The Gathering

LORI TAPIA | OPENING WORSHIP PREACHER

Pastor, Author, Speaker, Life Coach, Consultant, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Friend, Ice Cream Enthusiast.

"YOUR GREATEST POWER COMES IN LIVING AUTHENTICALLY. LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST, BE YOUR MOST AUTHENTIC SELF, AND HELP OTHERS DO THE SAME!"

Lori Tapia serves as the National Pastor for Hispanic Ministries for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is the first female and first Mexican/American to be elected to this position. Lori has over 20 years of experience as a visionary leader in family and community programming, as well as administration and program development. She loves working with people seeking change and offers challenges to transform people, organizations, churches, families, and communities. She seeks to create relevant and innovative environments that fosters growth and multiplication for the Kingdom.

DR. THAD AUSTIN | WEDNESDAY KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Thad is an award-winning scholar and practitioner of American religious life. He has spent more than 15 years leading and advising congregations, denominations, and faith-based foundations. An ordained pastor, Thad has served congregations in Kentucky and Tennessee. His last pastoral appointment was as Executive Pastor of a 3,200-member congregation. Thad is a graduate of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Ph.D. program, and currently, Thad serves as the executive director of the Common Table Collaborative and as vice president of the EveryAge Foundation. He recently worked as the senior director of strategic initiatives and congregational engagement at Duke University's Ormond Center. His most recent book Caring for Clergy: Understanding a Disconnected Network of Providers explores the broken and disconnected support network available to Protestant clergy in North America.

REV. DR. VICTORIA WHITE | THURSDAY KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Rev. Dr. Victoria White is a writer, pastor, designer, coach, facilitator, and teacher. She combines her gifts most effectively through her work at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity where she cultivates and supports innovative Christian institutions and their leaders. Victoria believes in the power of networks as a way for leaders to identify often overlooked hubs of creativity, affinity, and shared passions which, when strategically cross-pollinated, can provide deep wells of resources to help communities thrive and bear witness to God’s reign. She’d prefer to do this work she loves from the sand of any beach anywhere, but for the moment she lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her spouse Mark, their two teenagers, Ava and Owen, and their Great Dane, Ruby.

Victoria is grateful to the many institutions who have shaped and formed her, namely Rhodes College, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and Duke Divinity School. She is the author of Holy Friendships: Nurturing Relationships that Sustain Pastors and Leaders.

Registration will open on October 1, 2023.