Workshops

Saturday morning workshops

Wisconsin Gospellers’ Open Rehearsal!

Waiting for an invitation to sing with our statewide music ministry? This is it! We’re learning new music—and recruiting new members—as we start planning to host German singers in Summer 2024.

Established in 2007, the Wisconsin Gospellers understand ourselves as called to share God’s Word, bridge cultural differences, and grow our own faith through gospel music. We have shared music, fellowship and homes with local congregations and community choirs across Wisconsin, in the Metro New York Association, and on four tours in Germany. We are actively recruiting new singers, and looking ahead to July 2024, when we’ll host Gospel and More—a partner choir from Essen, Germany.

Faith Formation at the Core of Congregational Life
Rev. Stacy Johnson Myers

Vibrant congregations have two fundamental things in common: engaging worship and meaningful education. This workshop is a whirlwind tour of principles to guide faith formation; strategies to support biblical literacy and interpretation; and inspiring, accessible ideas for congregations.

Rev. Stacy Johnson Myers is the Minister of Christian Education at First Congregational Church in River Falls. She is passionate about story, art, and biblical literacy and interpretation. She is the author of Picture the Bible and God Loves You published by The Pilgrim Press.

Saving our Planet One Rooftop at a Time: How to Get Started with Solar Energy
Don DeBruyn and Bill Handy

Creation Care Team members Don DeBruyn of Grace Congregational United Church of Christ, Two Rivers, and Rev. Bill Handy of Presbyterian-Congregational (UCC), Ashland, will share their experience from recent solar projects at their churches. Emphasis will be on both reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint for your church and the availability of Creation Care grants to help with upfront costs.

Don DeBruyn is a member of the Earth Care Ministry at Grace and has had a PV system serving his home for 10 years. Don helped his church with the installation of more efficient LED lighting and guided them through the decisions and process of installing their ground-mounted solar project, completed in 2020. Don also served as Moderator of his church from 2014-2019, after retiring from his practice of internal medicine.

Bio for Rev. Bill Handy not available

Becoming WISE: Ideas for Engaging Mental Health in the Congregation
Lisa Hart

Join us for an open forum discussion to hear what congregations in the Wisconsin Conference have been doing to address mental health awareness. This will be an opportunity to share what your congregation has been doing, to ask questions if you are just getting started or wondering how to get started, and to network with others in the Wisconsin Conference who are interested in mental health awareness and ending the stigma around mental illness. The WISE Team will also be prepared to answer questions about the resolution for the Wisconsin Conference to Become a WISE Conference.

Lisa Hart, a commissioned minister in the United Church of Christ, serves as the Associate Conference Minister for Faith Formation and Justice Ministries for the Wisconsin Conference UCC. She also holds a Master of Arts in Counseling from Lakeland University. Her ministry focuses on faith formation for all ages and a wide variety of justice issues…racial, immigration, environmental, domestic, and sexual violence, LGBTQ+, and mental health. Lisa is passionate about helping people connect issues of justice with living out their faith.

Investing Together- Strengthening All Our Churches
Rev. Andrew Warner

Establishing a Church Fund at the Wisconsin Foundation UCC is a simple and efficient way to handle the endowment, long-term or reserve assets of your congregation. By investing together, we each get better investment management at a lower cost. Even more significantly, the foundation helps congregations raise new dollars for their mission and ministry.

Rev. Andrew Warner serves as Director of Development for the Wisconsin Conference UCC, where he leads the fundraising efforts of the conference and supports the planned giving and effective philanthropy of congregations. He also serves as a Generosity Outreach Officer of the national setting of the UCC. In that role he trains, coaches, and mentors conference and congregational leaders across the country to strengthen the culture of generosity in the UCC. Before joining the conference staff in 2019, he served for 22 years as pastor of Plymouth Church UCC of Milwaukee.

Seeking Abundant Life: Authentic Happiness and Meaning
Rev. Chris Myers

In a remarkable new book titled The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study on Happiness, authors Robert Waldinger and Marc Schultz identify the key component that leads to happiness in people’s lives: relationships. We in the church know a lot about relationships. Join us as we explore insights from this study and consider both the implications and opportunities for parish ministry.

Rev. Christopher Myers is the senior pastor at First Congregational UCC in River Falls, on the beautiful “west coast” of Wisconsin and along the shores of the Kinnickinnic River. He is an avid reader and finds The Good Life to be one of the most helpful books he has read in recent years. He strives to keep relationships at the center of his life and ministry.

Sharing Leadership with Wonder and Wherewithal
Rev. Dr. Sarah B. Drummond

The workshop will provide participants with a preview of Sarah’s current book project on leadership development for ministry today and will expose attendees to new ways to think about developing themselves and others as leaders.

