Pre-Events/Post-Events

Pre-Event: Educator Certification Course – Worship and Sacraments
Dates and Times: Monday, January 27, 1:00pm – 6:00pm; Tuesday, January 28, 9:00am – noon and 1:00pm – 6:00pm; Wednesday, January 30, 9:00am – noon (All times are CST.)
Location: on-site and hybrid
Cost: $225

Course name: Worship and Sacraments

Course Description: This course explores the theology and practice of Christian worship and sacraments from a Reformed perspective and the relationships between worship, sacraments, and education in a congregational context. This course aims to enhance the learners’ participation in, leadership of, preparation for, and teaching about worship and sacraments.

Learning Outcomes of the Course:
By successful completion of this course, learners will be able to:
1. Explain and evaluate a reformed liturgical and sacramental theology.
2. Develop reformed liturgies that respond to the needs of worshippers and the context of the congregation.
3. Develop learning experiences around the teaching of worship and sacraments in the Reformed tradition.

Course Schedule:
January 15: Introduction to the Course online via Zoom for all participants

In person prior to 2025 APCE Annual Event in Memphis, TN at the Peabody Hotel, and hybrid participants online –
Monday, January 27: 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Tuesday, January 28: 900 am – noon and 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Wednesday, January 29: 9:00 am – noon

Final assessment due February 8: Design a Reformed worship service of the word and sacrament for an Easter Service in which a group of middle schoolers will be baptized and received as new church members.

Required texts:
1. PCUSA Constitution: Book of Confessions and Book of Order (particularly Directory for Worship)
2. The Presbyterian Book of Common Worship.
3. Duck, Ruth C. Worship for the Whole People of God. Second edition, with contributed appendix from David Gambrell. Louisville, Kentucky: WJK Press, 2021.
4. The instructor will provide additional chapters, articles, and essays, as well as videos.

Cost: $225

Instructor:
Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz, Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Worship and Director of Community Worship Life at McCormick Theological Seminary
Rev. Lis Valle-Ruiz is Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Worship and Director of Community Worship Life at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL. She earned her PhD in Homiletics and Liturgics from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, where she also studied gender and sexuality. Her research interests lie at the intersection of preaching, worship, and performance studies. Rev. Valle received a ThM in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary and an MDiv from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She also holds a JD and a BA in Education from the University of Puerto Rico. Theater is her life-long passion.

For questions or further information: Contact APCE Certification Course Coordinator Billie Sutter at billiepsutter@gmail.com

Pre-Event: Engaging Livestream Worshippers, Sundays and Beyond!
Date: Tuesday, January 28
Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm CST
Location: on-site
Cost: $25

Come explore the wonderful world of digital ministry through engaging livestream worship! Through storytelling, technical specs, and examples of what’s rocked and what’s flopped, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church Livestream Director and Associate Pastor to the Online Campus will share theological reasoning, techniques in practice, and how we’ve moved from pre-recorded broadcast to calling a dedicated Associate Pastor to this livestream ministry. Participants will have opportunities to ask questions about how this can look at churches of all sizes! Whether you are livestreaming with a laptop using Zoom or putting out a multi-camera broadcast, you will leave this session excited for all the possibilities to reach your online worshippers.

Leaders: Natalie Owens-Pike and Emily Dombroff
Rev. Natalie Owens-Pike (she/her/nop) is Associate Pastor for Ministry to the Online Campus of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. Ordained in the United Church of Christ, she is in her second year of ministry at FAPC, and grateful for the holy playground of innovative online ministries. Natalie brings a decade of experience as a non-profit Executive Director and teacher in and alongside diverse communities to her ministry, but her favorite title so far has been Minister of Fun. Natalie earned her M.Div at Yale Divinity School and specialized in Congregational Ministry through the Andover Newton Seminary program there. Her B.A. in American Studies, English Literature and History is from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. Originally from Minnesota, she’s excited to be back in Memphis where she spent time while living in the Mississippi Delta as a Teach for America teacher.
Emily Dombroff has been shooting video for Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church for nearly a decade. She led the online worship efforts during COVID and transitioned to directing their weekly livestream starting in September 2021. Outside of Fifth Avenue, Emily has directed livestreaming events at other organizations such as Columbia University and Etsy and has created video content for NYC Based non-profit organizations such as Girls Inc of New York City, Safe Horizon and the Arthur Miller Foundation. She attended Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications for her Bachelors degree and received a Master of Arts from New York University.

