The 2021 School for Leadership Training (SLT) at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) will be held virtually on January 11-15. This year’s theme “from surviving to thriving … God breathes fresh hope,” calls to the respiratory nature of the pandemic, as well as one of the rallying cries of the Black Lives Matter movement: Eric Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe.”
The event features three keynote speakers from across the country.
Meghan Larissa Good is a teaching pastor at Trinity Mennonite Church in Glendale Arizona and author of The Bible Unwrapped: Making Sense of Scripture Today (Herald Press, 2018). Good frequently preaches and lectures all over the U.S. on biblical hermeneutics, emerging Anabaptism, and contemporary preaching.
Good will lead two keynote sessions: one on the Spirit’s place in the Trinity, and one on suffering, endurance, and Christian hope.
David Fitch is the chair of evangelical theology at Northern Seminary in Chicago and pastor at the Peace of Christ Church in Westmont, Illinois. He also leads the Church Planting Institute, an organization which plants third wave incarnational churches, and speaks on culture, politics, political theory, ethics, ecclesiology, and mission.
Fitch will lead a keynote session looking towards church after the pandemic.
Michael Gulker, president of The Colossian Forum, an organization that equips leaders to navigate conflict and division. Gulkner will lead a keynote session on the gospel as a tool for reconciliation in a polarized modern world.
Registration is available now through January 7, and costs $45 for the week or $20 for one day.
Seminars will be led by EMS and EMU faculty, musicians, child behavioral specialists, and other community leaders. There will also be opportunities for virtual networking and fellowship around a variety of topics, including chaplaincy work and ideas for faith community engagement during the pandemic.