Rev. Dr. Sarah B. Drummond serves as Founding Dean of Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School. She has been part of Andover Newton since 2005. She serves as the seminary’s lead administrator and chief academic officer, and is part of the senior leadership team at Yale Divinity School. She also teaches and writes about leadership and serves as combination advisor/minister/mentor to students engaged in graduate theological education. Sarah earned her Ph.D in Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee with a specialization in administrative leadership. During those same years, she served as Campus Minister and Executive Director of University Christian Ministries, an ecumenical outreach at UWM. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Sarah earned her Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. Her Bachelor of Arts degree comes from Yale, where she majored in Ethics, Politics, and Economics.

Using Creation Care for Leadership Development in Congregations
The Creation Care Team

Learn how establishing a “Green Team” can recruit, inspire, and develop new leaders who don’t feel called to traditional church leadership roles.

The Creation Care Team of the Conference seeks to covenant with and empower congregations and their members to faithfully care for creation through resourcing, advocacy, and connections.

Saturday Afternoon Workshops

Using Creation Care for Leadership Development in Congregations
The Creation Care Team

Learn how establishing a “Green Team” can recruit, inspire, and develop new leaders who don’t feel called to traditional church leadership roles.

The Creation Care Team of the Conference seeks to covenant with and empower congregations and their members to faithfully care for creation through resourcing, advocacy, and connections.

Healthy Governance, Healthy Congregations
Facilitator: Mark Baldwin
Tom Clippert
Rev. Franz Rigert
Rev. Chris Myers
Rev. Tanya Sadagopan

A strong relationship between clergy and lay leaders is one key to a well-governed congregation. Join the conversation as a panel of clergy and lay leaders discusses the best ways to build and maintain these relationships, the ground rules for keeping them healthy, and how to manage the inevitable disagreements.

The Rev. Dr. Tanya Sadagopan has been pastor of First Congregational UCC in Janesville since September 2015. She has experience as an assistant pastor, senior minister and minister of Christian education and family life. Tanya holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University, a master’s in sociology from The Ohio State University and a master of divinity from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

Tom Clippert began his term as president of the Janesville congregation in February 2023, becoming the first openly gay individual to hold the position. He has served in the congregation’s Outreach Ministry and worked to bring LGBTQIA+ advocacy and churchwide PRIDE participation to the congregation.

The Rev. Franz Rigert was called to be conference minister in 2014. A native of Delavan, Franz holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a master of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Before his call to conference ministry, Franz served for nearly 20 years as pastor of Pilgrim UCC in Grafton.

Rev. Christopher Myers is the senior pastor at First Congregational UCC in River Falls, on the beautiful “west coast” of Wisconsin and along the shores of the Kinnickinnic River.

Our moderator: Mark Baldwin is Wisconsin Conference Director of Communications. He previously worked as Executive Editor of the Rockford (Illinois) Register Star. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University.

Catalyst Grants: Sparking Church Innovation and Mission
Michael Whiteley

Catalyst grants are all about sparking creativity and innovation in the Wisconsin Conference. Churches can apply to the Catalyst Team for grants of up to $5,000. Come learn about the Mission and Vision of the Catalyst Team and see some examples of previous grant recipients. We will help you understand what makes a great grant application and how to submit a grant for consideration.

Michael Whiteley has been the Moderator of the First Congregational Church of Genesee, UCC for the last 15 years. He is a member of the UCC Catalyst Team. He is Member in Discernment studying in the Damascus Project Faith Foundation and Christian Ministry curriculum. He is a retired businessman with 30 years of sales and marketing experience in international foodservice equipment manufacturing and distribution. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Ripon College and a Masters in International Business from Thunderbird in Phoenix.

Age-Friendly Congregations: What They Are and How to Become One
Jan Aerie, Susan McFadden, and Cathleen Wille

Many of our congregations are aging, and traditional “senior ministries” no longer speak to the needs, gifts, and service opportunities of our older members. The Older Adult Ministries Task Force has been working for nearly a year to gather useful resources for our congregations to better include, honor, and challenge our older adults, including those who are contending with physical or cognitive frailty and those who care for them. Through a panel discussion and a time of conversation, we hope to stimulate congregations to pursue new avenues of ministry for and with our older members.

Jan Aerie is a gerontologist and family counselor with a lifelong career in the church and community. She has worked with local and national organizations, authored curricula, initiated advocacy and service programs and led many seminars on aging. For 12 years she served on the UCC national staff in Global Ministries. She has most recently developed older adult ministries in UCC and Disciples of Christ congregations in Missouri, Illinois and Ohio, and now Wisconsin.