Pre-Event: Soul of Memphis Tour
Date: Tuesday, January 28
Time: 9:00am – 5:00pm CST
Cost: $90

Memphis is a city of music! From blues to gospel, Rock & Roll, R&B, Soul, and hip hop. What do all these musical genres have to do with the Church? How can they inform the church’s work of mission and justice in the world? Join Bill Buchanan, Director of the non-profit ministry Youth Mission Co (which includes the program Memphis Youth Mission) as he leads us on a musical journey of Memphis.
Includes transportation and entrance to Rock N Soul Museum, Sun Studios, and Stax Museum.
Lunch is not included.
Extensive, but not strenuous walking required.

Schedule of the day:
9:00am Meet at the Peabody, orientation and overview of the day. Main Points: • Church is at the heart of all the music that came from Memphis • Otis Moss III: We live in the tension between the “blues moan” and the “gospel shout” • We will see this thread through all the genres: Blues, rock n roll, soul, • The music coming out of Memphis today (Justin Timberlake, Lucero, Memphis rappers like Yo Gotti, Young Dolph, Three 6 Mafia) stand on these shoulders
9:20 Load bus for (short ride to) Beale Street)
9:30 Beale Street: Walking Tour, History and characters
10:00 Rock N Soul Museum
11:30 Gather for bus ride to Crosstown Concourse
11:45 Lunch on your own and exploration at Crosstown Concourse
12:30 Options: (choose one) Tour of Memphis Grooves studio Listening Lab WYXR Talk with Crosstown Arts (local nonprofit)
1:30 Depart for Sun Studio
2:00pm Sun Studio (Elvis, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Roy Orbison)
3:30 Stax Studios (Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, The Staples Singers, Booker T & The MG’s, Isaac Hayes)
4:45 Gather on bus to return to The Peabody

Leader: Bill Buchanan
Bill Buchanan is a Christian educator, pastor, and the Executive Director of the non-profit ministry Youth Mission Co, which plans and leads mission immersion programs for youth that are justice centered and biblically based. He lives in Asheville, NC where he loves playing music and researching music history. Bill is also known as “DJ5” and hosts dance parties and silent discos.

Pre-Event: Hands On Memphis Tour
Date: Tuesday, January 28
Time: 1:00pm – 5:00pm CST
Cost: $40 (includes transportation and donations to each ministry)

Memphis, known for innovation in business, think AutoZone and FedEx, is also home to several innovative non-profits. On this tour we will visit three original service organizations whose work is changing the lives of Memphians. Extensive, but not strenuous walking required.
Our first stop will be our downtown Hospitality Hub. Every day the Hub works to end homelessness in Memphis by connecting individuals with the resources they need to achieve stable housing and better health outcomes. We will tour the Hub’s new shelter and in-take facility and get to see the Hub Studios, a group of tiny homes that provide safety for individuals experience homelessness whose background prevents them from staying in a group shelter.
Next, we will visit CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health, a safe and welcoming clinic that provides comprehensive reproductive health care for all. Prior to Tennessee’s abortion ban in 2022, CHOICES was the nation’s only non-profit offering both midwifery births and abortion care under one roof. During our visit, we will tour their new facility and learn about their clinic in Illinois as well as their Black midwifery program.
Finally, we will tour Friends For All, also in a brand new building. Friends for All provides many services to help those living with HIV/AIDs in the midsouth. As we tour the facility we will hear about the services FAA provides including HIV testing and rapid start clinical care, meals and groceries for clients, and rent, utility and housing assistance.

Pre-Event: Moving to Impact – Getting at the “Why” of Ministry
Date: Tuesday, January 28
Time: 2:00pm – 6:00pm CST
Location: On-site
Cost: $50

Are your programs and ministries making an impact? Why do you do what you do inside and outside your church walls? Most of us spend more time figuring out HOW to run a program rather than WHY we have the program in the first place–but the “why” can be the key to transformative ministries. Engage in a workshop that will unpack our why, learn how to evaluate programs beyond typical metrics, and consider how to transform the way your team around you thinks about impact in meaningful ways.

Jen James (she/her) is on staff for NEXT Church as the Director of Programs and Operations. She is a facilitator, trained coach, and Educator-at-Large who loves working with congregations to help church leaders vision, assess, and strategically transform ministries. She holds a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. and will gladly tell you she went to seminary because she loves learning, not to be a pastor like everyone else! When she’s not working in the church world, Jen is offering unsolicited political commentary, cheering on her twin boys at the pool and soccer field, and conjuring up a new house project with her husband, who is a Methodist pastor.

