(Art: www.martinfrench.com)
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.I am weary of holding it in, indeed I cannot.
Jeremiah 20: 9
The Faith & Culture Writers Connection is a faith-based creative community of writers, bloggers, journalists, professors, activists, theologians, literary agents, editors, and everyday people who love WORDS and the Word and feel led to share the message God has given them through the literary arts. Many of the people who resonate with the Faith & Culture Writers Connection write because they have to write.
The connection exists to network, engage, inspire and validate fellow writers of faith as we seek to celebrate the very gift of creativity bestowed on us by the Great Creator Himself. God has given us the arts as a way to communicate truth to others in a culture starving for beauty and relevance and story that matters.
Every year (or two), we gather together for the Faith & Culture Writers Conference with about 20 speakers who engage in topics around faith and the arts and our creative calling. Our inaugural Faith & Culture Writers Conference was in 2011 at Western Seminary and the 2013 Faith & Culture Writers Conference is set for April 5-6 at Multnomah University.
Cornelia Becker Seigneur, who founded the Faith & Culture Writers Connection and Conference, shares her favorite writing quote, which is also her Twitter tagline “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” (Martin Luther)
Connecting and validating people of faith who love WORD and WORDS.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
~ Isaiah 43:19
History
2011 Beginnings
Cornelia Becker Seigneur, freelance journalist and Multnomah University adjunct professor and MUSE student publication advisor, is the visionary behind the Faith & Culture Writers Connection and Conference, which debuted in 2011 at Western Seminary with about 200 people in attendance. Cornelia loves connecting and networking fellow people of faith to encourage them to embrace their creative calling.
“We serve a creative God who has given us the gift of art and story and WORDS,” said Becker Seigneur. She had started a writing group at her church years ago, and found fellow believers were looking for a place to bond around their mutual love for creativity and the Word.”
Dreaming of a larger event, they thought, what would it be like to gather hundreds of creative people of faith together for a day to engage, encourage, challenge, and inspire one another in this mutual creative calling on their lives. The Pacific Northwest is packed with creative people of faith who see that God can use words to impact culture. Bev Hislop of Western Seminary loved the vision and Western sponsored the conference on their campus in 2011, for a day of inspiration, camaraderie, and community. Multnomah and Corban Universities collaborated on the event.
Keynote speaker Paul Louis Metzger challenged attendees to write out of a calling and a burning in their soul (our theme verse from Jeremiah 20:9) and Gina Ochsner spoke about Word and the creative call mandated by Scripture from the beginning. Breakout sessions were presented by Dan Merchant, Richard Twiss, Melanie Dobson, Matt Mikalatos, Cornelia Becker Seigneur, Jenni Burke, Bill Jensen, David Sanford, Heather Thomas, Kay Marshall Strom, Brad Harper, Dennis Marcellino, Angela Foret Diehl, and Mike Thaler. Local Portland worship leader Wilson Smith led worship and illustrator/art professor Martin French designed our WORDS logo for 2011 and 2013.
The overwhelming response to the first Faith & Culture Writers Conference was so enthusiastic. People said they loved the positive environment we created for a day and that it was the best writing conference they had ever attended. Many said “it was intellectual, challenging, deep, literary and encouraging.” It became a community of fellow creatives who were challenged to move forward with their call to write.
Yes, our culture is changing and yes it’s hard to get published and yes bookstores are closing and yes newspapers are shrinking, but we are here to say that if you feel called to write, then find the courage to write. Let’s think outside the box and embrace the change in culture and medium. And, ask God to pave the way with the rest.
Cornelia Becker Seigneur
We are back in 2013, this time at Multnomah University, with another fantastic lineup of speakers, authors, theologians, activists, bloggers, literary agents, filmmakers, journalists, editors, and everyday writers.
The Faith & Culture Writers Conference is different than any other Christian writing conference experience. Some will say they are not writers at all, but they write out of necessity and calling and conviction, as it is through the written word that they are able to communicate their message in a changing world starving for truth and beauty. I love that about our conference, as we are honored to introduce fresh new voices to the conversation around word and story and faith and culture and the arts, people who write because they have to write.
Cornelia Becker Seigneur
Special thanks to Martin French, our logo and artwork designer, and to Social Media Handlers for our website.