Susan H. McFadden, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. With her students, she maintained an active program of research and scholarship focused on attitudes about dementia, arts and cultural programs for persons living with dementia, and expressions of religiousness and spirituality among older adults. Susan retired from the University in 2012, and now volunteers in many capacities for Fox Valley Memory Project, a nonprofit she co-founded in 2012. FVMP’s programs and services aim to create a “dementia-friendly community” in northeast Wisconsin. Her most recent book is Dementia-Friendly Communities: Why We Need Them and How We Can Create Them (2021, Jessica Kingsley Publishers)

Cathy Wille has served in her work life as a high school biology teacher for 18 years and worked as a Licensed Professional Counselor in the Samaritan network of counseling centers for 24 years. While there she developed a Clergy and Congregation Care Program. Cathy is part of the Wisconsin Conference Supportive Ministries Team and the Older Adult Ministries Team. She serves as a co-administrator and group facilitator for the Clergy Community of Practice program. She also facilitates a Faith and Ministry group and co-facilitates with her husband, Art, Appreciative Inquiry for congregations in the Wisconsin Conference. She is a life-long member of the UCC and has served on local church, conference and national committees.

Leadership Forward Campaign Brayton
Rev. Andrew Warner, Bonnie Andrews and Paul Karch

This workshop will give attendees the opportunity to learn more about church employee and clergy payroll reporting, and clergy compensation structure. This workshop will be PowerPoint based. Questions and conversation are encouraged.

Rev. Andrew Warner serves as Director of Development for the Wisconsin Conference UCC, where he leads the fundraising efforts of the conference and supports the planned giving and effective philanthropy of congregations. He also serves as a Generosity Outreach Officer of the national setting of the UCC. In that role he trains, coaches, and mentors conference and congregational leaders across the country to strengthen the culture of generosity in the UCC.

Paul Karch is a lawyer and works for Independent Pharmacy Cooperative in Sun Prairie. He has been a member and active in Stewardship and other leadership positions at First Congregational UCC in Appleton and First Congregational UCC in Madison. He is completing a term on the Conference Board and is a member of the Foundation Board of Directors.

Bonnie Andrews is active in her local church, Bethel Bethany in Milwaukee and in the Wisconsin Conference as a facilitator for Five Practices, Appreciative Inquiry, and a Community of Practice facilitator. She serves on the Supportive Ministries team, the Leadership Forward Campaign team and co-chaired the Local Arrangements Committee for General Synod 32 in Milwaukee and is a Master Gardener volunteer.

A Project and a Place Brayton
Rev. Stephanie Perdew

Discussion and updates on The Damascus Project

Stephanie Perdew, M.Div., Ph.D is a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ. With roots in the the Nebraska Conference UCC, served 25 years in parish ministry in the Illinois Conference UCC, and most recently completed a role as a transitional Associate Conference Minister in the Illinois Conference. She now directs the Damascus Project theological learning collaborative of the Minnesota and Wisconsin Conferences UCC. She is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She received her BA in Religion and Native American Studies from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, her M.Div. and Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and her training as a Spiritual Director from the Siena Center of the Racine Dominicans in Racine. She is as an Affiliate Professor of Christian History at Garrett and co-chairs the seminary’s Indigenous Study Committee, which is researching Garrett’s historic relationship with Native people and proposing recommendations to the seminary for actions of repentance or repair. At present, she makes her home in Evanston, Illinois, where she serves on the Board of Directors of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian.

3 Proven Ways to Increase Giving
Rev. Andy DeBraber

Your church can implement these strategies now to boost generosity this year and for many years to come!

After serving as a local church pastor for 15 years and then a nonprofit executive director, Rev. Andy DeBraber has been a Generosity Officer with UCC National since 2017. He loves normalizing money talk in churches and helping dreams come true. Andy works from home in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he lives with his family and six backyard chickens. He enjoys kayaking, biking, hiking, racquetball, triathlons, playing games, and contemplative mornings with a journal and very dark coffee.

Sunday: Individual Wellness Sessions, 9:15-10:15 a.m.

Labyrinth, A Walking Meditation (Indoors)
Jane Anderson

Come learn more about labyrinths and their use within the Christian tradition and other faith traditions. Come and walk the labyrinth for yourself and experience how you may incorporate the labyrinth in your spiritual journey. If you’d like an outdoor labyrinth, attend the session at 10:30 a.m.

Rev. Jane Anderson serves on the Wisconsin Conference UCC staff and is a resource for Church and Ministry in the Northeast and Southeast Associations, supports the executive committees in both associations, provides pastoral care for pastors and churches with congregations in transition, and helps churches transform conflict. Prior to her call as the Associate Conference Minister for the Northeast and Southeast Associations, Rev. Anderson had been in ministry in the local church for 30 years.

Opening to Compassion: A Guided Meditation
Rev. Rachel Bauman

This meditation guides us in relaxing the body, opening the imagination, and connecting with our compassionate heart.

Rev. Rachel Bauman is an ordained minister within the United Church of Christ and a Program Associate within the Spiritual Guidance Program of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. Rachel is an Associate Conference Minister with the Wisconsin Conference UCC and serves the Southwest Association and half of the Southeast Association. Rachel lives in Madison and loves birds, spicy food, good fiction, travel and adventure.

