talks

Most Popular Themes

Man Turned in on Himself
We are built for community but find ourselves trapped in an inward turning spiral of our own creation. Only by naming our symptoms—anxiety, loneliness, escapism, and deep feelings of insignificance—can we begin to heal. Keynote talk, or as the foundation for a three-part workshop/retreat: Man Turned in on Himself/ The Church Turned in on Itself/ Learning to Turn Out.

happy are those
Using the first psalm as a springboard, we connect the dots between happiness and knowing our true identity—and introduce a prayer practice that helps shut out the noise of a world clamoring that we are not enough, so that our spirit may be filled with the peace that passes all human understanding.

God or Transcripts: where do you put your trust?
Over the last 30 years, our priorities for our children have been heavily impacted by quarterly-earnings-report thinking. Using passages from Elijah & the SAT as prompts, we consider this together: what is the real price of raising our kids to look good on paper and are we willing to hear—and act on—the truth?

Baptism by Fire
Twenty years after coming to faith—and now with an MA in Theology—Heather revisits her conversion memoir to help those inside the church “hear the heart” of those who live outside His love…and envision all the God can do with a life if we let him.

Resurrecting the Priesthood of all Believers
At one time the Priesthood of all Believers was foundational to the Lutheran identity, but few today have even heard of it. Together we’ll look at the death of the Priesthood of All Believers in our churches, resurrect this key doctrine, and consider our individual “priestly” calls, so that all may return home empowered to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2: 9)

To Make a New People His Church
If there’s one thing we know about this old book we love it’s that it tells the story of a God who makes all things new—again and again and again. New people, new voices, new leaders, new ways, and the sure promise that our faith in Christ makes each one of us “competent to be ministers of a new covenant.” (2 Cor. 3:6). By recounting how the Holy Spirit has worked to change her from a “hip, urban agnostic” to “life-giving, urban missionary”, Heather shows us that there are as many different ways to serve Jesus’s “new thing” as there are believers.