Keynote Speaker: Walt Mueller

2011-03-30T13:50:00.001-04:00

Dr. Walt Mueller is the founder and President of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, a non-profit organization serving schools, churches, and community organizations across the U.S, Canada, and worldwide in their efforts to strengthen families. Dr. Mueller will be speaking about the current cultural issues facing families and churches today.

Walt has been working with young people and families for over 30 years. He is a recognized authority on youth culture and family issues, and has appeared on numerous media outlets internationally to discuss teenagers and their world. A regular seminar and conference speaker, he communicates effectively with adults and teenagers alike. Walt Mueller's commentary and analysis on youth culture is heard daily on over 750 radio stations across the United States and Canada on CPYU's daily radio program, Youth Culture Today.

Walt Mueller earned his B.A. in Sociology from Geneva College (Beaver Falls, PA) and his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA, Summa Cum Laude), and his doctorate in postmodern generations from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Walt and his wife Lisa live in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania and have four children; Caitlin, Joshua, Bethany and Nathaniel.

Intersect 2011 Seminars:

2011-03-30T13:47:00.000-04:00

Youth Ministry: There are many crossroads and challenges in student ministry. Join with us as we share in the opportunity and determine the direction of our ministries and our lives through the message of the Cross.

Media for Ministry on a Budget - Presented by Gary Mammarello

Networking Ministry - Presented by Alex Ruffer

United -Presented by Todd Mitchell

Bible Study Tools: Have you ever sat down to read the Bible and found yourself frustrated with the difficulty of the text? You come across names, dates, places and concepts that are unfamiliar and references that don’t make sense. The truth is that while the principles of faith in Jesus are simple, the Bible itself is an incredibly complex book, but we need not despair! We have many tools and resources available to us to help us understand the Bible. We will take a look at some of the tools that you may not be aware of that can help encourage you in your daily reading of the Bible. Caleb Matthews is a graduate of Houghton College and is currently the Senior Pastor of Penfield Wesleyan Church.

Bringing Out the Best In Your Pastor: Your pastor's gifts and love, those qualities through which God intends to bless your church, can get buried beneath layers of heartache, high stress and hardship. This seminar will explore several ways you can help release the best in your pastor and multiply God's blessings on your church. Michael Leamon is currently pastoring in the Western NY District. He is a graduate of United Wesleyan College and Princeton Theological Seminary. Mike is married to Wendy and they enjoy their two children and granddaughter Sophie!

Children’s Ministry Part 1 - Bringing Family Together: Creating purposeful family events can revolutionize your Church. Learn how to plan event s and create special spiritual growth moments that will allow you to build your ministry into one that fosters community and allows you to speak the love of Jesus into the hearts of families. You will walk away with some great ideas and tools for implementing small and large events into your ministry.

Children’s Ministry Part 2 - Sing, Sing, Sing!: Preschoolers love music and motions that allow them to wiggle and dance. Learn how to focus all that energy in your classroom into purpose worship that will help them understand a great big God who loves them. You’ll learn some of the newest praise songs and their motions designed especially for preschoolers. You will walk away with new music that you will be able to utilize immediately in your ministry or home. Tracy Parker is the Children’s Ministry Director at Victory Highway and is passionate about working with children. With over 25 years of experience ministering to families she is committed to leading kids and equipping parents to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. As a wife of 27 years and a mother to two grown boys and a daughter-in-law, she knows the value of investing in the relationships of her family and desires to share from life experience the amazing faith journey she is traveling.

Christian Financial Principles: We will be discussing the four foundational anchors of “God’s economy” and their underlying principles. We will also review a six step plan that leads to economic health based upon Scriptural wisdom and tested truth. Bob Zinnecker is retired as president of the NYS Telecommunications Association in Albany. He is active in civic, religious, and industry organizations, and is currently on the Board of Directors for several major U.S. telecommunications companies. He is also a Senior Certified Professional Manager, and has submitted several articles for publication in religious and business media.

Church Budgeting - Developing a Financial Plan for Your Church: This class will focus on the use of current expense ledgers to develop a spending plan for the following year. Although a computerized bookkeeping system is not necessary, ideas will be shared as to how to take advantage of reports from Quicken® and/or QuickBooks®. Participants will also be exposed to the ease of using a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet to track spending as it relates to the Financial Plan. Donna Gross is a member of the Buena Vista church where she has served as church treasurer for 20 years. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Houghton College and a master’s degree from Elmira College. Prior to her retirement, she taught math and computer science for Houghton College and then spent the majority of her career teaching middle school math at Avoca Central School. In her free time, she enjoys reading and quilting.

