Daily Schedule

  • Sessions will be held in the Warren Library Lassiter Rotunda, unless stated otherwise.

    • 8:00-9:00 AM
      Registration, Refreshments & Coffee

    • 9:15-10:30 AM

      • Conference Welcome

      • Keynote: Reimagining Holiness as Relational Wholeness: No Shame. No Same.
        Dr. Thomas Boehm

        Director of Wheaton Center for Faith and Disability | Founder of Faith for ALL

    • 10:30-10:45 AM
      Coffee Break

    • 10:45 AM-12:15 PM
      Keynote: Reconceiving the Image of God in Christian Approaches to Disability and Neurodiversity

      • Dr. Grant Macaskill

        Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, Durham University

    • 12:00-1:30 PM
      Lunch

    • 1:30-5:00 PM

      Resource Fair

      Visit with exhibitors from local organizations who support individuals with disabilities and their caregivers.

    • 1:30-2:15 PM
      Paper Presentations

      • Abby Copeland, Lee University

      • Dylan Watson, Providencia Counseling Collective

    • 2:30-3:15 PM

      Workshop - Creating Inclusive Worship

      Lamar Hardwick, “The Autism Pastor

    • 3:30-4:15 PM

      Workshop

      Rev. Phyllis Parthemer, Through the Roof Ministries

    • 4:30-6:00 PM
      Dinner | Cafeteria

    • 6:00-7:00 PM
      Inclusive Worship Service | DeSantis Chapel

  • Sessions will be held in the Warren Library Lassiter Rotunda, unless stated otherwise.

    • 8:30-9:00 AM
      Refreshments & Coffee

    • 9:15-10:30 AM
      Ways We Witness: Disability and Mission
      Dr. Benjamin Conner

      Director of the Center for Disability and Ministry, Western Theological Seminary

    • 10:30-10:45 AM
      Coffee Break

    • 10:45 AM-12:00 PM
      Keynote Panel Discussion

      Q&A

    • 12:15-1:30 PM
      Lunch | PBA Cafeteria

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Plenary Speakers

  • Reimagining Holiness as Relational Wholeness: No Shame. No Same.

    What if holiness is not about perfection at all?

    Many of us quietly equate holiness with flawlessness, performance, or spiritual achievement—standards that too often breed either pride or shame. Yet Scripture’s vision of qadosh (holiness) and shalom (wholeness) points instead to God’s radiant presence and right relationship. Holiness is not moral perfection—no shame—but relational communion with God and one another.

    Drawing on a biblical theology of disability and decades of experience in higher education and congregational leadership, this keynote explores how such a reframing can transform the life and practice of everyday communities. In the academy, honoring diverse gifts fosters trust and mutual flourishing. In the church, embodied love moves communities beyond mere accommodation toward genuine belonging, where those once considered weaker are recognized as indispensable.

    Participants will gain a renewed theological vision and practical pathways for cultivating cultures of transformation and belonging—in classrooms, departments, congregations, and families—communities marked by communion with God over perfection (no shame) and fellowship with one another over uniformity (no same).

  • Reconceiving the Image of God in Christian Approaches to Disability and Neurodiversity

     This lecture will engage critically with the use of the imago dei concept in contemporary (especially science-engaged) theology and in Christian discourse about disability, difference and neurodivergence. It will explore the problems that are often unwittingly introduced in the modern development of the concept, particularly in relational approaches to the image, and will reflect on how the concept can be used more responsibly and constructively as we seek to foster collective flourishing.

  • Ways We Witness: Disability and Mission
    How might disability enrich and inform the ways in which we understand Christian Witness?  What intellectual capacities, physical abilities, or social skills are necessary in order to participate in God’s ongoing redemptive work in the world? In most cultures, disability is viewed primarily in terms of a deficit to be overcome, something from which to be healed or rehabilitated.  Disability can be understood, instead, as an unsurprising aspect of being human and can provide a critical and generative perspective for helping Christians and the church reimagine more faithful theology and practices of Christian witness. 

The conference is a joint effort between PBA’s Community Transformation Center and the School of Ministry.