Learning Labs Presenters
Meet the Learning Lab presenters who will be leading this year’s sessions.
Rev. Tobi Nguyen
The Reverend Tobi Nguyen is an ordained Elder in The United Methodist Church serving as pastor of Trinity UMC in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Her ministry weaves together pastoral leadership, community partnerships, and educational programming that addresses contemporary challenges facing the church, including developing resources on Christian nationalism and faithful civic engagement. She serves as president of the board for Duke Wesley Campus Ministry, on the executive board for Durham Congregations in Action, and as chair of the North Carolina Conference Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
Tobi is passionate about building bridges between congregations and their communities, leading initiatives with local schools to address food insecurity and other practical needs. When she’s not in the pulpit, she can be found knitting, watching Durham Bulls baseball, or enjoying time with her husband Jimmy and their three teenagers.
Rev. Dr. Glenn Stallsmith
Rev. Dr. Glenn Stallsmith is an ordained Elder and serves as Lead Pastor of Oxford UMC. He earned his Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) degree at the Divinity School at Duke University, where he studied Liturgy and Theology and the Arts. His dissertation focused on a theology of corporate prayer. Prior to serving as a pastor, Glenn and his spouse, Sarah, a public school music teacher and choir director, worked as ethnomusicology consultants in the Philippines.
Angelica Acosta Garnett
Angelica Acosta Garnett has been dedicated to education, advocacy, and immigrant support. She has worked as a U.S. government teacher, a Communities in Schools site coordinator, an immigration law paralegal, and an interpreter/translator.
Angelica is a speaker and trainer, leading workshops for groups and organizations that seek to better understand and support immigrant communities.
Doug Thie
Doug Thie is a partner at Clawson & Staubes, LLC, where he focuses exclusively on immigration law. He is fluent in Spanish and frequently speaks with employers, schools, and community organizations on immigration issues.
Doug earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Wofford College and his law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Rev. Dr. Tim Catlett
Rev. Tim Catlett serves as Executive Director of the Office of New Faith Communities for the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. In this role, he oversees the discernment, formation, resourcing, and deployment of clergy and church teams as they co-create new places for new people to gather in communion with Jesus Christ. His work includes classic new church starts, multi-site and cooperative parishes, and faith-based social entrepreneurship rooted in the life of local churches. Following an initial career in software consulting, Tim has served for nearly twenty years in ministry leadership as a church planter, executive pastor, and lead pastor of a large multi-site congregation.
Rev. Hope Ledbetter-Bock
Rev. Hope Ledbetter-Bock serves as the Associate Director of New Faith Communities and Clergy Life, where she walks alongside people discerning a call to ordained ministry and/or a call to co-create new faith communities. In this role, she supports, affirms, and equips diverse leaders and churches across the conference.
Hope studied Psychology and Environmental Studies with a concentration in Food Studies at UNC Chapel Hill before attending Duke Divinity School for her M.Div. She has experience working in various church plants and, most recently, served as Pastor of Community Life at Fuquay-Varina UMC before joining the conference team in 2024. She and her husband, Adam, an ordained deacon, live in Durham with their pup, Basil. She enjoys yoga, hiking, cooking, and hosting “Coffee House” gatherings.
On July 1, Hope will serve as the Lead Pastor at Duke Memorial UMC.
Caleb Parker
Caleb Parker was born and raised outside of Elizabeth City, attending Newland UMC. He received degrees in social science research at East Carolina University and spent 17 years working in international development and public health through US government-funded programs. He is a member of Duke Memorial UMC and serves in a leadership role. He was elected as a delegate to the 2020/2024 General Conference and now serves on the Board of Directors of the General Board of Global Ministries.
In July 2025, Caleb was hired by the NC Conference to support the work of analyzing charge conference data and identifying ways to improve how leaders use and apply data. As part of the work, he researched ways to identify and evaluate the health and vitality of the local church, using skills developed through work in international development. Building on the work of thought leaders and researchers, Caleb is pushing new ways of thinking about church health, especially in this new era of United Methodism.
Rev. Jenifer Anne Swindell
Rev. Jenifer Anne Swindell is an ordained Deacon in Full Connection in the North Carolina Annual Conference, currently serving as Pastor of Evangelism and Communications at North Raleigh United Methodist Church. With over 15 years of ministry experience helping churches across the United Methodist connection, she brings a combination of theological grounding, strategic communications expertise, and deep local church experience to her work.
Jen has served local churches around the triangle, leading communications, worship, discipleship, and evangelism across a wide range of contexts. She has also coached and consulted with churches around the country from small-membership congregations to multi-staff churches. She has led website redesigns, launched church-wide digital engagement efforts, built volunteer teams, and developed guest experience pathways from first impression to belonging. Jen is passionate about helping churches communicate in ways that are clear, authentic, and deeply rooted in their mission because the goal is not simply to inform, but to invite.
