Thank you for attending! See you next year!

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Recordings from the Conference can be found here!

 

Speakers and Topics

Keynote Speaker: Michelle Moujaes, Executive Director of Faithtree Resources (Creators of the Relationship Project

Topic: Building Relationships | Launch recording

Workshop Speakers:

Please check back for updates on speakers, to learn more about the workshop topics and our presenters.

  • Fr. Kirill Sokolov: Helping our youth discover their talents and giving them back to God 
  • Hollie Benton: Guiding Our Camp Staff/Youth Teams to Develop Their Gifts for Ministry | Launch recording
  • Kris Yee: Building Community Through Retreats and Events | Launch recording
  • Shereen Marcus: Bridges to Orthodoxy- Curriculum designed to equip youth workers with tools, not handcuffs | Launch recording
  • Fr. David Morrison: Helping our Youth See Christ in the Other | Launch recording
  • Fr. Stephen Loposky: Getting Our Campers Back to Camp- An Interactive Workshop | Launch recording
  • Cade Scott: Camp Alumni Development 
  • John Maddex: "Transformation: Same-Sex Attraction Through the Lens of Orthodox Christianity" documentary discussion

Speaker Bios

Michelle Moujaes is the founder and Executive Director of Faithtree Resources, a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, California. Faithtree creates resources to equip churches, church leaders and the people they serve to know and live the Christian faith, for the common good and the glory of God. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in Social Work and Community Organizing, including coursework emphasis on theology and organizing communities of faith, she began working for a variety of agencies including: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Monster.com’s Making it Count Program, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and the Easter Seals School for Children with Autism. She has led in a variety of roles within the Orthodox Christian Church including as the New England Regional Youth Director for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, the Metropolitan Committee Chair in Los Angeles for International Orthodox Christian Charities, a member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship’s National Board of Directors, Founding Chair of St. Elijah Orthodox Church elementary school programming in Oklahoma City, among others. Michelle is happily married to her husband Waleed, and together they have four children, Dimitri, Alexander, Jonah and Sabine. When she’s not speaking or creating content for Faithtree Resources, you might find her speaking internationally on the topic of autism and interventions for adults and children with Extraordinary Needs, or volunteering at St. Michael Church, the home parish she and her family attend.

 

Fr. David Morrison is a grateful OCA priest in Bozeman, MT (orthodoxbozeman.org), Fr. David grew up in Christian camping as a Protestant. In college he was camp counselor and program manager at Eagle Lake Camp in CO, and has experience with Young Life camps as well. Fr. David helped launch the St Peter Monastary Work Weeks (https://www.stpetersmonastery.com/camps) 6 years ago and is camp director. He has also been an active leader at

the Orthodox Rocky Mountain Camp in CO. He is known to pull out his guitar at a campfire. Fr. David is a professional musician, singing in the St Tikhon Choir (https://sainttikhonchoir.org). He loves his wife, Mat. Patti, and 3 great kids, and is glad to live in the beautiful mountains of Montana.

 

 

 

 

Archpriest Kirill Sokolov, Ed.D., leads Holy Trinity Cathedral — a historic, warm, and vibrant community in San Francisco — as its dean.  Fr. Kirill is also the Director of Diaconal and Late Vocations for the Orthodox Church in America. He is regularly invited to lead workshops for clergy, those studying for diaconal ordination, subdeacons, and altar servers.  He teaches at the University of San Francisco and the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute and consults in technology, research, and leadership.  A graduate of St. Vladimir's Seminary, he earned his Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education & Psychology.  Fr. Kirill and his wife Sophia (St. Vladimir's Seminary, M.A., 2005) are blessed to be parents of three children (17, 15, and 11).  Fr. Kirill is Vice President of the Board at St. John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy (K-12) and is the Orthodox chaplain at University of San Francisco.  One of his favorite church assignments is working with the St. Eugene Camp Committee and helping organize monthly deanery teen gathering in the Bay Area.
 

