Office Personnel Conference

Keynote Speaker

Candace Payne

Candace Payne is an author, speaker, Bible teacher, podcast host, and a viral sensation whose Facebook Live video of trying on a Chewbacca Mask became the most-viewed Facebook Live video to date (176+ million views). She has been featured in more than 3,000 media outlets and has interviewed with major media such as “Good Morning America,” “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” The New York Times, PEOPLE, and Cosmopolitan. Candace’s greatest joy is sharing life with her husband, two children, and ornery pugs in the great state of Texas. Connect with Candace online at www.CandacePayne.me.

Keynote Speaker

Shayla Kenworthy

Shayla Kenworthy is Partner and Director of Business Development at Fishhook. There is nothing more important to her than helping churches become more effective in their communications if it helps lead someone to Christ. She has a knack for hearing a church’s goals and creating an easy and efficient solution to make those goals happen. When she’s not helping churches, there’s a good chance you’ll find her on stage performing in a musical, hosting an impromptu pool party with her husband and three kids, or chauffeuring said kids to their activities.

Keynote Speaker

Rev. Dr. Todd Jones

Rev. Dr. Todd Jones grew up in the Dallas, Texas area. He is a graduate of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. (CSL). In addition to serving parishes in South Dakota and Arkansas, he worked as a church planter in Southern California and as a mission developer of several new starts in Northwest Arkansas. He also assisted in church planter training in India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Nigeria. In the summer of 2013, Jones received a call to join the faculty in the practical theology department of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. Besides teaching, he was the director of the Residential Field Education program, the Summer Vicarage program, and the Mission track. In 2018, Jones completed his PhD in Intercultural Training. He currently serves the Michigan District as Assistant to the President – Mission Education and Support. God has blessed him and his wife Susan with two wonderful children and five grandchildren.

Breakout Speaker

Donya Dunlap

Donya Dunlap is the Operations Director for LifeClinic Community Resources, which works to eliminate barriers, restore hope, and empower choices for life for all families in the Great Lakes Bay Region. She has been a qualified trainer for the Mid-Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force since 2017. Donya is also a certified trainer through the Michigan ACE Community Champion Training, and is an authorized facilitator of the “Stewards of Children” program for child sexual abuse prevention.

Breakout Speaker

Linda Ekong

Linda serves as the Art Director/Web Director for the Michigan District, LCMS designing promotional pieces for district events, website/social media, and campaign use. She also serves as the Administrative Assistant for the Development Department. In her spare time, Linda works with Visual Faith™ Ministries on layout and design for their artwork, newsletter, books, and website. Linda is a blessed child of God, wife, and mother to 5.

Breakout Speaker

Rev. Thomas Fischer

Rev. Tom Fischer, Assistant Pastor Emeritus, serves Immanuel, Bridgman as Intentional Interim Minister. Before that he served at GoodLife, Rochester Hills; Our Savior, Midland; Zion South, Omaha, Neb.; and was the founding pastor of Lord of New Life, Midland (Larkin Twp.). Fischer is a graduate of Concordia University Ann Arbor, Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo., and Central Michigan University. He has a special interest in outreach, congregational and worker health (www.ministryhealth.info), and conflict mediation. Fischer is also an accomplished church musician (organ, keyboards, choirs, handbells, praise teams, etc.). A certified Wiley EverythingDiSC facilitator since 2017, Fischer finds great joy in building leadership teams in churches and non-profits via DiSC and other excellent tools. He and his wife Cheryl have one daughter and one grandchild.

Breakout Speaker

Travis Grulke

Travis is the Superintendent of Schools for the Michigan District, LCMS. But his more important titles are the husband of Lori and the dad to three crazy and lovable girls. The four ladies in his life are by far his most absolute favorite blessing!

Breakout Speaker

Allie Martinez

Allie Martinez is an advocate, activist, educator, and community organizer who has dedicated her career to ending gender-based violence. She has worked in community engagement and prevention education at Underground Railroad for 5 years, conducting presentations to thousands of participants across Saginaw County. Her work has promoted community education through the development of campaigns, events, conferences, and social media advocacy, and she has developed and strengthened partnerships in favor of violence prevention, including the Coordination of the Mid-Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force and the Men’s Campaign to End Violence Against Women and Girls. Her advocacy with and for survivors began over 8 years ago throughout her Bachelors education with experience in crisis intervention and advocacy, and her expertise in community organizing has been developed over several educational and vocational experiences.

