Speakers & Workshops

Over the past decade, Aizaiah has been privileged to serve in a variety of leadership positions within spiritual and religious institutions, community based nonprofit organizations, as well as seminaries and universities. He spent five years serving a local congregation in Renton, WA as an associate pastor and then transitioned to administrative leadership within higher education and community non-profits. He has completed training to be a recognized facilitator in the practice of Engaged Compassion, mindful anti-racist leadership, and is currently being trained as an Internal Family Systems Practitioner.

In 2020, he finished his PhD in Practical Theology at the Claremont School of Theology and has spent the last few years as an administrative faculty member teaching classes related to practical theology, spiritual formation, and organizational leadership. His new book, Multiracial Cosmotheandrism: A Practical Theology of Multiraciality Inspired by the Life, Philosophy, and Mysticism of Raimon Panikkar (Orbis Books) won the highly distinguished international Raimon Panikkar Prize and critically considers how the lives and spiritual experiences of mixed-race people can transform efforts towards racial and planetary justice.

Aizaiah is also an ordained pentecostal Christian minister within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and has been invited to provide keynotes, presentations, and lectures across three continents with over a dozen articles and book chapters as a scholar-practitioner. Growing up in a multiracial and immigrant family, he is committed to sustaining transformational and collective efforts that address ongoing realities of social oppression with presence, passion, and peace.

Since his retirement from public service in January 2020, Christopher Freeze has dedicated his time to helping leaders succeed professionally and personally by understanding the intersection of trauma, trust, and hope.

He co-founded and began working with the Hope Science Institute of Mississippi, Inc., in March 2021, as the Director of Training where he teaches individuals, organizations, and leaders how to embrace and implement the Science and Power of Hope.

Mr. Freeze was appointed as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) by Governor Phil Bryant on August 1, 2019. He served until January 14, 2020. Under his leadership, agency staff helped Mississippians move from a state of crisis to self-sufficiency through targeted state assistance programs.

Before MDHS, Mr. Freeze served 23 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), most recently as Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Jackson Division beginning on September 22, 2016, until May 24, 2019. As head of the FBI in Mississippi, Mr. Freeze worked to strengthen partnerships with public and private sector agencies, bring attention to the challenges facing law enforcement, and encourage individuals to demonstrate leadership in all aspects of their professional and personal life.

Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Freeze worked as a Certified Public Accountant with the Tennessee Division of State Audit. He holds a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence and is presently enrolled at Oklahoma University – Tulsa where he is pursuing a doctoral degree in Organizational and Community Leadership.

Explore your meaning and purpose (vocation) for care of self and others in a trauma-filled world. This interactive workshop uses the framework of the UCC Marks of Ministry and engages stories of God-talk (theology) in the midst of climate change, natural disasters and other world disruptions. It points toward concrete ways of action through UCC local, national and global programs and partnerships. Identify capacities and skills of leadership and congregational involvement for making connections in such networks and partnerships.  

About the Presenter: Mary Schaller Blaufuss serves as Vice President for Advancement at Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. She is an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ. Mary has served as a local church pastor, a seminary teacher at the United Theological College, Bangalore, India through Global Ministries (UCC/Disciples), and as Team Leader on the national United Church of Christ staff for coordination of the denomination’s national and global disaster, refugee, sustainable development (made possible by the One Great Hour of Sharing offering), and domestic volunteer ministries (including young adult intentional communities for leadership formation). She loves connecting local communities around the globe, partnership-building and walking with people in their vocational discernment.

Eric Litwiller brings to us timely and pertinent information regarding how the pandemic has impacted our mental health and the mental health of our children and young adults. Provided will be an overview of how the pandemic has impacted mental health, a mile-high view of how mental health in general affects a community, and how the average person can respond to mental health crisis that you might see in your daily life. Eric will cover suicide; how to initiate a conversation, signs that you should be initiating the conversation, and how to respond to the person within the conversation.

About the Presenter: Eric grew up mainly in small Indiana towns but lived in Chicago for 5 yrs. before moving to Kansas at the end of 2010 to be closer to family.  He took advantage of the change to make a move into the non-profit sector as a fund development officer and positively affect quality of life for those around south-central Kansas in a variety of ways.  He joined MHA in the fall of 2017 as Director of Development and Communications but enjoys the solitude of his farm west of Newton in his off-time.

As we rebound from the restrictions of COVID – those imposed upon us and those we imposed on ourselves – we can’t underestimate the value of rebuilding the relational practices rooted in the faith tradition of the UCC clearly articulated through our invitation to all, that “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

Building relationships within our faith and wider communities unfettered by our differences, we can begin to truly see the presence of God in each other and find ways to work together to bring about change. Participants will learn ways to encourage and support authentic conversations that bridge the separations so common in today's society.

Based on the Kansas Leadership Center assertion that anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere, this workshop offers participants a glimpse of the insights and skills to maximize effectiveness in solving problems that require a deeper, more collaborative approach. The workshop will help participants brainstorm problems and start to see different perspectives of the challenge. In doing so it will help us diagnose problems better to find possible solutions.