Faithful Work Conference Logo Faithful Work Conference

AUSTIN — 2025

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All Saints Presbyterian Church & Preschool
7808 Rialto Boulevard Austin, TX 78735

Feb 21 6:30pm - Feb 22 2:30pm CST

PRESENTED BY:
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Habit of Seeing Logo Silkworm Studio Logo
HOSTED BY:
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STORY, FAITH,
AND WORK

Taking up the power of story for good in my daily work

The significance of story in most lines of work is widely recognized. It's taken up as an anchoring discipline in marketing, adopted in fostering high trust teams, and understood as crucial in hiring and talent development.

Yet, too few of us understand the theological realities that inform the power of story and its intended purpose for our spiritual formation and leadership. What might story unlock for us in our personal transformation? How might story catalyze creative restoration to address what's broken in our work contexts and communities? Come explore these questions and more at this year's conference.

CONFERENCE INCLUDES:

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Dr. Miroslav Volf

Dr. Miroslav Volf

Dr. Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and is the founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He was educated in his native Croatia, the United States, and Germany, earning doctoral and post-doctoral degrees (with highest honors) from the University of Tübingen, Germany. He has written or edited more than 20 books, over 100 scholarly articles, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Christian Century, Sojourners, and several other outlets, including NPR's Speaking of Faith (now On Being with Krista Tippett) and Public Television's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

Mike Cosper

Mike Cosper

Mike Cosper is the author of several books, including most recently The Church in Dark Times — a book about the crisis of leadership in evangelicalism, and Land of My Sojourn — a spiritual memoir. He is the senior director of Media for Christianity Today, where he hosted The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Promised Lands, and is the co-host of The Bulletin with Russell Moore. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Dr. K. A. Ellis

Dr. K. A. Ellis

Dr. K.A. Ellis is a pioneer in Christian Endurance Studies, which includes theologies of persecution, martyrdom, endurance, and joy. Her areas of interest include World Christianity and Ethics, and faithful living under anti-Christian hostility. Dr. Ellis teaches and disciples young people at her local church on Bible and Global Christianity, and is the Director of the Edmiston Center at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also the Robert Cannada Fellow in World Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary.

John Kingston

John Kingston

While John's education and experiences might convey “establishment” and perhaps even “stuffy,” John sees his truest self as a rebel and reformer (and perhaps even a bit roguish!), and in that spirit has launched and helped build a variety of spiritual, political and cultural initiatives over the decades. In more recent years, this has led him to launch reform-oriented efforts battling for the soul of our nation and church, including Better For America, Uniting America, American Awakening, a U.S. Senate run, the Forward Party and (with Christianity Today) the First Principles Project and Seedbed and Love Alliances. Trained as a lawyer, in John's prior commercial life he was a key member of the senior team that built Affiliated Managers Group (NYSE: AMG) into a global asset management platform ($700 billion in assets under management at the time of his retirement as Vice Chairman). In more recent years, John has founded a number of commercial initiatives, and among other corporate board positions serves as the Board Chair for EJFI, a London Stock Exchange-listed investment vehicle. John did his undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, earning degrees from the Wharton School and School of Arts and Sciences (graduating magna cum laude), and earned his Juris doctorate from Harvard Law School (graduating cum laude).

Dr. Mia Chung-Yee

Dr. Mia Chung-Yee

Pianist Mia Chung teaches a celebrated chamber music performance seminar at Harvard University with the Grammy Award-winning Parker String Quartet. She previously served as a Professor of Musical Studies and Performance at the Curtis Institute of Music from 2012-2023. Chung's CD and DVD recordings of works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and Lee Hyla among others, have earned high praise and awards. Chung received the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the highest national recognition for young concert artists, and was a first-prize winner at the Concert Artists Guild competition. She has since performed in major concert halls in the U.S., Canada, Central America, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and the former Soviet Union. Her first short monograph, Chinese Émigré Composers and Divergent Modernisms: Chen Yi and Zhou Long was published in May 2024 by Cambridge University Press (Elements in Music Since 1945 Series). In the last several years, Mia has taken a great interest in the work of Christian study centers and has founded and led the Octet Collaborative at MIT. Dr. Chung earned her AB, magna cum laude in music, from Harvard College, a Master of Music degree from Yale University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School.

