The 2012 Edifide Educators Convention will be held October 25-26, 2012.

Edifide October Educators Conference 2011

CULTURE-MAKING: RECOVERING OUR CREATIVE CALLING

Every year, our association runs a conference at the end of October where we hope to encourage, equip and inspire our members to grow in the knowledge of why we do what we do. Central to our conference is a time of worship collectively as the body of Christ and a time of celebration for the milestones of service that our members have reached.

To register for the conference please click here.

This year, our main speakers were:

Andy Crouch

Listen: Recover Our Creative Calling - Oct. 27, 2011 (Keynote)
Creating Power - Oct. 27, 2011
Andy Crouch is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today's 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach, and Leadership. In 2011, he became special assistant to the president at Christianity Today International, where he has served as executive producer of the documentary films Where Faith and Culture Meet and Round Trip, and as editorial director of the Christian Vision Project. He serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and Equitas Group, a philanthropic organization focused on ending child exploitation in Haiti and Southeast Asia. He is also a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture, a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission’s IJM Institute, and a member of the Board of Advisors for the John Templeton Foundation. His writing has appeared in several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. He lives with his family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an MDiv summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000.

James VanderBerg

Listen: Everything about the Other: Culture-Making and Leadership Development - Oct. 28, 2011
James VanderBerg is a campus minister at the University of Guelph. Jamie enjoys navigating the beautifully strange waters of campus life, constantly looking for ways to live out his faith, practice community and participate in God's story of redemption. At the heart of the ministry is leadership development and cultural engagement. As a graduate student at the Institute for Christian Studies, Jamie studied postmodern philosophy and its points of intersection with God’s gift of forgiveness. After completing his thesis, Jamie spent a few years as an associate pastor in the CRC before heading into campus ministry. In and around Guelph, you'll see him celebrating life with his wife, Elaine, and their four children, Justin, Drew, Katya and Karsten.

Dr. Bruce Hekman

Listen: The Elephant, the Rider, and the Path: Change in People & Organizations - Oct. 27, 2011
Dr. Bruce Hekman (PhD) is a child of God who celebrates God's faithfulness every day as he attempts to walk in the dust of his Rabbi, Jesus. He is a faculty member in the graduate program in educational leadership at Calvin College. He is the project director of the International Christian Schooling Initiative at the Kuyers’ Institute at Calvin College. His passion is leadership development in the worldwide Christian school movement. He's been a school administrator in a variety of Christian schools in the United States and spent eight years as the headmaster of the Christian Academy in Japan. He travels widely to consult with schools and present workshops on "Schools as Communities of Grace," "Leading in Times of Change," and a variety of leadership and board development topics. He holds a PhD from the University of Illinois, and an MA in English from the University of Michigan. He is blessed to be married to his best friend, with whom he has two sons and six grandchildren.

Dan Beerens

Listen: Is Colouring Outside the Lines OK? Exploring Culture Making at K-8 - Oct. 27, 2011
Culture Making and Coherence in the 21st Century (Part 1) - Oct. 28, 2011
Culture Making and Coherence in the 21st Century (Part 2) - Oct. 28, 2011
Dan Beerens has served as teacher, principal, and director of curriculum and instruction in urban and suburban public and Christian schools in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, and in various roles for Christian Schools International. He is currently working as a self-employed K-12 educational consultant (DB Consulting) in the areas of teacher evaluation and professional growth, curriculum design, school improvement, and technology integration. He is the author of Evaluating Teachers for Professional Growth: Creating a Culture of Motivation and Learning, published by Corwin Press.