Speakers & Guests
Featured speakers and guests who will lead and inspire us through worship and plenary sessions as we grow in disciple making, leader forming, and peace building.
Rev. Dr. Lydia Muñoz
Rev. Dr. Lydia Muñoz, Executive Director of The Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry and an Ordained Elder in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, will speak during the Friday afternoon plenary session. Muñoz will also lead two Learning Labs on Wednesday.
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Rev. Dr. Lydia Esther Muñoz is an Ordained Elder in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, where she is also a delegate to the general conference. Rev. Dr. Muñoz has served in the Philadelphia area for 15+ years, and prior to that, she served in the Florida Annual Conference, Baltimore Washington Conference, and Susquehanna Annual Conference. She is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary and has received her Doctor of Ministry from Drew Theological School focusing on Public Theology.
A product of the National Plan herself, Rev. Dr. Muñoz received her call to ministry after attending a Module training at Perkins School of Theology. Muñoz has a long experience developing ministries of justice among marginalized and multicultural communities both as a cross-racial/cross-cultural pastor and as a gifted musician and worship leader has been involved in leading worship for 20+ years in varied and diverse settings, both locally and nationally, including for the World Council of Churches Assembly in South Korea 2013 and the United Methodist General Conference in 2012 and the Festival of Sacred Arts in Falstbo, Sweden. She is a published author and contributor to Abingdon Preacherâs Manual 2019 and 2020, and a variety of journals of Christian liturgy and worship, and other advocacy journals.
Rev. Muñoz has also been a strong activist for social justice on a variety of platforms, including gun reform, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, and immigration rights, serving as a member of the Rapid Response Team for her local conference. She has been a long-time member of MARCHA (Metodistas Asociados Representando la Causa Hispano/Latina) within The United Methodist Church, and she is a member of La Raza, which advocates social-political causes in Latinx communities.
Lydia is the mother of one 20-year-old named Willow and a 5-year-old, rescue pup named Max.
Rev. Dr. Michael Adam Beck
Rev. Dr. Michael Adam Beck, pastor, author, and Executive Director of Fresh Expressions for The United Methodist Church, will speak during the Laity Executive session on Thursday morning. Beck will also lead two Learning Labs on Wednesday.
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Rev. Dr. Michael Beck is a spiritual guide who helps people heal, love, and unleash imagination to create better lives, organizations, and communities. Michael and wife Jill have led a series of revitalizations and unconventional church plants over the past 17 years. They are currently co-pastors of Compassion/St Marks UMCs, which house a holistic inpatient recovery program called Open Arms Village. They oversee a network of fresh expressions led by laity that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, burrito joints, digital spaces, and a substance abuse rehab. Michael also teaches sociology at the University of Florida and is an adjunct professor at several seminaries, including Duke, United, SMU, and Candler. His consulting firm coaches, trains, and educates leaders internationally across a broad theological spectrum and has consulted with hundreds of churches, districts, denominations, networks, synods, and dioceses.
Beck earned a bachelorâs from Saint Leo University, Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary Orlando, and a Doctorate in Semiotics and Future Studies at Portland Seminary with his mentor Leonard Sweet. Heâs currently a graduate instructor and PhD candidate in the sociology department at UF. A rare breed of practitioner and scholar, Beck is the author of eighteen books and is widely considered a global thought leader in the Fresh Expressions movement. Michael serves as the Director of Fresh Expressions Florida, Director of the Fresh Expressions House of Studies at SMU, and Director of Fresh Expressions for The United Methodist Church. Michael has a passion for helping laity and clergy cultivate new forms of church. He helps leaders across the globe follow Jesus in new and exciting ways.
Rev. Bob Bergland
Rev. Bergland, retired pastor and Community Spiritual Director at Heart of Carolina Emmaus Community, will preach during the Memorial Service on Friday.
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Born and raised in Ohio to John and Barbara Bergland, Bob is a retired member of the North Carolina Annual Conference. Bob earned his BA in Religion from Pfeiffer College (now University) in 1977 and his M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1983. Ordained a Deacon in 1980 and an Elder in 1984, was 1st appointed as a Student Local Pastor in 1979 to City Road UMC in Henderson. After four years, he went on to serve Mount Bethel UMC in Bahama, NC; Grace UMC in Clinton; Trinity UMC in Elizabethtown; Apex UMC in Apex; 1st UMC in Rocky Mount; and 1st UMC in Wilson, where he retired in 2021. These appointments ranged in size from 230 to 3000+, with one having average worship attendance reaching 1000.
Bob has served the NC Annual Conference in other capacities ranging from chairing the Order of Elders and serving on the Board of Ordained Ministry, to serving as dean of the Local Pastor License to Preach School from 2008-2016 and continues to serve as a member of the Capital District Committee on Ordained Ministry.
He was a clergy delegate to the 2008, 2012, and 2016 General and Jurisdictional Conferences and as a clergy delegate to the Called General Conference of 2019 in St. Louis, MO.
Bob was a World Methodist Council member from 2005-2021 and also a Cornerstone Preaching Fellow. He attended the World Methodist Conferences in Seoul, South Korea, and Durban, South Africa, and was one of 25 United Methodists attending the World Methodist Conference on Evangelism Gathering in Havana, Cuba, in 2005, where he was a guest preacher.
He is actively involved in the Heart of Carolina Emmaus Community, where he is presently the Community Spiritual Director.
The accomplishments he is most grateful and proud of are his 42-year marriage to Ellen; their three grown and married children â Eric (Hannah), Andrew (Chelsea), and Sarah (Murphy Carroll). Together they are blessed to have 7 grandchildren: Alice, Henry, Lionel, Walter, Ellie, Millie, and Ben, whom they enjoy visiting regularly from coast to coast.
Bob continues to teach Sunday School, provide supply preaching, and assist 1st UMC in Wilson as Pastor Emeritus.
Bishop Gregory Palmer
Bishop Gregory Palmer, Council of Bishops Executive Secretary and retired Bishop of the Ohio West Area, will preach during the Ordering of Ministry Service on Saturday morning.
Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton
Along with presiding over the conference, Bishop Shelton will preach during Opening Worship on Thursday.
Rev. Dr. Gray Southern
Rev. Dr. Gray Southern serves as the Conference Secretary.
John Hall
John Hall serves as the Conference Lay Leader for the North Carolina Conference.
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John Hall was elected Conference Lay Leader of the North Carolina Conference in June 2020 and June 2024, and previously served as the Conference Director of Lay Servant Ministries. He has been an active member of the laity within the NC Conference for many years, including serving as a district president of United Methodist Men and participating in the Leadership Fellows program in 2013-2014 as the lay partner from Aldersgate UMC in Durham, where he continues to serve as a lay minister with a focus on church sound and media. John enjoyed a 23-year career as an R&D development engineer with Hewlett-Packard Company, retiring in 2006. He then joined SAS as a technical trainer with a focus on computer architecture, retiring in 2018. John is married to his wife Holly and has two children and one amazing grandson.