Speakers
Main Session Speakers
Pastor Nic Gibson
Senior Pastor
High Point Church – Madison, WI
Main Sessions:
A Wider Vision of God's Healing
Church and Community: Ecosystems of Healing
Breakouts:
Spiritual and Social Context of Shame
Integration of Psychology, Theology, and Christian Tradition
Nic Gibson has been leading Christian ministries in the secular landscape for over 20 years and has pastored in three growing churches in Illinois, Florida, and Wisconsin. He has been the Lead Pastor of High Point Church in Madison, WI, for 13 years. Nic and his wife, Alexi, have been married for almost 24 years and have 4 children ranging in ages from 10 to 20. He is the author of three books, the latest of which is Substance: Becoming Oaks of Righteousness in a World of Vapor.
Jill Reasa
Founder – Oaks Ministry
Main Sessions:
Church and Community: Ecosystems of Healing
Breakouts:
Healing and Discipleship: Ways of Believing that Help, Hurt, or Keep You Stuck
Practices of Security: Cultivating Trust After You've Been Shattered
Jill Reasa is the founder and director of the Oaks Ministry Collaborative, which exists to equip local churches to be a rehabilitative community for those who are in the healing process and to equip people to engage with their own healing process in relationships with God and others. She has worked in ministry on the High Point Church staff team for 7 years, has a BA in Psychology and Religious Studies from UW Madison, and is completing her Masters of Social Work at UW Madison. Jill has been married for 11 years to her husband, Tim, and they have three young children.
Pastor Adam Mabry
Senior Pastor
Aletheia Church – Cambridge, MA
Main Sessions:
Healing and Resurrection in the Midst of Suffering
Church and Community: Ecosystems of Healing
Breakouts:
7 Waypoints of Relational Healing
God has taken the Mabry family on amazing adventures and through some pretty tough challenges. For five years, they labored alongside a great team to plant two new churches in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. In 2010, Adam and Hope moved to Boston to begin work to plant Aletheia Church. Fueled with a passion for God’s truth and grace to permeate all areas of society, Adam is honored and excited about the task of pastoring. He holds an M.A. from Reformed Theological Seminary and a Th.M. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He writes frequently for Every Nation, NewChurches.com, The Gospel Coalition, and on his own blog. He is the author of Life and Doctrine, Church Forward, and a few other books and publications. Adam currently lives in Boston with his wife, Hope — an amazing photographer, full-time educator, and mom extraordinaire. They live with their four children, Alanna, Nora, Cole, and Wyatt.
Breakout Speakers
Lloyd Biddle
Pastor – River Valley Community Church
Breakout:
The Will to Live: Battling Depression
Pastor Lloyd Biddle has been a follower of Jesus Christ for over 30 years. He loves the Lord and has dedicated his life to serving him in whatever he does. He has been married to Deborah for nearly 34 years and has two adult sons, Jason (28) and Jared (23). Lloyd was licensed as a minister at Waukegan Baptist Bible Church in September of 2000, and served as an associate minister there for several years. After working for 20 years in sales leadership at American Family Insurance, Lloyd accepted a call to serve in full-time ministry as the senior associate pastor at High Point Church in Madison, WI. Lloyd served High Point for 7 years before accepting his current role as the lead pastor at River Valley Community Church in Aurora, IL. He has earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois - Champaign-Urbana, an MBA from The Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a MA in Theology from Wheaton College.
Joyce Carlin
MSW, CAPSW
Breakout:
Processing Grief and Loss
Joyce Carlin is a licensed social worker at UW Health Kids in Madison, Wisconsin. She provides social work services to patients diagnosed with cancer and their families. Prior to moving to Wisconsin, Joyce worked at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. She is a certified “Caring for the Caregiver” presenter and a trained hospice grief support facilitator. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology at Clarke College (now Clarke University) in Dubuque and a Master's in Social Work at the University of Iowa. Joyce’s focus on community collaboration has led her to a number of volunteer opportunities and leadership roles, including serving with Oaks Ministry. She serves in her local church and enjoys mentoring and encouraging women of all ages.
Joyce was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, and lives today in Fitchburg with her husband, Brian. Joyce is the mother of three beloved children: James 45, Kelly Ann 43, and Rob who gracefully concluded a journey of heroic proportions just weeks before his 34th birthday, having battled cardiac angiosarcoma for three years. Joyce has ten grandchildren. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, gardening, reading, cooking, boating, and spending time with family and friends.
Dani Ebben
LCSW, SAC
Breakout:
Mind, Body & Spirit: a Wholistic Approach to Addiction
Dani Ebben is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Substance Abuse Counselor at The Center For Christian Counseling in Madison, WI. She has been working in the field for over 4 years in various hospital and clinic settings. She has experience working with both young people and adults struggling with various addictions or mental health diagnoses. She has also worked with women who were victims of sexual or domestic violence. She is passionate about coming alongside those who are held captive by their thoughts, hurts, and habits or whose loved one is. Her goal is to help open people’s eyes and minds to the healing that God desires for each one of us, to learn to challenge our habits, and to walk in the freedom that a relationship with Him provides. Having lived life with Spina Bifida, she understands what it feels like to try and put a band-aid on a much bigger wound that God intended to redeem and use for His Glory. Dani was born and raised in WI, with missions experience in rural Mexico. She plays wheelchair basketball, enjoys making charcuterie boards and loves spending time with loved ones while staying active. She is one of six kids and an auntie to the ten (soon to be 12) most beautiful children in the world.
