Abigail Schreiner is the Foster Parent Recruiter at HopeTree Family Services. She works to raise awareness with churches about the need for foster parents and to encourage loving families to open their homes to children in need. Abigail is passionate about raising awareness of foster care in the community and advocating for policies that improve the child welfare system. She serves in leadership with important industry organizations, enjoys seeing the positive impact that a loving foster family can have on a child in care, and is the mother of two children.

Featured Topic: Justice and Faith in the Foster Care System (Sessions 1&2)

What is the Christian community’s role in the child welfare system? What is your role in the child welfare system? While not everyone is called or equipped to be a foster parent, we are all called to care about children who cannot live with their birth parents. Learn about the foster care system in Virginia and ways you can be involved in promoting justice for those whose voice is so rarely heard.

Erin Rose lives and works in vibrant Richmond, Virginia, where she serves as Worship & Teaching Pastor at East End Fellowship. Erin is also a member of Urban Doxology, a ministry that is writing the soundtrack of reconciliation for the church. Her greatest joy lies in leading God’s people in authentic worship and teaching them the truth found in God’s Word. She also enjoys eating delicious food, spending time with loved ones, and indulging in the occasional Netflix binge. Erin is the featured speaker for Mission Possible 2019.

Featured Topic: Interview with Erin Rose (Session 2)

Speaker Erin Rose will be interviewed by Josh Hayden (Mission Possible Co-founder) to discuss the connection between faith, art and work.  There will be time to ask questions to about her story, content from the talks, and hear more about how her faith informs her art.

Keith Cartwright is a Behavioral Health Wellness Consultant with the State of Virginia. He is also the Alcohol and Drug Education Coordinator at Randolph-Macon College. Keith is certified to teach Mental Health First Aid, and conducts numerous trainings on the impacts of early childhood trauma on future health outcomes. He and his family live in Ashland, Virginia.

Featured Topic: Non-Judgmental Listening (Session 1&2)
Maybe you’ve heard the saying: God gave us two ears and one mouth because we’re supposed to listen twice as much as we talk. But what if it’s not as simple as that? What if it’s more about “how” we listen than it is about “how much” we listen. In this workshop we’ll talk about the importance of putting our judgment aside when we listen, and how by doing so, we might become the source of hope someone hasn’t found anywhere else.

Elena Aronson serves as Director of Training for Arrabon and Program Director for the Urban Doxology Songwriting Internship each summer. She entered into this ministry when she participated in the first year of Arrabon’s Urban Doxology Songwriting Internship in 2011. Her passion is in facilitating discussions on complex issues of race, culture, spiritual formation and reconciliation practices. She’s currently pursuing a Masters in Theology and Culture at Kilns College and enjoys playing classical piano in her spare time.

Featured Topic: Theology of Creativity: Culture-Making in a Society Marked by Divisions (Sessions 1&2)

As people made in the image of God, we are purposefully designed to be creative. One of God’s first charges to humanity was to make something ofthe world He created. We call this culture-making. Come learn what it means to utilize creativity towards Kingdom purposes, paying special attention to the role artists can play in breaking down longstanding societal divisions.

Analise Adams is the Program Director at Shalom Farms, a nonprofit organization in Richmond, VA focused on working with communities to ensure access to healthy food and the support to lead healthy lives. Her work focuses on finding creative ways to support individuals and families in adopting healthy diets through increasing access to fresh, locally-grown produce. She comes from a social work, community development, and civic engagement background and is most known for talking at length about her love for vegetables, and can often be found drinking too much coffee at farmers markets or trying out a new recipe in her Church Hill kitchen.

Featured Topic: Faith and the Food System: Finding ways to eat and advocate our way to a healthier (Sessions 1&2)

This break-out session will explore the ways in which our faith calls us to be a part of fostering a healthier community, where everyone has equitable access to a healthy food system. Through discussing our roles in the food system and opportunities to create change in our communities, we will discuss ways to approach the intersections of faith, food access, and equity in the food system.

Josh Hayden loves helping people discover the hope and meaning that God has for our shared life together. He studied leadership and organizational change while writing Creative Destruction: Towards a Theology of Institutions to receive his Doctor of Ministry at Duke Divinity School. He’s the author of Sacred Hope, a book designed to foster conversation about the role of hope in our lives. Josh also studied at The John Leland Center for Theological Studies (M.Div) and James Madison University (B.A. English). Josh currently serves on the Board of Directors for: V3 Church Planting Movement, Fresh Expressions US, and Spence Network. He finds delight in his marriage with Shéy and enjoys exploring the world with his two boys Rowan & Eli and dog Izzie. He also loves to read, run, and coach soccer.