The Doctrine of Holiness - a Crash Course: Even though “holiness” is the distinctive doctrine of the Wesleyan Church, most Wesleyans are ignorant of it, or at least lack the ability to articulate what it means. In this crash course we will briefly examine the Biblical foundations for the doctrine, the power behind it, and the practical expression of it in everyday life. Dr. Joseph Liddick is the Sr. Pastor of Gates Wesleyan Church. He has degrees from Houghton College, Wheaton Graduate School, and Asbury Theological Seminary. He has been married for 37 years to his wife Esther, and they have three children and four grandchildren. Dr. Liddick has taught classes at Houghton College, Emmanuel Wesleyan Bible College (Swaziland), and has recently taught the doctrine of holiness in the Burmese Bible School.

Wesleyan Financial Investment Options: Are you looking for an option for investing your money? Come hear about our District Bond Program and also Wesleyan Investment Foundation - places where you
can invest in God's work and receive a higher interest return than the commercial world offers. Elaine R. Payne is our current District Treasurer and is retired from Corning Incorporated. She is a member of Victory Highway Wesleyan Church and has spent her life working in positions involving finances.

Evangelism - Finding LIFE before Death: What if we only had the Bible as our source for evangelism? How would we describe salvation? What influence would the Hebrew Scriptures have? How would we involve Jesus and the Gospels? What about the rest of the New Testament? For so long, evangelism has been reduced to something that’s about another time and another place; namely, heaven when you die. While salvation certainly encompasses those concerns, it also encompasses so much more! In this seminar we’ll look at what the Bible says about salvation. We’ll consider salvation from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Gospels and the Pauline epistles. We’ll come away with a faith that is renewed and reenergized and with a message for great hope in this lifetime, as well as the one to come. Joe Roberts has been serving as the Lead Pastor of Crosswinds Wesleyan Church since November of 2009. Prior to coming to Crosswinds Joe served as a Teaching Pastor at a 6,000+ member, non-denominational church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Joe received his Bachelor of Theology from Olivet Nazarene University, his Master of Divinity from Nazarene Theological Seminary and his Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary. Joe’s dissertation is entitled, The Spiritual Theology of John Wesley for Postmodern Culture.

Servant Leadership by the Book: We will provide an overview of the accepted principles of servant leadership along with a discussion of the biblical foundation for this leadership style that is tailor made for spiritual generative cultures. Dr. Jeffrey Matteson has over twenty years of experience as a youth minister, teacher, assistant principal, principal and superintendent of schools in Vermont and New York. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Center for Distributed Learning at Indiana Wesleyan University and is employed as a Faculty Associate at Bethel Seminary in both their M.Div. and D.Min. programs. In addition, he recently began serving as a Doctoral Thesis Advisor in Bethel’s doctoral program and assisted in launching their first cohort in the Doctor of Ministry in Servant Leadership for Team and Organizational Effectiveness. His research interests have included self-sacrificial, servant, and authentic leadership.

Marriage - Creating and Sustaining Radiant Marital Relationships: This seminar is designed to help couples establish and maintain relationship trust, increase emotional availability and to learn to choose a response that produces intimacy and love instead of distance and anger. The goal is to create a radiant relationship that values both safety within and the sanctity of the marriage. David M. Skiff PhD, LMSW, MDiv. is an ordained minister in the Free Methodist Church and served as a pastor for seven years before starting Covenant Christian Counseling Services in 1991. He started teaching at Roberts Wesleyan College as an adjunct professor in 1994 and has served fulltime since 1996. He recently completed his PhD. (2009) at the University of Rochester in Human Development at the Warner Graduate School of Education. In 2004/2005 he began his work with the Partner Violence Intervention Project at the University of Rochester under the leadership of Dr. Susan Horwitz. He now serves as a member of the Laboratory of Violence and Victimization (LIVV) at the University of Rochester under the direction of Dr. Catherine Cerulli.

Mental Health Issues - Anxiety, Depression, and Suicide: As Christians we are not immune to anxiety and depression. In this seminar we will have an opportunity to understand what these afflictions are and how they can be treated. Depression sometimes triggers thoughts of suicide. We cannot ignore this reality even in our churches and families. There are some practical things we can do when we recognize that someone is having these thoughts. Time will be provided for questions and answers at the end. Gary and Barbara Short head up Family Life Ministries Focus Counseling services, which provides a biblical approach to the field of personal counseling.