Bible Journaling
Malena Koplin

Do you like to journal, color, draw, stamp, or craft? Would journaling help you understand scripture better? Learn how to use your journaling or crafting skills right in your Bible to clarify your understanding of Bible passages or the Sunday sermon. Bible Journaling is a great way to connect with scripture and creativity. You can journal and highlight OR use fun art supplies! I’ll bring some art supplies and examples and some pages to practice on! Bring your favorite pens or craft supplies if you want – or just use mine!

Malena Koplin and her family have been members of First Congregational UCC Waukesha for 33 years. Malena is a K-12 educator and has worked for the last 20 years as a school librarian. Malena’s family has hosted two foreign exchange students over the years. The family also fosters cats and currently has four foster cats living with them. Malena’s hobbies include photography and scrapbooking. Malena discovered Bible Journaling during the pandemic, and uses it to understand scripture in a new way.

Sunday Individual Wellness Sessions: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Guided Walk: Building Up the Beloved Community through Creation Care
Rev. John Helt

Join the Wisconsin Conference Creation Care Team in a time of spiritual reflection on how we care for ourselves as we care for God’s good earth. Weather permitting, we will walk outdoors, among the trees, along the lake, and beneath the sky, using words of scripture, prayer, and song to cultivate our connections with God, with one another, and with the whole created world around us, adapting the “stations of the cross” tradition. We will explore some of the many ways our faith inspires us to care for creation, especially becoming involved as individuals, families, and congregations in the movement to respond to climate change through the Kairos Call to Action, approved at the 2020 annual meeting.

Rev. John Helt co-chairs the Conference Creation Care Team with Rev. Bob Ullman. John is a retired pastor who has since 1973 served congregations in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Wisconsin. He and his wife, Cindy, live in the Milwaukee south shore neighborhood of Bay View. He grew up on a farm near Burlington, Iowa, also the boyhood home of Aldo Leopold. He also sings with the Lutheran A Cappella Choir of Milwaukee.

A Weaving Connection to Prayer
Sheila Feay-Shaw and Steven Shaw

Join us to create a small weaving of your own that can be used to hang around your neck when you are centered in prayer or can be created into a pin that you can wear. The texture and color that you choose to include can be a tactile connection to your personal prayer time or a visual focal point. No prior specific artistic skills are needed. Assistance will be given to help you design and realize and image for your small weaving. Both workshop leaders find weaving to be a soothing, creative process that they hope to share with participants.

Sheila Feay-Shaw is professor of music education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with almost 20 years’ experience teaching adults and 15 years teaching music to children in K-12. She has also served as church choir director for several churches and does worship design including banners and altar arrangements. With a specialization in world music, her interest in fabric arts has often blended with learning about the cultural traditions of many places around the world. Weaving and woven materials are a particular interest along with quilting and embroidery.

Steven Shaw has over 35 years of experience as an educator in K-8 schools and colleges in Wisconsin and Washington. In 2011, he completed his Ph.D in curriculum and instruction at the University of Washington-Seattle, which included study and research in the role of design and the arts in education. Steven has worked in a variety of settings including a camp for children with disabilities and a citywide specialty school for the arts and humanities where he engaged children and adults in making art. He has been particularly interested in the textile arts, including off-loom weaving, and has used this interest to create banners and images for church settings.

Labyrinth, A Walking Meditation (Outdoors)
Jane Anderson

Come learn more about labyrinths and their use within the Christian tradition and other faith traditions. Come and walk the labyrinth for yourself and experience how you may incorporate the labyrinth in your spiritual journey. If you’d like an indoor, accessible labyrinth, attend the session at 9:15 a.m.

Rev. Jane Anderson serves on the Wisconsin Conference UCC staff and is a resource for Church and Ministry in the Northeast and Southeast Associations, supports the executive committees in both associations, provides pastoral care for pastors and churches with congregations in transition, and helps churches transform conflict. Prior to her call as the Associate Conference Minister for the Northeast and Southeast Associations, Rev. Anderson had been in ministry in the local church for 30 years.

The Blessings of Call & Response Singing
Wisconsin Gospellers

“Sing a new song!” The Wisconsin Gospellers’ soloists and director will lead simple vocal techniques and songs suitable for all ages and abilities. The goal is to create a space where God’s Spirit can fill our souls, warm our hearts, and help us carry Psalm 33 (this week’s lectionary) into the week ahead.

The Wisconsin Gospellers have been bridging cultural divides and touching souls through gospel music since 2007, and have shared music, fellowship, and homes with local congregations and community choirs across Wisconsin, in New York City, and on four tours in Germany. In 2024, we’ll host the “Gospel & More” choir from Essen, Germany.