Embracing the Unexpected: Facing the Unknown with Grace and Humor

The Center for Leadership Excellence presents a Day of Learning with MaryAnn McKibben Dana…

(Doors open at 9am)

Bring Your Team! We believe this Day of Learning, like most of our events, will have the biggest impact when clergy and laity attend together. Bring a group of 3 or more from your church and receive a 20% discount on your total registration. You must register by May 8th to receive this discount!

About the Day:

Life is full of the unexpected, both positive and not so positive. What if, instead of fighting it when things don’t go as planned, we leaned into the change and improvised? Improv offers an invigorating approach to life as individuals and as spiritual communities. From Moses to Ruth to Jesus, scripture is full of people boldly saying “yes, and…” as they receive what life throws their way and build upon it.  

Join pastor and author MaryAnn McKibben Dana for a spirited exploration of “yes, and…” and other tools for faithful improvisation. We are all improvisers, often without realizing it. The focus of our time together will not be on acting and comedy skills, but on practices for thriving in the midst of chaotic, often unpredictable lives. Come for a tasty blend of scripture, theology, psychology, literature, pop culture, music, and more, as we dream, discuss, and play together.

About MaryAnn McKibben Dana

The Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana is a writer, pastor, speaker, and ministry coach living in the Virginia suburbs of DC. She is author of three books, Hope: A User’s Manual, God, Improv, and the Art of Living, and Sabbath in the Suburbs, and writes a weekly newsletter for thousands of subscribers called The Blue Room. Her writing has also appeared in TIME.com, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Religion Dispatches, Journal for Preachers, the Christian Century, and Presbyterians Today. She was featured on PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly for her work on Sabbath and was recognized by the Presbyterian Writers Guild with the 2015-2016 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award. 

She is a sought-after speaker, preacher, conference leader and writer around issues of leadership, faith formation, and congregational transformation. She currently serves as associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, VA. MaryAnn is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas and received her M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She is a mother of three, an imperfect knitter, and an occasional ultramarathoner. Connect with her at her website.