2023 Annual Conference Workshops

(Ken Sande) In this workshop we will provide an introduction to the key principles of conflict coaching and mediation and show how they have been used to resolve conflicts and reconcile people in churches, ministries, mission teams and Christian owned businesses.

(Chip Zimmer) If you’ve read The Peacemaker, or taken part in a peacemaking seminar, you’ve encountered the PAUSE Principle of negotiation. Many of us think of the PAUSE Principle only applies to conflicted relationships. But PAUSE can also be used in everyday conversations as well as pastoral ministry to strengthen relationships and develop mutually supported solutions. In this Workshop, we’ll explore how godly heart attitudes support the creation of compelling joint-problem statements, the key to negotiating cooperatively. In preparation, please read Chapter 11 of The Peacemaker.

(Eric Basye) What difference does a Kingdom theology make in our relationships? In this workshop, we will discuss its importance as we anticipate the fullness of the Kingdom to come. As we wait for this fulfillment, Scripture informs believers how we are to engage the world to seek the shalom of all as an expression of the hope, love, and joy found in the gospel. It is an invitation to live boldly and confidently in the restoration of all things.

(Colin Sauskojus) In this workshop we will discuss the concepts of faith, hope, and love and take a look at how they serve as core practices of our walk with Christ and our practice of leadership within our families, churches, businesses, and communities.

(Ken Sande) Through the early years of our nation, civil courts gave great deference to churches on how they would carry out pastoral ministry. Not anymore. Recent cases have pushed aside the traditional protects afforded the church and opened the way for churches to be sued for breach of fiduciary responsibility, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and similar causes of action. This workshop will describe ways that churches can use RW360’s risk management resources to promote loving pastoral care, build safeguards against the misuse of power, and reduce their exposure to legal liability by obtaining “informed consent” to pastoral policies and practices, including conflict resolution, divorce and remarriage, protecting children from abuse, counseling and confidentiality and church discipline. 

(Vince Vitale) When you think of the spiritual disciplines that you are actively cultivating in your life, does “conversation” make the list? Are you a better conversationalist than you were five years ago? Most people find these difficult questions to answer, but they are critical questions to be able to answer with a confident “Yes.” God finds his way into good conversations that eventually lead to the gospel. So, practically and concretely, what would it look like to take day-to-day conversation seriously as an essential aspect of Christian witnessing and discipleship, and to see those conversations consistently leading to others turning to Christ? That is the question I want to explore together in this workshop.

(Vince Vitale) Why does it so often feel like when it comes to sexuality, we are faced with an impossible dilemma between compromising on truth or compromising on love? This workshop is for those who don’t like this ultimatum, seeking instead to understand and communicate what the Bible says about sexuality in a way that reflects Jesus—the One who was full of both grace and truth.

(Rankin Wilbourne) We need to think again about how we think. We are living during the heyday of brain science. We’ve learned more about how the brain works in the last 25 years than in the previous 5,000! These truly are the days of Copernicus and Galileo when it comes to our understanding of how we come to think what we think and believe what we believe. If we want to be truly rational actors, then we might begin by learning that we are not nearly as rational as we think we are. We are routinely self-deceived by a whole host of biases. This turns out to be not only good science but a confirmation of ancient Biblical wisdom and evidence to support what our best theologians have long tried to tell us.

(Daniel Teater) Description here

(Teresa Sidebotham) Receiving an allegation of some kind of misconduct is always a shock and may trigger a crisis situation. The end goal will be to bring peace and healing, but it may be a long journey. This talk will provide principles on how to respond initially, what plans to put in place, and how to evaluate if an investigation is needed. Then it walks through how to plan and execute a good investigation, addressing some practical and legal concerns. This may include “red flags,” who should conduct an investigation, and to what extent legal counsel and other experts may be needed. A correct approach will help avoid serious mistakes, minimize damage, and prepare the organization to provide healing to people harmed. An investigation is designed to uncover truth, but the goal should be for the truth to be used for repentance and healing.

(Paul Cornwell) After years of assisting churches through conflict, I have seen a reoccurring pattern, I call it the missing discipline. Any guess that the missing discipline might be?

In this workshop, we will discuss the most missing discipline I have seen after working with hundreds of churches. It is both disturbing and problematic that those who know the gospel so poorly practice this Biblical discipline and do not recognize the difficulty it creates in their situation. Participants will learn a method to assist a church in regaining this essential discipline. They will discover just how limiting and at times prophetic the lack of this discipline is, explaining why they fail to resolve their issues.

In preparation for the workshop, participants are asked to read the letter of I John in its entirety and in one setting. Multiple readings will be beneficial.

(Paul Cornwell) Have you ever noticed that churches in unresolved conflict fail to resolve their conflicts or even find a resolutional-path due to something they are not doing? I have! While there are multiple examples of things missing in church conflict (See Workshop: The Missing Discipline), identifying what is missing and telling the church is ineffective. Even knowing the facts does not bring the needed resolution.