Pastor Tom Flaherty
Lead Pastor
City Church – Madison, WI
Breakout:
Dealing with the Demonic
Tom Flaherty is the lead pastor of City Church in Madison, WI, and is part of the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies. He’s been in the ministry for 35 years and has a master’s degree from Olivet Nazarene University. Tom and his wife, Alice, have been married for 39 years and have four adult children. His passion is for revival in the church and awakening in the world before Jesus returns.
Alexi Gibson
Breakout:
Overcoming Anxiety and Fear
Alexi Gibson has an educational background is in biology, theology, and counseling, and has served as a corporate chaplain. She has worked with adolescents and adults with depression, ADHD, and OCD/anxiety , those who are physically disabled, divorced and abused women, crisis pregnancies, and those with parenting and marriage challenges. Alexi was born in New York and lived in Illinois and Florida before moving to Wisconsin in 2010. She has been married for 23 years and has four children. Alexi enjoys spending time outdoors, keeping chickens, and the uncertainty of being married and parenting their children.
Sue Gruen
MSSW, LCSW
Psychotherapist – Samaritan Counseling Center
Breakout:
Understanding and Healing Trauma: Body, Mind and Soul
Sue Gruen is a wife, a mother of three, and a grandmother of three. She believes that the Lord began preparing her in childhood and young adulthood for an eventual ministry of healing trauma. She developed PTSD as a result of chronic violence in her childhood. Shortly after coming to the Lord at age 30, she volunteered with various ministries to help single mothers. After marrying her husband, Dietrich, she initiated and began directing the Divorce Care and Stephen Ministries at High Point Church, and completed 2 years of YWAM prayer training. In her mid-40s, she returned to graduate school for her MSSW. In her first three years after graduation, she was the founding director of Care Net's residential program for unmarried single mothers, the Elizabeth House. Subsequently, she obtained additional Advance Practice Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Social Worker licenses that allow her to diagnose and treat mental illness. She is currently a mental health therapist with Samaritan Counseling Center and is trained in several advanced trauma, relationship, and spiritual healing therapies. Her heart's desire is to see others restored and healed as the Lord has done for her.
V. Rev. Dr. Gregory Jensen
Priest
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – USA
Breakout:
Get Rid of the Old Yeast: Responding to Clergy Sexual Misconduct
V. Rev. Dr. Gregory Jensen is a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA and has a Ph.D. in spirituality and spiritual formation from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. His more than 15 years of pastoral experience with all aspects of clergy sexual misconduct includes investigating allegations, crafting disciplinary plans, advocating for victims, and helping parishes in transition after an offending pastor is removed. Currently, he is the priest of Ss Cyril & Methodius Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which to the delight of many and the distress of others, is located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where Fr. Gregory serves as a chaplain for Orthodox students. He also accrues more flyer miles than he’d like to think about as a professor at St Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Bound Brook, NJ.
Myra McNair
LMFT
Breakout:
How to be Trauma-Informed in a Racialized World
As founder and owner, Myra McNair is the visionary behind Anesis Therapy. With a desire to bring more culturally sensitive mental health services to Dane County, she started the clinic in 2016 as the only therapist and has collaboratively transformed it into a practice of over 40 staff members. Building and training the next generation of mental health workers is another one of Myra’s passions. Along with providing a robust clinical internship program at Anesis, Myra is an Adjunct Professor for the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at her alma mater, Edgewood College, and is a consultant and mentor in the UW Infant Mental Health Program from which she also graduated. Myra is the community coordinator of the Raising Safe Families Together program, where she trains community workers and agencies in the Adults and Children Together (ACT) curriculum. Myra utilizes a variety of therapy modalities to meet her clients’ needs. While her clinical outlook is largely rooted in psychoanalytic and narrative therapies, Myra also utilizes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, Hypnotherapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) and Brainspotting. Myra has received numerous awards for her fierce service and leadership in the field of mental health. She received the NAMI Dane County 2020 Mental Health Trailblazer award, the Black Chamber of Commerce 2020 Eagle Award, and the Wisconsin Alliance on Infant Mental Health Spirit Award. In 2022, Myra was named one of Brava Magazine’s “Women 2 Watch.” She was recognized in Business Magazine’s “40 under 40”, and as a Health Innovator in the 2017 “M List.”
Tom and Carol Nuelle
Breakout:
Sexuality, Unwanted Behaviors, and Healing
Tom Nuelle is one of the co-founders of the Pure & Simple Ministry, which focuses on helping men and women break free from sexual addiction and codependency. Tom started his first purity group in 2004, which has grown into several dozen groups helping hundreds of men and women around the world. He also authored a book entitled Living Pure, a 42-day Bible study series which contains the key lessons learned while working in the field of purity. Tom has worked in the full-time ministry since 1996 and currently leads the Madison Church of Christ.
Carol Nuelle is a co-founder of the Pure & Simple ministry which focuses on helping men and women break free from sexual addiction and codependency. She has been instrumental in helping women overcome both sexual purity and codependency issues for 17 years. Carol has also done many purity/codependency workshops in cities around the world including Chicago, San Antonio, New York, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Carol has worked in full-time ministry for 26 years also and has had an amazing impact around the world.