Missional Church: It seems like everybody is using the word “missional” but what does it really mean? Is it just another word to describe evangelism? Is it simply the latest church growth program or spiritual “fad” sweeping the church? Is missional church a good thing, bad thing, hip thing, nothing or something to embrace? This seminar is designed to bring clarity to what missional church means and suggest ways your church can positively respond to the missional movement. Dan Jones is the Lead pastor of the Avon Wesleyan Church where he has served for the last 5 years. He has a BA from Houghton in religion and earned his MDiv at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently working towards his DMin at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dan has been a guest lecturer at Houghton College, taught in the Burmese Bible School and presented seminars at Intersect. He is also an adjunct professor for Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. Dan chairs the District Board of Ministerial Development and enjoys working with new pastors and teaching.

Senior Ministries – Our Spiritual Journey: As we move into our later years our spiritual journeys may take different paths. The aging process may impact our attitude toward or perceptions of the ups and downs of life. This seminar will explore the nature of the journey in our later years and strategies to help us “press on toward the goal” that Paul talks about in Phil. 3:14. Some attention will also be given to exploring the impact of our life’s memories on our spiritual journey. Dr. Audrey W. Klick retired from Roberts Wesleyan College after teaching since 1979 in the social work program. She presently teaches in Organizational Management/ Pathway Courses in Aging and Life: Introduction to Gerontology and Modern Social Problems, and is a Sunday School teacher at Spencerport Wesleyan Church

Signage - You’ve got guests: Guests are coming. Are you ready? Will they find you? Will they feel welcome? This seminar will discuss signage and how you can be a welcoming church. Why have signs around the church? After all, we know where everything is. Are we expecting visitors? Signage is a small portion of evangelism – welcoming the visitor. Priscilla Bence Andrews is a Houghton grad, secondary school teacher, retired state program specialist, Lay Preacher at Geneva Presbytery and Consultant on Evangelism

Special Needs Children: This seminar will be a panel of experienced people who work with special needs children on a day to day basis or in a weekly church setting. We will discuss how they learn best, and will offer helpful tips to Sunday School and youth group personnel. Bring your questions and cases so we can help you work out your processes and offer helpful strategies. Steve Kocher has been a special educator for twenty seven years. He currently teaches in a self-contained life skills classroom at Caledonia-Mumford Middle School. He and his family attend Avon Wesleyan Church, where Steve is a one-to-one Sunday School classroom aide for a special needs’ child. Jan-Michael Blencowe graduated in May with a Bachelor in Social Work. He has worked for Hillside Children's Center for the past 5 years with children (5-18 years of age) who are still living in the community but suffer from emotional disturbances and are at high risk of being hospitalized for behavioral outburst, or institutionalized in a residential treatment facility. Phil Jones is a long time lay leader at Haskinville Wesleyan Church and an education activist. Phil has been involved in teaching, directing, and administrating education both in and out of the church. As a former public school board of education member and current Sunday school teacher for students with special needs, Phil brings a wealth of experience to educational issues.

Young Adult Ministries: One of the biggest challenges for churches today is effective ministry to young adults. In this discussion, Dan Walker will explore with you various approaches to the task, with emphasis upon an ecumenical outlook. The goal for our time together will be to glean positive insights and strategies to enable more successful outreach and ministry to this age group. Dan Walker is a graduate of Houghton College and is currently the Assistant Pastor at Athens Wesleyan Church.

Short-term and Compassion Missions – Are We Playing the Emotion Card?: In this seminar we will take a hard look at the local church’s role in missions. Are short-term mission teams really worthwhile? What percentage of the church’s mission budget should be spent on long and short-term mission partnerships? What percentage should go to compassion ministries as opposed to evangelism and Christian education? Are we spending God’s money wisely? Do people really need to go on short-term mission teams to develop a heart for missions? Steve Gardner was born and raised in West Africa as the son of missionaries. He has a BA in Bible and a Master of Divinity in Church Ministries and Christian Education. He is currently the Director of Global Ministries and Campus Management for Crosswinds Wesleyan Church. He has been on four short-term mission teams, one to Kosovo, two to Sierra Leone, and one to Haiti.

Worship Arts Forum: This seminar will explore current trends in contemporary Christian worship with an emphasis on utilizing technology effectively during corporate worship. Over the past five years Chris Stevens has served as Worship Arts Pastor in the local church, and is currently serving at Crosswinds Wesleyan Church. He's a singer/songwriter, having released four records, with eight GMA nominations & four GMA awards. He's toured across North America performing original music, leading worship at church events and conferences.

Women’s Issues - What You Say Can Say A lot About You: We know what the Bible says about our words. If we consider ourselves religious but don't keep a rein on our tongues, we deceive ourselves and our religion is worthless. (James 3) Together we'll look at how gossip affects our Christian walk and witness using humor, visuals and the truth of God's word. Tammy Golden lives in Horseheads, NY. Having led small groups and taught all ages of Sunday School, Tammy enjoys sharing the Word of God. As a published author and public speaker she seeks to motivate and challenge believers with Biblical Truths.