Southwest Regional Retreat 2009
Retreat Archives
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C.S. Lewis Southwest Regional Retreat 2009
The Company We Keep:
Creativity & Community with C.S. Lewis & the Inklings
Speakers & Performers
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Diana Glyer — Professor of English at Azusa Pacific University. She has been widely recognized for her work on C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Inklings, including contributions to The C.S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia and C.S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy. She is the recipient of the Wade Center's Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant (1997), APU's Chase A. Sawtell Inspirational Teaching Award (2002), and the Imperishable Flame Award for Tolkien Scholarship (2007). Her latest book is The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community. |
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Skip Ryan — Chancellor and Professor of Practical Theology at Redeemer Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Redeemer is an innovated educational setting designed to train for Christian ministry and to provide training in Christian themes for those whose vocations lead them to many other professions. Dr. Joseph Fischer Ryan (“Skip”) was the founding and first Senior Minister of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the first Senior Minister of Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. Skip has also been the Executive Vice-Present of Whitney International University in Dallas, Texas, has served on the South African Working Group of the United States Department of State, and has been active in world mission ministries for many years. |
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Andrew Lazo — Scholar and speaker. Andrew Lazo holds an M.A. in English from Rice University, where he was Jacob K. Javits Fellow in the Humanities. He also teaches Mythology at the University of Houston and is author of several articles and book reviews on C. S. Lewis and other Inklings and is co-editor of Changed Lives: C. S. Lewis as Spiritual Mentor, forthcoming on Baker Books. A nationally-known speaker on the Inklings, Andrew speaks regularly in churches and schools and at events for the C. S. Lewis Foundation. He is currently working on two book projects, one unlocking the mysteries of Till We Have Faces and the other doing primary research on friendship in the Coalbiters, Tolkien’s Old Norse reading group. |
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Joel Heck — Teacher of courses in Old Testament, New Testament, and the life and writings of C. S. Lewis at Concordia University Texas. He holds the Doctor of Theology from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He is the author or editor of eight books, most recently a book on C. S. Lewis’s educational philosophy, Irrigating Deserts: C. S. Lewis on Education (2006) which received a Marion E. Wade Center research grant. Dr. Heck spent the fall of 2004 in Oxford, working with Walter Hooper on Vol. III of Lewis’s Collected Letters. He is currently working on a reprint of Lewis and Tillyard’s The Personal Heresy, expected to be released this summer. |
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Don
Wood — Entrepreneur, trained in theology and
business.
Don Wood graduated from Southeastern University with a pre-seminary degree in Biblical Studies and Theology. He has since completed hundreds of hours of business and technology training courses to round out his threefold expertise in fatherhood, ministry, and business. He built industrial, commercial, and residential projects in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. Following a series of natural disasters in the Southeast, he formed a public adjusting company to recover client losses in large and complicated insurance claims. He has recently founded an alternative energy company to provide clean on-site energy for large complexes.
Together, Don and his wife, Kay, have served large and small churches in various capacities for over thirty years and now mentor a group in Dallas. He is involved with the International Coalition of Apostles and the International Christian Wealth Builders Foundation. Don has written curriculum for the Spirit-filled life, traveled with ministry teams locally and abroad, and authored Generational Leadership—how God's purposes unfold through the social institution of fatherhood to empower His children. (www.fatherpower.com) |
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Writers Workshop |
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Joy Jordan-Lake — After
graduate theological studies, she earned both her master and doctoral
degrees in English Literature. Having worked as a journalist,
minister, professor, and a Baptist chaplain at Harvard, she is
the author of five books, including Blue Hole Back Home (a
novel), Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous: Top Ten Alarming Words of Faith;
Working Families: Navigating the Demands and Delights
of Marriage, Parenting and Career; Whitewashing Uncle Tom’s
Cabin: Nineteenth-Century Women Novelists Respond to Stowe;
and Grit & Grace: Portraits of a Woman’s Life. With
her husband and three children, she lives in Tennessee, where she
writes and teaches part time at Belmont University. |
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Frank Ball – full-time freelance writer & author of four books, including Eyewitness: The Life of Christ Told in One Story. For almost fifteen years, he has been a mentor, teacher, and coach of more than a hundred writers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He has worked as a copy editor for a trade magazine, has written hundreds of devotionals, and has been a columnist for The Spirit-Led Writer e-zine. |
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Terry Glaspey – Director of
Acquisitions and a Senior Editor for Harvest House Publishers and the
author of several books, including Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual
Legacy of C.S. Lewis, The Book Lover’s Guide to Great Reading,
Pathway to the Heart of God, The One-Minute
Bible Guide, and others. He also worked on putting together a
recent collection of art and essays entitled The Lion and the
Land of Narnia. |
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Steve Laube – Literary Agent responsible for the discovery, evaluation, and development of potential new books for publication. He as negotiated nearly 200 contracts managing over 350 new books during his time as an agent. Steve is a 25 year veteran of the bookselling industry. He began in the bookselling arena and his store in Phoenix was named the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) store of the year in 1989. He then spent 11 years with Bethany House Publishers rising to the position of an editorial director. In 2002 he was named the AWSA Golden Scroll Editor of the Year. The next year he became a literary agent and in 2004 formed The Steve Laube Agency. |
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Thomas Umstattd – CEO of Umstattd Media, a company that helps authors use the web to
sell books and win contracts. As a speaker on web technology, Thomas
teaches all over the world. He built his first website at the age of 13
and taught his first web design class at 16 years old. He has been
helping authors and small businesses use the web ever since. |
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Performers |
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Kemper Crabb -
Singer and songwriter. Kemper Crabb’s musical career has been varied.
He has been a member of bands such as ArkAngel, RadioHalo and, for a
short while, Caedmon¹s Call. He is currently he is a member
of the band Atomic Opera and works on solo projects as well. His 1982
solo album The Vigil is a
favorite for musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kerry Livgren
(Kansas) and Rick Wakeman
(Yes). More recently, in 1995, Kemper recorded A Medieval
Christmas, a collection of medieval Christmas songs and hymns.
Kemper performs widely across Europe, Asia and America. He was ordained
to the priesthood in the Reformed Episcopal Church and is currently a
priest in the Community of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC). He
leads the worship music at the contemporary service of St. John the
Divine Episcopal Church in Houston, TX.
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Ad Deum Dance Company – a professional Houston, Texas based contemporary/modern dance company founded and directed by Randall Flinn. The company is comprised of dancers that have found home in Houston from all across the globe. Dramatic passion, flowing grace and fierce athleticism abound as these artists explore the mysteries of faith, grace, beauty and redemption through the freedom created by God for the expressions of the human body, soul and spirit.
Randall Flinn, Founder and Artistic Director of Ad Deum Dance Company, has served on the artistic faculty for Houston Ballet Academy, Project Dance NYC, and as an artist-in-residence for The High School for Performing Arts, Ballet Magnificat, Belhaven College and Youth With A Mission. As a lecturer, he has addressed many artists on the topic of “Servant Artistry.” He is now celebrating the grace of twenty five years as a Believer-artist. |
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