Pre-Event: National Civil Rights Museum Tour
Date: Wednesday, January 29
Time: 9:00am – noon CST
Location: off-site
Cost: $35 (includes admission and guided tour)

Noted as one of the nation’s premier heritage and cultural museums, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, is steadfast in its mission to share the culture and lessons from the American Civil Rights Movement and explore how this significant era continues to shape equality and freedom globally. Established in 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel, where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. You will have a 90-minute private tour through the exhibits to learn more about a tumultuous and inspiring period of change. The museum underwent a $27.5 million renovation in 2013 and 2014, adding more than 40 new films, oral histories and interactive media to the already robust galleries. The result is a one-of-a-kind experience that has been featured on the History Channel and CNN, in USA Today and as the focus for the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306. Additionally, the museum is among the top 5% of institutions to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is a founding member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, which brings together historic sites, museums and memory initiatives from all around the globe that connect past struggles to today’s movements for human rights and social justice.

Pre-Event: Lynching Site Project Memphis Tour
Date: Wednesday, January 29
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm CST
Location: off-site
Cost: $40 (includes transportation and admission fees; lunch not included)

The Lynching Site Project (LSP) is part of a growing network of people who want the whole and accurate truth to be told about the history of Shelby County, TN. LSP Memphis believes that healing and growth in understanding can come when we openly face the history of racial violence in our community.  In this work, LSP Memphis joins with the national effort of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize over 4,000 known lynchings in our country between 1877 and 1950. On this tour we will explore the stories of Calvin McDowell, Thomas Moss, and Will Stewart who were lynched in March of 1892. This violent and traumatic event launched the career of Ida B. Wells as an investigative journalist and an anti-lynching activist. We will visit the site of the victims’ successful grocery business, the site of the lynching, and the grave of Thomas Moss, along with a memorial marker for Ida B. Wells. We will finish the tour with a debriefing conversation over lunch together at a home-town favorite, Central BBQ. BBQ Pork is what Central is famous for and vegetarian options of a portobello mushroom sandwich and meatless greens and green beans are available. Two experienced volunteers from the Lynching Site Project Memphis will act as our tour guides and conversation moderators.

Extensive, but not strenuous walking required.
Participants will pay for their own lunch.

Pre-Event: Interpreting the PC(USA) Special Offerings and the Presbyterian Giving Catalog in Your Congregation
Date: Wednesday, January 29
Time: 9:30am – 12:30pm CST
Location: off-site
Cost: no cost to participants (includes transportation and lunch)

Join JoAnne Sharp, CCE, Rev. Wilson Kennedy, and Special Offerings staff for a time of learning, sharing, strategizing, and fellowship as we engage and think about creative and innovative ways to interpret and receive the churchwide Special Offerings in your PC(USA) congregation. We will discuss each of the offerings and discern best practices to engage your congregation around stewardship and giving. This event is sponsored by the PC(USA) Office of Special Offerings and is offered at no charge to participants. Transportation and lunch provided.

Pre-Event: Toward a Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples
Date: Wednesday, January 29
Time: 10:00am – noon
Location: on-site
Cost: Due to a generous grant from the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, there is no cost to participants for this event.

The Blanket Exercise is an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history rarely mentioned in American history. It presents education on American-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation covering over 500 years of history. Participants take on the roles of Native Americans standing on blankets that represent the land. They walk through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization, and resistance. The script is read by a Narrator and three-people representing the voices of Native Americans, European colonizers, and Western Historians. Participants are drawn into the experience given cards of various colors which ultimately determine their outcomes. By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise effectively educates and increases understanding. This is followed by a debriefing time in groups, then in a Talking Circle of all participants.

Leader: Rev. Irvin Porter
Irvin is descended from three Native American tribes: Pima, T’hono O’odham, and Nez Perce. Church of the Indian Fellowship in Tacoma, Washington called Irvin as a Commissioned Lay Pastor in September of 2001. He was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church, USA, in October of 2003 and is the first Native American pastor since the church was founded by a Presbyterian missionary among the Puyallup Indians in 1876. He has worked as Associate for Native American Intercultural Congregational Support 3/4 time and Pastor at Church of the Indian Fellowship 1/4 time since 2013.