Breakout Speaker

Valerie Matyas

Valerie Matyas is a Visual Faith™ Ministry Classroom Coach. She combines a love for all things visual faith with the heart passion of an educator to forge new pathways into schools and congregational life. Valerie seeks to encourage God’s people, of all ages, to literally draw closer to Him through creative reflection. She loves to develop tools to open these faith-sharing doors for her family and others. Valerie has a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University Ann Arbor, and is currently teaching 7/8th grade at Immanuel Lutheran School in Frankentrost, Mich. Email her at: valmatyas@gmail.com.

Breakout Speaker

Jessica Moore

Jessica Moore serves on the Customer Experience team at Ministry Brands. Currently residing in Tulsa, Okla., she is married and has two children. Jessica is very passionate about giving within the church and equipping church leaders and non-profit directors to speak boldly on generosity. She is responsible for creating education resources for customers and, therefore, has a thorough understanding of the Kindrid software and how it can best serve our churches. Knowing each ministry has unique needs, she is creative in problem solving and maximizing technology to meet those needs and grow overall generosity.

Breakout Speaker

Ken Ohlemeyer

Ken Ohlemeyer is a Certified Business Communicator (CBC). He began his career in marketing communications over 30 years ago and has been sharing brand stories ever since. He joined Concordia Publishing House’s marketing team in May 2017 after serving as director of marketing and creative services at Lutheran Hour Ministries. He is an alumnus of University of Missouri-Columbia where he earned a B.S. in Agriculture. He also holds a B.S. in Communications and Journalism from Washington University, St. Louis, and an associate’s degree in HVAC from Ranken Technical College. In his leisure time, Ohlemeyer enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, biking, fly fishing, listening to music, and using technology. Ken Ohlemeyer can be followed on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenohlemeyer), Twitter (@KAOjr) and through his personal website www.ohlemeyer.com.

Breakout Speaker

Rebecca Thomas

Rebecca Thomas loves to write! After crafting newspapers as a kid, she majored in Journalism at Oakland University. Since then, she’s worked at schools, helping them craft messages, increase social media audiences and enhance their web presence. Rebecca has also done freelance writing for several different publications. Her most challenging job, however, is helping her young daughters write five-paragraph essays.

PraiseMoves®

Danelle Bieniek

Danelle Bieniek MT (ASCP), CPI, CBHC, L.I.F.T. graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree and worked at Beaumont Health for 20 years as a Medical Technologist. Her passion for running marathons lead her to volunteer as a Team-In-Training and Girls on the Run coach for multiple seasons. She has been on the Spiritual Care board at her church for over 20 years. She has also been a Biblical Health Coach and a PraiseMoves® Fitness Minister since 2016. Being a saved child of God, she enjoys sharing the gospel through fitness ministry.  In 2020 she became certified in Laughter in Fitness Training – L.I.F.T. Her hobbies include healthy cooking, walking, spending time in nature, traveling, grocery store ministries, giving ionic footbaths, and hosting Bible studies. Her contact information can be found on the PraiseMoves.com website.

Chaplain

Rev. Christian Jones

Rev. Christian Jones serves as the Missionary-At-Large for A2E (Acts 2 Enterprise) in the city of Flint. He was instrumental in combining four different ministries under the Flint Mission Network umbrella. He graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. in 2019. Before that he was a 2014 graduate of Oakland University, Rochester Hills, where he studied Communication. Prior to being a Missionary, Christian worked in the music departments of Faith, Port Huron; Light of Christ, Marysville; and Living Faith, Marine City where he also served as the office manager. As such, he is incredibly grateful for the immense, too- often-unrecognized amount of dedication office personnel offer to their congregations. Also, he publicly repents to you on behalf of all pastors who cannot grasp the simple concept of deadlines, quipping “I know that there have been many of us.”

Music/Entertainment

RTG

RTG is a contemporary Christian band consisting of members Dave Liniarski, Chris Ofeno, Jeff Babbitt, and Peggy Turner-Carr. All of them served on worship teams and came to the same conclusion to do something different, and RTG – “Righteous Through God” was formed.

Together, they have written songs to express their faith-life stories and experiences. In 2013, they opened for The Afters, “Life is Beautiful” tour. Since then, they have performed at various venues in southeast Michigan, including benefit concerts to support local and international Christian organizations. In January of 2016, they released their first CD, “Power of You.” RTG was also nominated as finalist for several DMA’s (Detroit Music Awards).

RTG’s passion is to continue performing at Christian concerts and events and reach out to those who need Jesus and share His love through our words and music. They pray that you enjoy their music and look forward to recording some more inspiring songs!