2024 Conference Speakers
Main Speaker
Dr. Jeff Clark
Topic: Returning to a Missional Mindset for Rural Ministry
We are excited that Dr. Jeff Clark will be joining us for this year’s Rural Impact Leadership Conference. Clark is the Director of the Rural Matters Institute at the Billy Graham Center–Wheaton College. As our lead speaker he will be presenting at our opening and closing sessions. Clark will be speaking on the topic: Returning to a Missional Mindset for Rural Ministry.
Brief Bio: Jeff and his wife, Melva, over the years have started churches in remote northern Michigan, the suburbs of Orlando, and in rural middle Tennessee. Jeff has also served the West Virginia and Montana Conventions of Southern Baptists overseeing church starting and evangelism and as Executive Director.
For 13 years, the Clarks served in East Asia doing research, evangelism, and training of rural church planters. Jeff continues in his Global Rural Researcher role alongside of his work with the Rural Matters Institute.
The Clarks currently live in Richmond, VA. They have two daughters, Rachel and Hannah.
RILC Worship Leaders
Naomi Sands
Naomi Sands serves as the Director of Worship Ministry for Alexandria Covenant Church. She has long had a passion for worship and has actively participated in worship ministry since childhood. The daughter of a Covenant pastor, Naomi grew up in Poplar, WI, experiencing and participating in ministry in their rural setting.
Rebecca Gardner
Rebecca Gardner serves as the Worship Arts Director at First Covenant Church in Willmar, MN, and as a Counselor with Nystrom & Associates Counseling Office. She has been in ministry for over 20 years, including 11 years with Youth for Christ both in MN and overseas.
Workshop Presenters
Dr. Rick Weinert
Facilitator of Church and Ministry Resources, and Sr. Vice President of Administration at Oak Hills Christian College
Rick Weinert is a graduate of Oak Hills Christian College and Dallas Theological Seminary, and has a DMin in Missional/Pastoral Leadership from Houston Graduate School of Theology. He has over 45 years in ministry experience, having served nationally and internationally as a pastor, teacher, missionary training center Director, denominational District Superintendent, mentor, and ministry consultant.
Bruce Dick
National Coordinator (with his wife Trudy) of EvangelismSHIFT USA
Bruce is farm kid who grew up in North Dakota, where he came to know and follow Jesus. His dream was to farm with his extended family. But he also had a heart for ministry. So he went to Grace College of the Bible and Dallas Seminary only to return home to the family farm for 12 more years during which time he married Trudy. In 1997, the Lord called Bruce into pastoral ministry where he served in Devils Lake, ND for 21 years. In 2018, he felt called to begin a new work with Ambassadors for Christ International in a ministry called EvangelismSHIFT with the goal of leading this disciplemaking ministry in the United States. Bruce and Trudy still live in Devils Lake, ND and have four grown children.
Megan Thorp
Pastor, MA Counseling Psychology, Certified Parent Coach/Parent Coach Instructor with Connected Families
Megan loves to come alongside parents to help them gain confidence and equip them to lead their families. She is passionate about parents being able to create an environment in their home where everyone feels valued and connected, and to equip parents with skills to build a relationship with their kids that will last long after they leave home. Seeing misbehavior as a golden opportunity to show Christ's love and disciple her kids has been a game changer for her in her parenting.
Rev. Dr. Mary Hendrickson
Director of Missional Vitality for the Evangelical Covenant Church
Mary lives in Gresham, OR, and has three sons and two grandsons. Her ministry passion and call are in the areas of leadership development, congregational health and transformative discipleship. She has the privilege of leading a national vitality team that has created a suite of resources to strengthen ministry and mission of ECC churches. Mary’s post-graduate degrees are from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. In her spare time, Mary enjoys doing projects around her house and yard, especially decorating and gardening.
Jenny Groen
Willmar Area Coordinator for Arrive Ministries
Arrive Ministries seeks to engage the local church in extending welcome and forming relationships with immigrant and refugee neighbors in the Willmar community. Jenny was born and raised in Willmar, MN. After college, she moved with her husband to California to teach and then to Haiti. After starting their family, they returned to Willmar and found the city they remembered had changed drastically. Jenny became passionate about learning more about the newest members of their community and how her family could form relationships across religious, cultural and racial barriers.
Tiger McLuen
Executive Director of Youth Ministry Consultants
Youth Ministry Consultants is a ministry that serves the Church by coaching, training and equipping youth ministry leaders and volunteers. YMC serves all churches but has a particular focus on serving the smaller church where leaders are often overworked, under-trained and under-resourced. Tiger has served in the church, was an instructor of youth ministry at Bethel and Luther Seminaries and now is "semi-retired" with his role at YMC. He loves being in a room with people who care about the next generation.
Denae Alamano
Executive Director: United Way of Bemidji
Denae & her husband are members of Bemidji Covenant Church & she leads the United Way of Bemidji team (www.unitedwaybemidji.org), focusing on basic needs, health, & education – the building blocks for a good quality life.
Ebony Warren
Executive Director: Evergreen Youth & Family Services, Bemidji
Ebony leads Evergreen Youth & Family Services of Bemidji (www.evergreenyfs.org) which first began as a youth crisis shelter. Evergreen is a community-based organization committed to strengthening youth, preserving families, and building relationships with an emphasis on those living in Northern MN.
Doug Giese
Executive Pastor: Bemidji Covenant Church
Pastor Doug has been on staff at Bemidji Covenant (www.bemidjicovenant.com) for about 20 years, grew up on the family farm near Appleton, MN and is a brother to Martin Giese of Oak Hills Fellowship. He is one of Denae Alamano’s pastors and will share about their church’s Kingdom Builders Fund & Unleashing Ministries.
Jim Hodgson
Director of Church & Community Relations: Oak Hills Fellowship, Bemidji
Jim has been on staff at OHF for 21 years & leads their Church & Mission Ministry teams (www.oakhills.edu/church-ministries), including building networking relationships with many ministry & community leaders who are responding to the vast human needs in our northern MN region.
Ben Winchester
Rural Sociologist, University of Minnesota Extension, Department of Community Development
Ben has been working both in and for small towns across the Midwest for over 25 years. He lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota with his wife and two children. Ben is trained as a Rural Sociologist and works for the University of Minnesota Extension. His conducts applied research on economic, social, and demographic topics surrounding a theme of “rewriting the rural narrative”. He recently received the international Rural Renewal Research Prize in 2021 for this work.
Winchester received his B.A. in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Minnesota, Morris (1995) and M.S. in Rural Sociology from the University of Missouri, Columbia (2001). He was a founding employee at the Center for Small Towns, an outreach program at the University of Minnesota, Morris and specializes in community development, demographic analysis, data visualization, and moving communities away from anecdata.