Featured Topic: God’s Heart for Justice: Considering Scripture (Session 1)

This breakout will explore what scripture has to say about God’s heart for justice on earth as in heaven for the sake of the world

Eleanor Robertson is the owner of Rigby’s Jig Ballroom Dance Studio and the Founder and Executive Director of The Greater Richmond Dance Project. She is a native Richmonder, dedicated to infusing Ballroom and Partner Dance into the fabric of the community. She believes whole-heartedly that dance can change people and positively influence the world. Eleanor’s organizations are also focused on giving back to Richmond, proudly partnering with The Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Susan G. Komen, American Diabetes Association, Jacob’s Chance, ASK, Miracles in Motion and many others to use dance as a tool to help make a difference! When she’s not on the dance floor, she relishes her time with her husband Tim and their two amazing kids, Bella & Burkley.

Featured Topic: Running a business with a Christian mindset – Revealing God in unexpected ways (Session 1)

This breakout session will explore the ways that we can include God in the world of small business and local non-profits. We will discuss how to keep God in focus while working with people of many faiths and backgrounds and how to reflect grace in unspoken ways. The business world is not necessarily suited for the subject of God so how do we stay on mission and keep Him at the helm? How can we demonstrate our faith while still being “pc” in the world of business? How do we keep God present in organizations that aren’t intentionally faith-based? What does it look like to involve practices on target with God in business infrastructures?

Watch Eleanor’s two step performance here.

Patrick Braford is a James Madison graduate. He has started his own branch of Tuition Painters, held various management positions, and started a ReStore as an Americorps VISTA. In 2007 they began attending Tabernacle Baptist Church meeting a refugee family from Burma. After becoming acquainted with the transition process a “refugee” goes through, he helped start ReEstablish Richmond which focused on providing better initial housing options to refugees. In 2013, he started Global Painting LLC, which employs refugees – painting inside and outside primarily residential houses.  Global Painting employees 8 full time professional painters and did work in 150 different locations in 2018.  Patrick and Erin, have 3 children: James, Emma, and Luke.  They reside in Richmond, VA.

Featured Topic: Everyday Commitments (Sessions 1&2)

Business requires relationships that build trust between customers, employees, and partners.  Trust is built in everyday commitments to those you come in contact with and examples you set in your daily life.  Your everyday acts in how you treat others represent you, your family, and your faith.

Gannon Sims serves as Director of Ministry Formation with Fresh Expressions US and as Co-Director of The Center for Faith and Leadership in Fredericksburg. He earned the Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in Speech Communication and a minor in Music from Baylor University and the Master of Divinity degree from Duke University. Prior to entering seminary, Gannon worked as a legislative aide in the US Senate and as a public affairs officer in the anti-human trafficking office at the US State Department. He has served in various roles at several churches, Baptist, Presbyterian and Anglican. He can often be found with his hands in the dirt or writing music with friends. Gannon recently released his first full-length album. Check it out at GannonSims.com.

Featured Topic: Mission Possible: Design Thinking for Social Change (Session 1)

We live in a world where we know more about the problems facing us than ever before. The weight of the information we see in the news can make us feel like the problem is too big to solve–but not if we start with what we have and collaborate with others along the way. Using the concepts of design thinking, this workshop will play like a game to show you how every problem is a missional opportunity that can help change your community for the better. 

Featured Tropic: Developing authentic Christian Community (Session 2)

Only 4% of young adults have meaningful involvement in a church or Christian community. Fresh Expressions is a movement seeking to change that by equipping and releasing every believer to be the church by showing how our identity is more important than our activity. In this session, we’ll learn how to develop authentic Christian communities and will learn from experiences gleaned by the collegiate and young adult community at The Center for Faith and Leadership in Fredericksburg. 

Uptick Artists

Featured Topic: 
Art, Contemplation & Spiritual Formation (Beyond Information) led by Logan Jones and Rachel Pierce (Session 2)

How art and contemplation invite us to a place beyond mere information towards a place of spiritual formation and transformation.  We will explore the implications of becoming more intentional with our daily habits and how these habits can have an impact on self, church-culture and culture at large.

Experience: The Refugee Journey (Start Times 8 & 8:45 pm)

Description: An interactive storytelling experience that will build your understanding of the refugee journey and help you feel empowered to be a part of it.

Featured Collaborator – ReEstablish Richmond: In 2010, Patrick Braford noticed a gap in Richmond’s services for refugees. Government programs assigned families to Richmond upon entering the U.S., but once they arrived, they often didn’t have the resources or skills to secure adequate housing. Patrick’s passion for their inclusion in the wider community led him to start ReEstablish Richmond, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on helping refugees settle into Richmond while maintaining ties to their home culture.

