Workshop Speakers:
Workshop #1: Four Stories: How insight into style can make you a better communicator
Speaker: Scott Mealey
For many years, communicators in the Church, the arts, politics, the not-profit sector, and the business world have been told that stories matter. But is having a good story enough? Arts and media research in the last decade has begun to suggest that the response of audiences is determined as much by the storytelling as by the story itself. Even more challenging is the proof that one-size of storytelling will not fit all listeners and circumstances. Success, instead, is more often determined by matching the right style to your intended message and the unique crowd to whom you are presenting. In this workshop, participants will be exposed to four styles of storytelling, both popular and unconventional, including their potential strengths and drawbacks with particular audiences and congregations. Given the hands-on nature of the session, everyone is encouraged to come prepared with a brief story that is pertinent to an environment in which they are currently engaged.
Biography:
Scott has spent nearly two and a half decades exploring the convergence of secular and sacred performance, persuasion, and social affect. He is currently a doctoral student at the University of Toronto’s Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies Centre, where his dissertation work explores the role of intent, style, and familiarity in effecting attitudinal changes in theatre spectators. His recent presentations have examined the non-coercive influence of found-object puppetry, museum exhibits that curate mindfulness in the face of tragedy, and performative change conceptualized through dual-process communication models. Scott is particularly passionate about teaching and for over fifteen years has taught practical and theoretical courses in the areas of theatre and communication, notably at Crandall University, Humber College, and the University of Toronto. Prior to returning to academia on a full-time basis, he worked professionally as an actor, director, playwright, and producer in Atlantic Canada. He also served twelve years as the founding pastor of The Pool, a church for irreligious twenty and thirty somethings.
Bishop Macdonald's workshop has been cancelled. We apologize if this has caused any inconvenience.
Workshop #2: Preaching in a Particular Time and Place: Learning from an Indigenous ContextSpeaker: Mark Macdonald
Biography:
The Right Rev. Mark MacDonald became the Anglican Church of Canada’s first National Indigenous Anglican Bishop in 2007, after serving as bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Diocese of Alaska for 10 years. He holds a B.A. in religious studies and psychology from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., an M.A. in divinity from Wycliffe College, and did post-graduate work at Luther-Northwestern Theological Seminary in Minneapolis.
He has had a long and varied ministry, holding positions in Mississauga, Ont., Duluth, Minn., Tomah, Wis., Mauston, Wis., Portland, Ore., and the southeast regional mission of the Diocese of Navajoland. Immediately prior to his ordination to the episcopate, Bishop MacDonald was canon missioner for training in the Diocese of Minnesota and vicar of St. Antipas’ Church, Redby, Minn., and St. John-in-the-Wilderness Church, Red Lake, Red Lake Nation, Minn.
Bishop MacDonald is the board chair for Church Innovations, Inc., and a third order Franciscan. He has co-edited The Chant of Life: Inculturation and the People of the Land (Liturgical Studies IV), Church Publishing Company, 2003. Bishop MacDonald and his wife Virginia have three children.
Workshop #3: Confessing Christ in Troubled Times: Bonhoeffer as a Resource for Preachers
Speaker: Robert Dean
Biography:
Robert is a Toronto-area theologian, pastor and writer, who is passionate about the theological renewal of preaching. His doctoral work, completed at Wycliffe College, focussed on questions surrounding the identity and mission of the church in our contemporary post-Christendom context. His first book, entitled For the Life of the World: Jesus Christ and the Church in the Theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stanley Hauerwas was published this past year. His next book, Leaps of Faith: Sermons from the Edge with a Foreword by Fleming Rutledge, is scheduled to appear this spring. Rob currently teaches theology as an adjunct faculty member at Tyndale Seminary. He previously served for seven years as a pastor at Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough. You can follow his musings about life and theology on his blog: thinkingafter.com.