This workshop will present a description of how church leaders and congregations attempt to address their challenges. As the participant will quickly see, many churches give good and well-intended effort to understand their conflicts, yet they end their pursuit prematurely. This occurs for many reasons ranging from ignorance of what the next helpful step might be to moving away from the hope of the gospel.

When a church-conciliator understands the church’s efforts, discovers why they stopped too soon and can describe and offer a path to more effectively address the issues, many churches will desire to follow that path. Participants will learn a 3-tiered pattern of addressing church issues. They will understand the common ways each pattern is defined, is helpful, and how stopping too soon results in many church conflicts staying unresolved.

(Allison Pickering) Christians in the midst of a difficult conflict often struggle to understand and apply the biblical passages that refer to taking two or three witnesses along. In fact, the interpretation and application of these passages often add to the controversy and delay helpful progress on a solution. For example, some of the most heinous sins are often done in secret and have no witness. Does it mean that we cannot seek to discern and address sin and foster accountability and Gospel healing? Surely not. But how do we proceed to these complex situations? In this workshop we will consider several scenarios where these kinds of questions must be answered to faithfully care well for all involved, protect the weak, bring sin into the light and promote justice and reconciliation in a Gospel centered manner.  

(Ken Sande) Cultural and political controversies are triggering an enormous increase in personal, family, church, employment, and legal conflicts. These events have also created an enormous need for the relationship-healing and conflict-resolving principles of relational wisdom, biblical peacemaking and Christian conciliation. This workshop will describe strategies and resources that you can use to magnify the impact of social media, blogs, personal conversations, free introductory presentations, continuing education credits and strategic networking to generate new opportunities to provide training and conciliation services in both Christian and secular venues.

(Candy McCune, Ted Kober, Allison Pickering) You know how you have a new case, rather typical initial contacts, a great outline for the meetings, and wonderful plans for how you will guide each party right to a smooth reconciliation, even a list of scriptures and wisdom quotes ready to pull out as needed?  But as the conciliation work gets rolling, suddenly up pops a totally unexpected and difficult situation that has the potential to stymie everything!  This panel of seasoned conciliators will share insights and experience gained in the field on some of these “surprises and pitfalls” plus allow some time at the end to field questions.

(Debby and Frank Mylar) This is a practical workshop for mediators who work with individuals who want to reconcile a marriage or relationship where oppression or abuse has been a relational dynamic. What will you look for during pre-mediation coaching to determine whether conciliation is appropriate? What will the mediation process look like? When would you take the “on-ramp” to begin mediation? When would you take the “off-ramp” to stop the mediation? Then, what do you do? In addition, we will address how to show respect for and work closely with church leaders in these situations.

(James Long & David King) Issues of race, justice and diversity can be challenging for Christians to face in a context of increasing political polarization. Yet, the Bible offers hope and solutions individually and culturally to address the issues and needs of individuals. In this workshop, participants will learn important differences between a biblical and secular social justice perspective and how principles of Relational Wisdom can be used to effectively respond to individuals and issues in areas of race, justice, and diversity. Participants will also learn about a framework for responding to issues of race and justice based on Biblical principles (DGT Model).

(David King) Christians holding to traditional and Biblical views of marriage and sexual behavior and expression face increasing challenges and moral conflicts when interacting with friends, family or coworkers ascribing to current secular constructs of sexuality and identity. Understanding the underlying beliefs and assumptions of these constructs and effective strategies for engaging others is vital for navigating relationships. This workshop will explore key worldview differences between current secular views and perspectives on sexuality and identity and historically Biblical views and offer strategies to effectively interact with others without compromising personal beliefs.

(Kellye Story) What if Christians and Christian lawyers used restorative justice processes and tools to help individuals, organizations, and even communities achieve holistic and satisfying results after a conflict, painful communal experience (like the controversial loss of a pastor or leader), or community tragedy? Such an approach just might be best when we experience pain, anger, and betrayal because restorative justice focuses on the needs of those who have been hurt, the agent of harm, and the communities from which they both come. Restorative justice can bring about lasting reconciliation, healing, and hope.

(Kristin Lawrence) Explore how to develop deeper understanding and emotional connection connection with others through a Story Exchange! This workshop will help build skills needed to understand different perspectives and open up conversations with compassion. Together we will experience how exchanging our stories can help build empathy and support others as they seek to reconcile differences in their relationships.

(Steven Schneider and Leslie Pair) Grief has always been a difficult journey. Our society is much better at celebrating new beginnings than we are at dealing with endings in a healthy way…especially death. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in more than 1 million American deaths, and we’ve heard the heartbreaking stories of loved ones dying alone because hospitals were locked down. Sadly, an additional 6+ million Americans died of various causes during 2020 and 2021, most of them without a single visitor or family member present. Today millions of family members and friends have unresolved grief; tremendous guilt; and relational trauma that could haunt them the rest of their lives. Many are distant from God, abandoning faith in their grief and anger. Relationships have fractured.

This workshop will explore ways that the principles of relational wisdom can be applied in the midst of deep grief to open the door for God’s eternal truth and light bring hope and healing!