In late 2023 it was our privilege to host a lineup of outstanding speakers—practitioners, pastors, scholars—who shared with us on the theme of Christian hope. We pray these encourage you and help you to grow in hope!
Session 1 - Dr. Wesley Hill
Hope as Protest
Christian hope is a form of rebellion against the world as it is now, in its fallen state. Hope is not the same thing as optimism, as if current trends will turn out okay in the end. It is not based on present observation or experience but rather on God's promise in Jesus Christ to bring about a new creation. When we hope, we bank on God's counter-statement to the dismal conditions of what seems possible in the present. Join us for an exploration of what it might look like to live now, in joyful protest of all that mars God's creation and in confidence in the brightness of God's future.
Wesley Hill is Associate Professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary. He is also an Episcopal priest, who has spoken and lectured at numerous Christian colleges and seminaries in the U.S. and internationally. In 2018 he was a member of the St. Augustine Seminar held at Lambeth Palace to prepare resources for the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion in 2022. He is the author of four books, including, most recently, The Lord’s Prayer: A Guide to Praying to Our Father (Lexham, 2019). A contributing editor for Comment magazine, he writes regularly for Christianity Today, The Living Church, and other publications.
Session 2 - Dr. Siang-Yang Tan
Hope: A Biblical Perspective
A biblical perspective on hope will be provided emphasizing that biblical hope is solid and secure in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in His Word. Biblical hope is deepened through the Spirit (Rom. 15:13), Scripture (Rom. 15:4), Suffering (Rom. 5:3-5), Savior (1 Tim. 1:1), Second Coming of Christ (Titus 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:13), and Spiritual Community (Eph. 4:4). We can know hope in God and His Word and have a future assured in Him (Jer. 29:11).
Siang-Yang Tanis Senior Professor of Clinical Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and Senior Pastor Emeritus of First Evangelical Church Glendale. He now serves as Spiritual Director of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC). He is a licensed psychologist and Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has published numerous articles and seventeen books. He is married to Angela and they have two grown children.
Session 3 - David Bailey
Reconciling Communities: An Apologetic of Hope
People form communities; and communities form people. When Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers because they are the children of God," we know that Christian communities ought to be reconciling communities. As our society becomes more fractured, a Christian witness of a reconciling community becomes an apologetic of hope that there is a better way. The way of peacemaking is the way of Jesus. In this session, we’ll explore what it means to be a reconciling community and the hope that comes out of this way of life.
David M. Bailey is a public theologian, culture maker, and catalyst focused on building reconciling communities. David is the founder and Chief Vision Officer of Arrabon, a spiritual formation ministry that equips the American Church to actively and creatively pursue racial healing in their communities. He is the co-author of the study series, A People, A Place, and A Just Society, and the executive producer of the documentary 11 am: Hope for America's Most Segregated Hour and the Urban Doxology Project. David is an ordained minister rooted at East End Covenant Fellowship, serving on the preaching team, and his greatest honor is to be married to his wonderful wife, Joy.
Session 4 - Sabrina Chan
Hope, Lament, and Faithfulness
Over the last several years, pandemic, racial and ethnic violence, politics, and climate change are some of the many things that have revealed more brokenness in our world and affected our lives. There is much to lament. Gleaning from both collegiate ministry and ministry among Asian Americans, we'll consider what it looks like to hold onto hope as we bring our laments to God.
Sabrina Chan is the national director of Asian American Ministries for InterVarsity, and a daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong. She is an author of Learning Our Names: Asian American Christians on Identity, Relationships, and Vocation (IVP, 2022). She worked as a computer network engineer after graduating from Rice University. She has led campus ministries and supervised staff teams in Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area. Sabrina loves preaching and consults and trains in leadership development and ethnic and racial development and justice. Sabrina earned her Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Seminary, helped plant a church, and is an ordained minister. Sabrina is a bike commuter and an avid tea drinker. Find her on social media: @sabrinachanwrites.
Session 5 - Dr. Charlotte Witvliet
Living with Ultimate Hope in God: Eschatological Hope
God is the source, means, and final end of all our hoping. Witvliet’s session will address living with eschatological hope--ultimate Christian hope. Living with this hope can be characterized by: Steadfastness in waiting with patience for the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yearning for the new creation, with capacity for both lament and hope in the “hope-gap” between how things are and how they will be. Expectant watching for signposts, savoring foretastes of God’s kingdom. Purposeful summons to a missional calling of justice and renewal. She hopes to encourage attendees to: Anticipate God’s promised future and see their purpose in it. Align our everyday temporal hopes with ultimate new creation hope. Act as agents of justice and renewal – to match the present to the promise. Accountably live in relation to God and others, ardently aiming toward a new creation vision.
Charlotte V.O. Witvliet is a Professor of Psychology at Hope College, who graduated from Calvin University and trained as a clinical psychologist at Purdue University and the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Charlotte conducts research at the interface of clinical psychology, psychophysiology, and virtues such as welcoming accountability, repentance, forgiveness, gratitude, humility, and hope.
Session 6 - Dr. Kelly Kapic
Faith, Hope, and Love in the face of Suffering
Kelly M. Kapic is a professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, where he has taught since 2001. He is an author or editor of more than fifteen books, including You’re Only Human and Embodied Hope, which each won a Christianity Today Book of the Year Award. An active speaker and collaborator, Kapic has also worked on research teams funded by the John Templeton Foundation and has written for various academic journals and popular magazines, including serving on the Board of editorial consultants for the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care.