 

 

Hollie Benton has served the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative as Executive Director since September, 2019. Formerly she worked for a Fortune 500 Company in project management in the IT and commercial solutions divisions. She is a member of St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church in St. Paul, MN, where she directs choir and Ephesus School. Hollie and her husband, Richard Benton, PhD, served the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, 2002-2012, in regional capacities and at UW-Madison, UW-Seattle, and UMN-Minneapolis. Hollie holds a Master’s degree from St. Vladimir’s Seminary and holds a B.A. with majors completed in Philosophy, Music Theory, and Applied Piano. Her family supports international exchange, hosting students from Spain, Serbia, Georgia, and Bosnia. Her two daughters, Nellie and Kalista, are university students currently studying in Spain and the Netherlands.

 

Shereen M. Marcus is a wife of almost 20 years to Ihab Marcus and a mother of 2 boys (Jonah, 16, and Ethan, 13).  She works full time as a Veterans Law Judge for a Federal Appellate Court (the Board of Veterans Appeals) with a J.D. from George Washing University Law School. Concurrently with her legal career, Shereen has been an advocate for reforming Youth Ministry in Orthodox Churches in North America for many years.  Starting off with a few ideas, a knack for "kid-silliness," and some natural writing abilities, Shereen did independent research into various Youth Ministry efforts and methodologies and began writing kids' Christian education material for her local parish. She furthered her work by completing a Master's Program in Orthodox Theology with a Youth Ministry Emphasis from the University of Balamand in Lebanon in conjunction with the Antiochian House of Studies. From there, she took her materials to a bigger platform by launching "Bridges to Orthodoxy" in January 2020. She continues to write Christian education materials and lecture on youth ministry efforts and methodologies. Find her works on her Christian Education website at www.bridgestoorthodoxy.com.
 
Kris Yee is the Dean of Student Life and a founding faculty member at the Saint Constantine School in Houston, Texas. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Christian Adulthood Initiative, a nonprofit ministry that helps churches develop holistic, adulthood-centered youth groups through curriculum, training, and summer camps. As Saint Constantine’s Dean of Student Life, he spends much of his time thinking about and building meaningful community among the students and faculty through retreats, events, and the regular rhythms of life lived together.
 
 
 

John Maddex will be leading a workshop on the important documentary,  "Transformation: Same-Sex Attraction Through the Lens of Orthodox Christianity." Mr. Maddex will discuss the process of creating this documentary, what he learned, how he created a safe space for the discussion and his suggestions for discussing this topic with our youth.  Following the presentation, the group will be divided into small groups to further discuss this extremely relevant topic. John is CEO of Ancient Faith Ministries, a publishing and radio outreach operating both Ancient Faith Radio and Ancient Faith Publishing. He has 50 years experience in broadcasting, having served at the Moody Bible Institute and Focus on the Family. He was responsible for Moody’s 35 owned-and-operated radio stations for much of that time. John has served on the board of the Fellowship of St. James, which publishes Touchstone and Salvo magazines, as well as the National Religious Broadcasters. He and his wife Tonya live in Chesterton, Indiana, and have two adult children and eight grandchildren.

Cade Scott is the new Director of Development for the Antiochian Village Camp.  He hails from Anchorage, Alaska and his home parish of St. John Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral. He is a graduate of University of Alaska Anchorage - undergraduate in history and a masters in teaching.  Cade has years of camping experience with several Orthodox camps.  For the last four years, Cade has been a full time employ of the Village. Cade currently is the point person on programming, alumni relations, and fundraising, and he cannot wait to work with our wonderful Village Family moving forward.  In Cade’s spare time he loves to go on adventures with his wife Maria Scott, also a former staff member at the Antiochian Village. 

 

 

 

Fr. Stephen Loposky was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on July 12, 1998. He served as the parish priest for St. Mary’s Orthodox Church in Corning, NY for 11 years before being assigned as the Administrator of Camp Nazareth in 2009. Camp Nazareth is located in Mercer, Pa, and is the Youth Camp and Conference and Retreat Center for the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in North America. Fr. Stephen was subsequently appointed as the Director of Youth for his Diocese in 2012. He and his wife, Pani Daria, have 4 children, live at the Camp, and work together in its ministry and in their Diocesan Youth Ministry.