Heavy Metal Nursing tells a story of love which, like all love stories, is a story of loss. It is not a sentimental love but a “heavy-metal” one, kneeling arm-to-arm beside parents caring for their daughter born with a severe brain injury who needs intensive care her entire life and dies at three years old. These poems hum the music of oxygen machines and chest compressions and respond to suffering with “half howl, half prayer.” These are poems of vulnerability and pain, but also of parenting, caregiving, marriage, medicine, humor, tenderness, affection. Over and over, they ask what it means to be “learning / to make life out of this slow dying. https://www.scottfrey.org/
SPEAKING 12:15; 12:55-1:25
One man's journey during the civil rights movement produced many blessings for his children and grandchildren. He walked for equality in the march on Washington with many but the daily struggles to find equality for his children created memories for them that they carried forward in the same fights for their children. Come and learn how one daughter passed on that blessing
SPEAKING 12:15-12:45; 1:35-2:05
The emotions one feels towards an abuser can be complex and intense. What happens when, through genealogical research, one uncovers traumas in the life of the abuser that may explain the cycle of violence. Come hear a story about how genealogy is helping one person find a path towards forgiveness.
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SPEAKING 12:55-1:25
You are knee-deep in challenging life experiences that you wish could be re-written. How do you do anything differently when you haven't known marriage or parenting to look any other way? Learn how one woman has made it her life's mission to re-write her story. Continual fear of divorce as a child has led to a marriage filled with deep, intentional love and a childhood spent journeying alongside a mom experiencing complex depression has led to striving to be an emotionally healthy and present mom in adulthood, with many bumps and learning points along the way.
SPEAKING 2:55-3:25; 3:35-4:05
Over the past 20 years, I have experienced growing interest in collecting toy model vehicles. This presentation will explore how this hobby remained deeply connected to my memories of play, wider histories of the toy industry, their legacies and much more.
SPEAKING 2:15-2:45; 2:55-3:25
Growing up, I did not know God and I had a terrible relationship with my father. My childhood was filled with so much trauma, but in 2009, hope met me. I started to discover this God who wanted to know me and I wanted to know Him. I loved knowing his many characteristics, but I would not call him father. I believed there was no way God could be good and a father. After much wrestling, I encountered God, the good good father and I was forever transformed!
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SPEAKING 12:15-12:45; 12:55-1:25
After following God's call to serve him as a missionary teacher, I had little idea of what adventures would unfold! From chasing monkeys from my house, zebras and hippos from my camping site, to being held up and robbed by a national "friend." God's grace was always there - even when I just wanted to go "home."
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SPEAKING 12:55-1:25; 1:35-2:05
As a young man learns to mature, value, and understand the world around him, he navigates hardships due to family situations and personal struggles. With uncertain obstacles come into play due to hardships, he steers to the reality that the Lord is alive and active. He learns through trials, that the Lord can use those trials to overcome and mature for a brighter future. Overall, he knows not to fear change because he sees change as a nother word for "opportunity."
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SPEAKING 3:35-4:05 PM
Through a query on a marketplace item my wife was selling, Anne and I made a connection with a Ukrainian family who were able to escape war, death, and destruction.
SPEAKING 12:15-12:45; 12:55-1:25
How does one who lived in a home without indoor plumbing and whose family bathed in a creek find his way to a long and satisfying career in higher education? Come hear about my adventurous and volatile childhood in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. Learn how "Jesus + Education = Transformation" became the formula that defines my life.
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SPEAKING 2:55-3:25; 3:35-4:05
Semicolons are used to signal where you could have used a period but instead chose to continue the sentence. My father's suicide forced me to make that choice for myself over 10 years ago. How do you continue your life when your mind is trying to convince you to end it?
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SPEAKING 1:35-2:05; 3:35-4:05
Growing up surrounded by addiction, mental illness, and constant instability, it would’ve been easy to let all of that define me. After seeing people around me trapped in their own trauma, I made a decision early on — I wasn’t going to be a victim of my past and let it have control over me. This led me to my journey of becoming a first-generation student and discovering therapy, breaking the cycle that had gone on for years before me.
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SPEAKING 12:15-12:45; 3:35-4:05
It was a miserable night. Sore from chemotherapy, I offered to drive my wife across town through a snowstorm to feed feral cats. But the journey quickly deteriorated, made worse by a window-fogging argument. How did God move us through this dark and stormy night of the soul to a place of enchantment and grace?
SPEAKING 1:35-2:05; 2:15-2:45
Climbing a 16,000-foot mountain peak is always challenging. So a little sideways jaunt for an easier route? Seemed like a no-brainer until we learned that the road less traveled is sometime less traveled for a reason.
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SPEAKING 2:15-2:45; 2:35-3:25
Placed in foster care as a child, I struggled with feelings of rejection and questions of belonging. Adoption gave me a family, but doubts about love and acceptance remained. My journey eventually led me to faith, where I discovered a second "adoption” one that redefined my identity, purpose, and true belonging.
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SPEAKING 2:15-2:45
The story of the ways God worked in my life to lead me to Messiah’s presidency – definitely not what I expected, deserved or planned but I am so very grateful for the privilege.
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SPEAKING 2:15-2:45
My mom lived with a fear of getting Alzheimers, after having experienced being a small child living with a grandmother who had the disease. From her perspective it was scary and absent of any dignity. Ten years ago my mom began to repeat questions, lose interest in the things she loved the most and finally come undone when she almost lost her adult daughter. This undoing started a journey of Alzheimers, one we are still navigating today. Come and learn how one daughter has found deeper faith in the midst of it.
SPEAKING 1:35-2:05
18 year old Allison Speck was eager to spread God's love through missions. After being diagnosed with cancer, she held tight to God's promise to never leave her or forsake her.
She fought a physical and spiritual battle and persevered by focusing on hope in Christ and seeking joy in life's precious moments.
Although she went to be with Jesus after a five year battle with cancer, her story demonstrates how one person's faith can inspire many others to find purpose in life. Her life was a life lived beautifully for God's glory. www.alliespeck.org
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SPEAKING 2:55-3:25