Experience: A Prayer Labyrinth (Start Time 8 pm – Continuous Until 9:30 pm)

Description: On the floors of several European cathedrals are drawings, now often unnoticed, that served an important function during life in the Middle Ages.  Called labyrinths, the spiraling pathways provided an opportunity for the faithful to “go on pilgrimage.”  Though sometimes used as a form of penance, more generally the labyrinth served as an occasion for a walking meditation as a “pilgrim” slowly moved toward the center and then returned with a renewed sense of focus about God and the responsibility of the self in God’s world.

Our canvas labyrinth is a replica of the one originally laid in the 12th century in the floor of the Chartes Cathedral in France. On loan from River Road Church, the congregation cordially invites you to experience a meditative walk.

Experience: The Trinity Dance Experience (Start Times 8 & 8:45 pm)

Description: Experiencing connection with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and each other through dance.

Featured Collaborator – Greater Richmond Dance Project: The Greater Richmond Dance Project (GRDP) aims to enrich the lives of the Greater Richmond community through the art of Ballroom Dance. Dancing is a rich and dynamic activity that provides numerous benefits to health, mind, and spirit. Whenever people see a couple dancing the Cha Cha or the Waltz, they are affected by its power. GRDP aims to provide access, exposure and opportunity to more people, many of whom may not have ever stepped foot on a dance floor.

Experience: Smoothing Rough Edges: Connecting with Creation (Start Time 8 pm – Continuous Until 9:30 pm))

Description: Engage a fluid dialogue and textured encounter by shaping wood. Consider that often times that which is newly created comes out of death.

Hosted by: Harrison Higgins grew up in Richmond, VA and graduated from Woodberry Forest School and Davidson College. Following school he worked one year at Elk Hill Farm and then began an apprenticeship with Frank Marquette, a German cabinet maker working in Richmond.

After working with Frank for two years and he started his own shop in Goochland County, VA in a farm shed with a dirt floor and no electricity. Harrison had about a month’s worth of repair and refinishing work to do as well as a new born child to take care of.

He now has 7 employees, heat and electricity, a well-equipped shop, and orders for work for months in advance. The furniture appears in a number of historic sites such as Williamsburg, Monticello, Mt Vernon as well as private homes.

Experience: OVERVIEW a short film (Start Times 8 & 8:45 pm)

Description: Astronauts who have seen the Earth from space have often described the ‘Overview Effect’, an experience that has transformed their perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it, and enabled them to perceive it as our shared home, without boundaries between nations or species. ‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this perspective through interviews with astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for humanity as a whole, and especially its relevance to how we meet the tremendous challenges facing our planet at this time.

Hosted by: Daniel Peyton is the Pastor of Missions at First Baptist Church Ashland and a law student at the University of Richmond. Daniel earned a Master of Arts in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary where he focused his coursework on ethics, and art and culture. In seminary Daniel caught a vision for joining his call to the missional church with training to engage the struggle for justice as a legal advocate. He is in his second semester of law school and loves living in Richmond.

Experience: The Flippo Gallery (Start Time 8:30 pm – Continuous Until 9:30 pm)

Description: The Flippo Gallery is a space dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary works of art by professional artists. Artists exhibiting at the Flippo Gallery, emerging and established, present work in a variety of media addressing a wide range of conceptual concerns. The gallery is intended to serve as link between the educational mission of Randolph-Macon College and the community at large. 

Hosted by: Kristen Peyton is a painter, printmaker, and muralist working from observation and invention. She earned a Master of Fine Art in Painting from the University of New Hampshire in May of 2017 and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary in 2012. Kristen is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a resident of Richmond, Virginia. She is the Director and Curator of the Flippo Gallery at Randolph-Macon College as well as an instructor of drawing at Randolph-Macon and the College of William and Mary. 

Kristen’s work is a gesture of hospitality. She invites others to marvel at the mystery and beauty of commonplace moments found in everyday life. She welcomes her viewers into the profound presence of a chosen moment by offering through her work the gift of “eternal timefullness.” Artist and writer Makoto Fujimura speaks of “eternal timefullness” in his book Refractions as such, “A timeful experience is given when our minds are allowed to fully respond to the senses, to tap into the eternal reality that God opens for us via creativity. It’s what Williams Blake, the eighteenth-century poet, meant when he wrote, “To see a world in a grain of sand, / And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, / And eternity in an hour.” This Kristen offers in hospitality to the viewer.