in 2001, FACE has had over 200 partners, ranging from the White House to Fortune 500 companies. Successful initiatives include educating over 7000 homebuyers and helping them receive over $1.4 million in down payment assistance, saving over $83 million in assets from foreclosure, partnering with both FDIC and Freddie Mac in developing a Korean curriculum in financial literacy and homeownership, implementing a historic $5 million U.S. Department of Labor workforce development program, and hosting joint conferences with the White House and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to mobilize 4000 Korean American churches for economic development.
Ms. Im previously served as the U.S. Presidential Appointee on the Board of Corporation for AmeriCorps, and currently serves on numerous other councils, including the U.S. Army Advisory Board, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Western Partner for the Council on Foreign Relations, and L.A. County Supervisor’s Empowerment Congress. She is a frequent speaker who has been on CNN and NPR and whose opinions have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. She has presented at numerous conferences including those at the White House, U.S. Department of Labor, Christian Community Development Association, and Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. Her previous positions include venture capitalist for Renaissance Capital Partners, Sponsorship Manager for California Science Center, and Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young. She has a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley, M.B.A. from University of Southern California, and M.Div., summa cum laude, from Wesley Theological Seminary.
Andrew Root (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Faith Formation in a Secular Age), and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014). Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor (IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. In 2012 his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, IVP, 2011) was Christianity Today Book of Merit. He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (Baker Academic, 2010), The Promise of Despair (Abingdon, 2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009). Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.
Dr. Renita Weems is a biblical scholar, a minister, and a writer whose critical insights into modern faith, biblical texts, and the role of spirituality in everyday lives has made her a highly sought-after writer and speaker for more than four decades. Rev. Dr. Weems is a thinking woman of faith who seeks to reconcile the conflicts between a spiritual hunger for the Sacred with a womanist thirst for revolutionary justice. An ordained clergywoman in the AME church and the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Old Testament, Dr. Weems has written numerous books, commentaries and articles on biblical interpretation, prophetic religion, sexuality and religion, women’s spirituality, and blacks and women in the academy. She has been a commentator on documentaries, podcasts, radio shows and national conferences on a wide range of topics. Her most recent publications have focused on blacks in the academy, black female intellectuals, and a retrospective on the early decades of womanist biblical scholarship.
Dr. Weems taught for sixteen years at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville and later served two years as the Cosby Visiting Professor at Spelman College in Atlanta. She has worked as a college administrator and a coach to women executives in higher education. More recently, since the Supreme Court’s 2022 landmark Dobbs vs Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization decision, Dr. Weems has joined with other clergywomen in spearheading discussions in the black church on the topic of black women and reproductive justice. Finally, Dr. Weems is currently working on a memoir that sheds light on how the civil rights and women’s movement shaped her love for the church and her commitment to thinking critically and struggling fiercely to help create a just world.
NETWORK GALA
An "extra" opportunity to have less formal conversations around important topics during workshop time, featuring ... KAREN HORAN & RACHEL GILMORE, JERRY HERSHIPS, MATT TEMPLE, TIM CATLETT, and CHANGEMAKERS INSTITUTE.
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Book by 04/01/23
Distance from St. Andrew UMC: 5.6 miles
3090 W County Line Rd., Littleton, CO 80129
303-791-3010
$169 per night
Book Residence Inn for this event’s special group rate
Extended-stay suites, including full-size kitchens, dining areas and separate lounge areas with sofas and HDTV.
Complimentary hot breakfast buffet, parking, Wi-Fi, and fitness center.
To book an accessible room, please reserve your room and then call the hotel directly.
Distance from St. Andrew UMC: 5.6 miles
3056 W County Line Rd., Littleton, CO 80129
303-791-3001
Book Courtyard for this event's group rate
Courtyard Bistro available for a la carte breakfast, bites, and beverages.
Free parking, Wi-Fi, indoor pool and fitness center.
To book an accessible room, please reserve your room and then call the hotel directly.
Distance from St. Andrew UMC: 5.8 miles
3095 W. County Line Rd., Littleton, CO 80129
303-794-1800
Book Hampton Inn
Complimentary hot breakfast, parking, Wi-Fi, indoor pool and fitness center.
To book an accessible room, please click “accessible” to view available rooms when using the direct booking link.
Distance from St. Andrew UMC: 5.8 miles
8211 Southpark Cir., Littleton, CO 80120
303-347-9901
Book Staybridge Suites for this event’s group rate
To make a reservation utilizing the group link, enter the dates of arrival and departure, click “Search,” and the suite options and group rate will auto-populate for the reservations.
Extended stay, all-suite hotel with full kitchens, complimentary hot breakfast, fitness center, pool, and wifi.
To book an accessible room, please call Pam Wiederkehr at 303-347-9901 and mention the UMC National Developers and Planters Gathering.
Distance from St. Andrew UMC: 3.9 miles
7060 East County Line, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
303-770-5400
Book Comfort Suites for this event’s group rate. Complimentary buffet breakfast, free WiFi, free parking, fitness center. To book an accessible room, please call the hotel directly at 303-770-5400 and mention the UMC National Developers and Planters Gathering.
Distance from St. Andrew UMC: 3.9
7056 East County Line, Highlands Ranch, CO
303-290-6700
Book Fairfield Inn and Suites for this event’s group rate
Complimentary breakfast buffet, parking, pool, fitness center, Wi-Fi.
To book an accessible room, please call the hotel directly and mention the UMC National Developers and Planters Gathering.
What airport should I fly into?
Denver International Airport, about 34 minutes (36 mi) from Saint Andrew United Methodist Church.
How far are the hotels from our conference site?
Several of the hotels, including the Courtyard and Residence Inn, are 10 minute drive from Saint Andrew United Methodist Church.
Can Developers Attend the Planters Workshops?
Yes! We encourage it!
Can Planters Attend the Developers Gathering?
Sorry, no. The developers need to meet on our own to discuss how best to support our planters.
If I’m Not Planting A Church, Can I Attend?
Yes! If you are interested in starting new ministries, you are most welcome!