2026 Classes & Speakers
Thursday, September 17, 2026
5:00 PM - Registration / Exhibit Tables &Check-In Opens
7:00 PM - Opening Keynote - Michael Burns
8:15 PM - Bonfire & Worship Devotional
Friday, September 18, 2026
8:00 AM - Light Breakfast & Coffee Opens
(Exhibit Tables Open)
9:30 AM - Morning Keynote #1 - Hannah DeSouza
10:45 AM - Morning Keynote #2 - James Becknell
12:00 PM - Lunch Provided @ Triangle Church
1:30 PM - Breakout Session #1
2:45 PM - Breakout Session #2
4:00 PM - Breakout Session #3
5:30 PM - Attendee Dinner Provided @ Triangle Church
7:00 PM - Mountain Theological Seminary Graduation
Saturday, September 19, 2026
8:00 AM - Light Breakfast & Coffee Opens
(Exhibit Tables Open)
9:00 AM - Morning Keynote #1 - Ayhanna Booker
10:15 AM - Closing Keynote - David Pocta
Keynote Speeches
Michael Burns
Michael Burns (DMin, MA) is the Congregational Teacher for the DFW Church in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. He is the co-host of The Eikon Podcast. His written works include the books Crossing the Line: Culture, Race, and Kingdom; Escaping the Beast: Politics, Allegiance, and Kingdom; and Lead Me to the Rock: The Spiritual Journey of an Introvert in an Extroverted Church. He and his wife, MyCresha, have been married for 29 years and have two adult children.
Strength in Unlikely Places
This session examines the inner life of the biblical teacher as the essential foundation for faithful ministry. Rather than assuming that spiritual formation follows a single pattern, the emphasis will be placed on teachers growing through distinct and sometimes unconventional pathways that reflect God’s intentional design for individuals. What may feel like personal limitations often becomes the very place where God cultivates strength, depth, and resilience.
Drawing from Scripture and personal examples, the session helps teachers identify their unique spiritual wiring and develop practices that align with it. Participants will see how a teacher’s life becomes a living curriculum, where spiritual maturity is not private enrichment but the means by which spiritual value is passed on to learners.
Hannah DeSouza
Hannah Desouza became a disciple in the East London Church of Christ in 2009 and has served in the ministry in London, Boston, and Moldova. She holds a BA in English Literature and Spanish, an MSt in Victorian Literature, with a thesis on faith and doubt in the novels of the Brontës, and an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, where she focused on narrative and liberation theology. Last year, Hannah was a Visiting Scholar at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, and learned a lot from living with nuns! She has since returned to the UK to continue her studies in Applied Theology at Oxford this fall and to be closer to her niece and nephew. Hannah co-hosts the Thread Podcast with Dr David Pocta, exploring the Bible through the lenses of story and spirituality
The Teacher as Pilgrim
The Bible is full of stories of God encountering and forming people on the road. In the Gospels, some of Jesus’ most important teaching takes place in his open-air classroom, “on the way,” as his disciples are shaped through questions, interruptions, encounters, arguments, meals, and detours. Drawing on biblical narrative, the ancient Christian practice of pilgrimage, and lessons from her own 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, this session will explore what it means for the teacher to be a pilgrim: to be a guide who is still being guided, to be formed on and by the road, and to remain open to encountering God along the way. What might the principles and pace of pilgrimage offer the inner life of the teacher?
James Becknell
James Becknell has served in ministry for more than three decades, beginning as a campus minister at his alma mater, the University of Southern California. Alongside his wife, Jennifer, he has served churches in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Chicago, leading campus, singles, family, and arts ministries, as well as providing leadership in Bible teaching, shepherding, and ministry training.
James currently serves as a congregational Bible teacher and holds a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology with a concentration in Systematic Theology. His teaching interests include the New Testament in its historical context, ancient African Christianity, Black theology and interpretations of Scripture, biblical justice, spirituality, and Christian formation. He also co-facilitates the Midwest Teachers Circle and serves as Book Review Editor for the Teleios Journal.
Notes from a Redemption Song: A Spiritual Life in Review
This keynote offers a theological reflection on the speaker's lifelong journey of spiritual formation through the lens of autobiography. Rather than presenting a linear or conventional account, it identifies several formative "pillars of formation" that have shaped an evolving spirituality, including family and chosen community, race and identity, death, loss, trauma, and the enduring influence of Dallas Willard. Together, these experiences reveal the often-unexpected ways in which God forms the human spirit through the ordinary and extraordinary events of life.
The presentation gives particular attention to the spiritual transformation that has unfolded following the death of the speaker's beloved wife, Jennifer. Through practices of presence, creation spirituality, and contemplation, grief has become not an obstacle to spiritual formation but a lifelong companion and teacher. By weaving personal narrative with theological reflection, this keynote invites participants to reconsider how suffering, love, identity, and grace become sacred ground for the ongoing work of spiritual formation.
Ayhanna Booker
Ayhanna Booker has served in ministry for more than twenty-five as a women’s ministry leader—teaching, counseling, disciple-making and church building. She is passionate about helping people move beyond biblical information into spiritual transformation through faithful study of Scripture, intentional spiritual practices, and life together in Christ. Her teaching weaves together biblical theology, church history, and practical discipleship to equip believers to know God more deeply and faithfully live His Word. Ayhanna has taught and developed ministry training on subjects including men and women serving together in ministry, spiritual formation, the Holy Spirit, redemptive preaching, New and Old Testament survey; as well as surveys of women throughout Scripture and church history. She especially enjoys equipping ministry leaders and disciples alike to cultivate both biblical depth and Christlike character in those they serve. Ayhanna lives in Maryland and is currently embracing the joy and privilege of launching her three college-age children into adulthood.
Teaching for Spiritual Formation: Moving Beyond Information to Transformation
Christian teaching was never intended merely to increase biblical knowledge—at its heart, it was intended to form people into the likeness of Christ. This session explores how faithful teaching serves as a means by which the Holy Spirit shapes hearts, desires, habits, and communities. We will examine why information alone rarely produces mature disciples. Together we will explore how Scripture, spiritual practices, Christian community, and intentional pedagogy cooperate in God's transforming work. And we will leave with a richer theological vision and practical framework for designing learning experiences that not only inform the mind but also cultivate holy affections, faithful obedience, and lifelong spiritual growth.
David
Pocta
Dave Pocta is a spirituality scholar who serves as director of leadership development for CHORD, where he partners with churches to train leaders and mentor CHORD scholars. He also hosts the Thread podcast and teaches spirituality at Oblate School of Theology and Abilene Christian University. As director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality in San Antonio, Dave connects with scholars worldwide, fostering dialogue and learning at the intersection of Christian spirituality, leadership, and practical ministry.
Laying Aside the Garment: We Teach Who We Are
We tend to think of our teaching as something we give and our spiritual life as something we navigate on the side. But the two are one river. People receive us, not just our syllabus — which means the most important thing about the teacher's spiritual life is that there is no clean wall between it and our teaching. In this session we'll name the gap between the lesson and the life, and discover that grace does not ask us to close it by striving. Rooted in belovedness, even our wounds become the place grace lives. We'll end where John ends — at a basin, with the Teacher who laid aside his garment — and ask what it means both to be washed and to carry a towel.