Chi-Ming Chien

Chi-Ming Chien

Chi-Ming Chien is a co-founder of Dayspring Partners, a digital consultancy based in San Francisco. His passion is exploring how Christian conviction takes concrete form in a business and especially imagining how businesses can embody and bear witness to God's redeeming of the workplace, marketplace, and community. Chi-Ming has served on the boards of the Ekklesia Project and Open Door Legal. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering (Computer Architecture) and an MS in Electrical Engineering (Network Systems), both from Stanford University where he graduated with distinction. Chi-Ming lives, works, and worships in San Francisco's ethnically and socioeconomically diverse Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood and is a member of Redeemer Community Church where he leads worship, serves as an elder, and teaches Sunday school in the preschool class.

Jon Guerra

Jon Guerra

Jon Guerra is a singer-songwriter & producer who creates Devotional Music - less Sunday morning worship music, and more Monday morning prayer music. Jon's debut Devotional Music album was Keeper of Days (2020), followed by Ordinary Ways (2023). Jon has also composed music for film (Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life," 2019). Jon collaborates with a wide variety of artists, tours regularly, is building a community around Devotional Music, and resides in Austin, TX.

Dr. Kristi Kirk

Dr. Kristi Kirk

Dr. Kristi Kirk serves as President and CEO of Concordia University Texas. As a proud alumna of Concordia, Dr. Kirk's personal and professional journey has been deeply influenced by the Christ-centered education and community she encountered as a student. Her experiences at Concordia Texas shaped her leadership style and reinforced her passion for expanding access to higher education. Dr. Kirk has also strengthened partnership opportunities with churches and schools to support Christian higher education. In addition to her work at the University, Dr. Kirk has served on the Board of Directors for Concordia High School and Acts of Love, a nonprofit organization. She is also significantly involved in her congregation at Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown. Kirk also advocates for and empowers the next generation of leaders. She and her husband, Daniel, have been licensed foster parents for five years. Together, they are dedicated to positively impacting their community as they continue to serve in ways that reflect their shared commitment to education, family, and faith. Dr. Kirk's journey from student worker to President at Concordia Texas underscores her deep commitment to the University and its mission and her passion for making higher education attainable for everyone.

John Sweet

John Sweet

John has had the great privilege of pastoring the G+P Austin congregation since 2019. It's taken time and wandering to get here: born and raised in central Florida; involved in church planting efforts and starting a family in Brooklyn, NY; ministered among those Jesus claims have the hardest time entering the kingdom of heaven in Northern California. A particular passion relevant to this conference is his wonder and delight at the depth and breadth of God's kingdom arriving and will being done on earth as it is in heaven and his desire to help others figure out what it looks like for them to receive and join in.

Dr. JoAnn Flett

Dr. JoAnn Flett

Dr. JoAnn Flett is the Executive Director of the Center for Faithful Business at Seattle Pacific University. JoAnn is a frequent speaker, network collaborator and organizational consultant teasing out the intersection of business activities that promote shalom. JoAnn was a 2020 Fulbright Teaching Scholar and a 2024 Fulbright Specialist to Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interests include Entrepreneurship, Certified B-Corps, Leadership Development, Team Cohesion, Faith and Work integration and Organizational Development. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards including the Accord Network, Broad Street Ministry, and Geneva Global - Capital for Good. She has advised Everence Financial-Philadelphia, The Ormond Center at Duke University- Christian Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, SpringGR, Partners Worldwide, the Coalition for Christian Social Innovation, and the Oxford Character Project on Values Based Leadership. JoAnn currently serves on World Relief's Board and co-founded the Entrepreneurship Hub in Trinidad and Tobago.

Steve Teng

Steve Teng

Steve is the Executive Director of the Austin Center for Faith and Work, and the founder and an advisor to Kingdom Capital Network. Out of passion for the Church's witness, Steve has used his gifts as a synthesizer, strategist, and bridge-builder to play a role in local, grass roots initiatives that promote church unity and creative restoration. Prior to his current work, he served as a pastor. He now worships and volunteers at Church of the Cross - an Anglican Church in Northeast Austin.

Faithful Work Conference Austin - 2025

Taking up the power of story for good
in my daily work

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