Cornelia Becker Seigneur
Founder & Conference Director
As the visionary behind the Faith & Culture Writers Connection and Conference, Cornelia Becker Seigneur has a passion to encourage, network, equip and validate people of faith who are driven and motivated by their creative calling. Working as a freelance journalist for The Oregonian, Christianity Today, the Huffington Post and Cultural Encounters, Cornelia has penned hundreds of stories, profiles, columns, features and community briefs on faith, culture, family and neighborhood interests. She’s an adjunct professor at Multnomah University, where she serves as the faculty advisor for MUSE, the online student publication she helped launch in 2011. Cornelia has also taught at George Fox University and Portland State, among other higher education institutions. In her spare time, the mom of five mentors aspiring writers and younger moms, disciples high school youth, substitute teaches, speaks at conferences, runs marathons, goes on adventures with her kids, listens to indie music, watches movies, and is an advocate for Sudanese refugees in Portland.
Bethany Jackson
Administrative Assistant
Bethany Jackson joined the leadership team for the original Faith & Culture Writers Conference held April 2011 as Facilities Director. She is currently an Office Administrator for a dental practice where she has been for the last 10 years. She has also volunteered and was elected Sponsorship Director, Vice President and Director for the Board of Directors and was Interaction Chairman for the Oregon Dental Executive’s Association. She now advises as needed for the ODEA.
While working full time and volunteering, Bethany felt a continuing nudging in her heart, a call to write. Searching for a place to gain instruction, advice and encouragement, Bethany joined the Writers Connection Group at Rolling Hills Community Church three years ago. There, she met a very active group of writers that would give the encouragement she needed to start writing again.
She is very excited about the calling and is honored to use the gifts God has given her to be an integral part of the leadership team.
Kari Patterson
Communications Coordinator
Kari Patterson juggles the hats of pastor’s wife, church-planter, homeschool mom, conference speaker, Bible teacher, writer, blogger, mentor, counselor, friend, daughter–often dropping them all
on her crumb-covered floor. Kari holds a Master’s degree in Pastoral Studies with an emphasis in Women’s Ministry from Multnomah Biblical Seminary, and writes daily at Sacred Mundane (karipatterson.com). Her writing is featured at (in)courage, Simple Homeschool, and FrugalLivingNW, and her books include The Road to Santa Clara, Plenty: 31 sips of joy for moms everywhere, and Let In Light: His truth every morning for 31 days. She has a passion to see women discover God’s presence in the details of life.
Ashley Larkin
Networking Coordinator
Ashley Larkin seeks to live fully awake and encourages her readers to do the same at her blog, Draw Near, where she writes several times a week for Christ-followers and non-Christian readers alike about everyday moments and the myriad places God comes close.
Ashley’s background in journalism and lyrical writing style meld to create a unique voice that she brings to her work as a freelance writer, as well. Her first foray into book publishing landed two of her devotional pieces in the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) devotional, Always There: Reflections for Moms on God’s Presence (2012), alongside the writing of Ann Voskamp and Renee Swope, among other notable authors. In addition, Ashley writes children’s Bible curriculum for the international organization, One Hope, and devotionals for (in)courage and MOPS, where she’s featured as a guest blogger.
A mother of three daughters and wife to Michael, Ashley mentors young women, teaches Sunday School, leads small groups and serves often at her girls’ school and in the Northeast Portland community she calls home.
Ana Brors
Marketing Specialist
Over the past 12 years Ana’s focus has been in the area of marketing and advertising. This led her to open her own creative agency focusing in the area of Digital Strategy and marketing. Her work includes building successful marketing campaigns and fundraising efforts for non-profits, artists and businesses alike. In addition to her work she is passionate about: helping the under privileged, hungry, homeless and hurting; advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves; music and writing.
2013 Faith & Culture Writers Conference – Making a Way in the Wilderness
CLICK on a SPEAKER Photo to READ their BIO and BREAKOUT SESSION DESCRIPTION
Speakers
Ken Wytsma
WM Paul Young
Chris Haynes
Cornelia Becker Seigneur
Tyler Braun
Tony Kriz
Paul Louis Metzger, Ph.D.
David Jacobsen
Jenni Burke
Christal M. N. Jenkins
Ana Brors
Leanne Sype
Melanie Dobson
Pam Lau
Matt Mikalatos
Dan Merchant
Bill Jensen
Randy S. Woodley, Ph.D.
Keith Turley
Nicole Miller
Wilson Smith
Brian Doyle
David VanDiest – Literary Agent with D.C. Jacobson
Phil Long
Quotes from attendees of our 2013 Faith & Culture Writers Conference
“I am still processing the weekend and have just started to listen to the content on the mp3′s and again just feel so encouraged and invigorated. I am in awe of the creativity of the God who takes our tiny shards of glass offerings and turns them into stained glass windows. You have created a God-breathed conference.”
Helen Washington
Blog Posts with references to 2013 Faith & Culture Writers Conference
If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write
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