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Our Faith, Our Children, Our Public Schools 2023

April 22, 2023 @ 10:00 am 2:00 pm

$15.00

Congregations for Children and United Women in Faith will offer a conference-wide event, “Our Faith, Our Children, Our Public Schools,” at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, NC. 

All are welcome as our speakers and facilitators address: 

  • our Wesleyan heritage of responding to community needs; 
  • current challenges facing our public schools;
  • successful church/school partnerships within our conference; and 
  • practical ways congregations can advocate for our public school children and educators.

Lunch will be provided. Registration will close on April 9, 2023.

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View the Speakers→

Speakers

Martha Caves

Martha Caves is currently the North Carolina Conference United Women in Faith (UWF) President and a reserve delegate to the Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church. She grew up in a Navy family and lived in several states growing up. She received a teaching degree from East Carolina University and taught high school math for several years in public schools. Martha has been involved in UWF, formally United Methodist Women, for over 20 years. She has been the Durham Sub-district leader, Durham District President, Corridor District Lay Leader, and Chair of Nominations for NCC UWF. Martha has served on several district and conference committees and has worked with the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church as an assistant.

Dr. Bernice Duffy Johnson

Dr. Bernice Duffy Johnson taught elementary, middle, and high school and 23 years of undergraduate and graduate teaching at the university level. She has conducted workshops in 37 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranging from Time, Conflict, and Financial Management, to Interpersonal Relationship Skills, Group Dynamics, to Communications, Decision Making, Leadership Development, Parliamentary Procedures, and Managing Diversity and Inclusiveness. Dr. Johnson has a B.S. degree in Home Economics Education from A M & N College, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, an M.Ed. in Family Economics and Home Management from The Pennsylvania State University, State College Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Education, Leadership, and Administration, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Bernice is a Lay Leader at New Creation United Methodist Church in Durham, NC. She serves on ten churchwide committees and chairs the Membership Care and Nurture Committee. Bernice and her husband of 54 years, Lawrence (Larry), have served six congregations in their married life. The Johnsons have two adult daughters and two granddaughters.

Rev. Suzanne Parker Miller

The Rev. Suzanne Parker Miller is the Founder and Executive Director of Pastors for North Carolina Children. She is an ordained Moravian minister and has served in Moravian, United Methodist, and Presbyterian congregations. Rev. Miller grew up in the Winston-Salem area, graduated from Meredith College, attended Duke Divinity School and received her Masters of Divinity degree from Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Rev. Miller and her spouse have two children in the Wake County Public schools, and she loves playing board games in her free time. 

Kris Nordstrom

Kris Nordstrom is a Senior Policy Analyst with the North Carolina Justice Center’s Education & Law Project. Kris has been the lead researcher and author of numerous research reports, policy briefs, and commentaries focused on education policy and its impact on advancing economic and social justice.  Prior to starting work with the Justice Center in April 2016, Kris spent nine years with the North Carolina General Assembly’s nonpartisan Fiscal Research Division, where he provided budget analysis and information to members of the General Assembly on public education issues. Kris holds a Master of Public Policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and BA in Economics from Wake Forest University.

David Rockefeller

David Rockefeller is the Director of Congregations for Children (C4C), a laity-led initiative of the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church with the goal of “Supporting Public Schools, Helping Children Affected by Poverty.” His professional career spanned thirty-two years as a public school educator in North Carolina. Mr. Rockefeller earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from East Carolina University and post-graduate certifications in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Leadership at North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. Mr. Rockefeller is a member of Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, where
he has served as a Sunday School teacher, Chair of the Church Council, and Lay Leader. His activities in the NCCUMC Capital District include membership on the District Committee on Ordained Ministry, Chair of the District Committee on the Superintendency, District Coordinator of C4C, and District Lay Leader.

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