Shalom Academy Archive

The Shalom Academy 2024

Theme: Pursuing Community in a Divisive World

Cultivating unity within faith communities can be difficult when cultural pressures are divisive. As the next iteration of the former School for Leadership Training, Shalom Academy 2024 offers a place to learn and reflect on the practices that move congregations past divisiveness and toward peace, both within their walls and in their larger communities. Keynote speakers included Melissa Florer-Bixler, pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church, and Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners.

Keynote Speakers

Melissa Florer-Bixler is the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church, and a graduate of Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. She spent times studying in Israel/Palestine, Kenya, and England. Much of her formation took place in the L'Arche community of Portland, OR. Now she prefers the Eno River and her garden in Raleigh, NC. She is the chair of L'Arche North Carolina and a steering committee member in broad-based organizing in her county. Melissa's writing has appeared in Christian Century, Sojourners, Geez, Anabaptist Witness, The Bias, Faith&Leadership,and Anabaptist Vision.From time to time she publishes academic writing. She and her spouse parent three children.

adam taylor Adam Russell Taylor is president of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community.Taylor previously led the Faith Initiative at the World Bank Group and served as the vice president in charge of Advocacy at World Vision U.S. and the senior political director at Sojourners. He has also served as the executive director of Global Justice, an organization that educates and mobilizes students around global human rights and economic justice. He was selected for the 2009/2010 class of White House Fellows and served in the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and Public Engagement. Taylor is a graduate of Emory University, the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology. Taylor also serves on the Independent Sector Board, the Global Advisory Board of Tearfund UK, and is a member of the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellowship. Taylor is ordained in the American Baptist Church and the Progressive National Baptist Convention and serves in ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va.

School for Leadership Training Archive

Prior to January 2024, the Shalom Academy was regularly held under the name "The School for Leadership Training," perhaps better known by its acronym: SLT.

School for Leadership Training 2023

Creating Communitis of Belonging: Appreciating EveryBODY

When reading 1 Corinthians 12, we are reminded that collectively we are all part of the body of Christ with each individual serving as one part of the larger body. Each body part is mutually dependent and vital to the health of the whole. Our communities of faith require a variety of gifts to thrive. When everyBody is actively included and firmly connected, the whole church benefits and grows stronger. Ministry leaders are in a unique position to advocate for the full inclusion of all people, regardless of physical disabilities, medical conditions, or developmental differences, in our communities of faith.

Speakers included Amy Julia Becker, award-winning writer and speaker on personal, spiritual, and social healing, and the Rev. Dr. JJ Flag, Associate Minister of Pastoral Care and Justice at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC. This year also featured a concert by the rewowned musician, Ken Medema, who has inspired people through storytelling and music for four decades.

School for Leadership Training 2022

Theme: Race, Place, and Catastrophe: Becoming Grapevine and Fig Tree Planters in a Time of Crisis

SLT 2022 graphic

This year's SLT collaborated with the Inverse Podcast community to present “Race, Place, and Catastrophe: Becoming Grapevine and Fig Tree Planters In a Time of Crisis” for a hybrid in-person and virtual conference. Keynote speakers from around the world included Drew G. I. Hart from Harrisburg, PA in the United States (co-host of Inverse Podcast), Jarrod Mckenna from Perth, Australia (co-host and founder of Inverse Podcast), and Carol Ng’ang’a from Nairobi, Kenya (Founder of Msingi Trust and Msingi Talks Podcast). It also included several other in-person and virtual workshops, worship through gospel music, opportunities for group fun and play, and some distinct InVerse way contributions to our time together.

School for Leadership Training 2021

Theme: “From Surviving to Thriving: God Breathes Fresh Hope”

Watch Keynote #1, “Leadership in Desert Places: Stories from the Wilderness”
by Meghan Larissa Good

Meghan presented a series of three short stories and reflections from the book of Exodus. The first was based on Exodus 3 and the burning bush story with a focus on the calling and vocation of leaders. The second story was be based on Exodus 16 with a focus on the question of what it looks like, practically speaking, to live on daily bread. The third story was based on Exodus 33 and focused on where God is in our darkest times.

Watch Keynote #2, “The Great Reset: Church on the Other Side of COVID-19”
by David Fitch

Watch Keynote #3, “Reconciling Presence: Fresh Gospel Opportunities For a Polarized World”
by Michael Gulker

In a divided world, the longing for reconciliation runs deep. As those tasked with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5), the Church has an amazing opportunity to be a healing presence in our world today. Sadly, many of our church bodies are as divided as the wider culture, alienating youth, and depriving the world of the Gospel hope we’re called to share. We’re bad at conflict. We fear it. We avoid it. We mishandle it. And we’re not all likely to agree anytime soon. But what if we could lead through disagreements in ways that deepen discipleship instead of division? This plenary introduces fresh, applicable Christian practices and capacity-building ministry tools for faithfully embodying the Gospel of reconciliation even while we disagree.

Watch Keynote #4, “Canyon Crossings: Suffering, Endurance, and Christian Hope”
by Meghan Larissa Good

Meghan focused on Hebrews 10:32-39; 12:1-2 and the experience of suffering and what we do with it, and what it takes to maintain hope in the presence of suffering. Meghan shared reminders of the "cloud of witnesses" that persevered in hope.

School for Leadership Training 2019

Among ‘stormy seas of change,’ School for Leadership Training celebrates 50 years of supporting ministry

School for Leadership Training 2018

Seminary conference gives space to brokenness, ‘kintsugi clergy’ and ministry in a polarized society

Listen to the podcast of Monday evening's plenary session: “Bridges Crossed, Lessons Learned: My Journey in Leadership” - Iris de León-Hartshorn

School for Leadership Training 2017

School for Leadership Training addresses pastoral responses to a racialized and divided America
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Listen to the podcast of Monday evening’s plenary session, “What’s So Good about this Samaritan?: A Christian Ethic for Navigating Power and Difference” – Christena Cleveland and Drew Hart

School for Leadership Training 2012

Podcasts of plenary speaker Walter Bruggemann