WEMC Schedule - 2009
Registration
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
And special reception for Robin Wiszowaty from Me2We – hosted by Erindale Secondary School’s “Agents of change” club.
Friday Evening
The Music of Krystaal
Robin Wiszowaty – My Masai Life
Greg Boyd - Religious Noise - What’s Love Got To Do With It
Barry Slauenwhite – Interview: Dead Aid, Poverty and Why Child Sponsorship Matters
The Story Behind The Shack - an intimate one on one conversation with Paul Young and Baxter Kruger
And more…
Saturday
8:00 – 9:00 am
Registration
9:00 am – 9:10 am
Introduction and Welcome
9:15 am – 10:05 am
Paul Young
10:05 am – 10:50 am
Breakout Sessions and Coffee Break
10:50 am – 11:00 am
Surprise Skype Interview
11:00 – 12:00
Plenary Session
Lunch – 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm
Plenary Session
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Breakout Sessions
2:45 – 3:15 pm
Break and Business Card Swap
3:15 pm – 4:15 pm
What’s Next - White Board Session with Bruxy Cavey
4:15 pm – 4:45 pm
Greg Boyd
4:45 pm – 5:00 pm
In conclusion
5:15 – 6:15
Chris Wignall – Dreams Become Action (An intimate session with the Catalyst foundation on how to take your thinking to the next step) – Pizza and Drinks Provided – limited to 75 people.
Schedule subject to change
Paul Young - Interview : The Story Behind The Shack
Find out why Paul wrote this ground breaking, bestselling book and hear more of his personal story.
Paul Young - The Shack : Who Is God Really?
The Shack is a story of finding God’s love in the middle of tragedy. It speaks of the realization that He is with us and ever present in our struggles.
Paula Curtis: If I Had a Million Dollars
The simple answer, it’s not about money. The difficult answer is that it takes heart. Will your life’s footprint include philanthropy, and if yes, where does one begin? The journey from cynic to a growing heart of generosity begins with one step, yours.
Paula Curtis: From Bake Sales to Mega Gifts
Change is never easy, especially when we think things are going so well. Philanthropists today expect relationships and measurable outcomes that are innovative, transformational and have lasting impact. With every fundraising activity there is usually a lesson to be learned about how you could have raised more for less. Paula shares some insider secrets on doing just that.
Abid Virani: What We Can Learn
Discussing various topics surrounding the concept that while we have much to offer the developing world, we also have much to learn and gain from it. Special focus will be given to the impact all people, regardless of age or background can have on making significant change.
Greg Boyd: You Say You Want A Revolution?
If we seek to understand Jesus in his own first century apocalyptic context, it becomes clear that his teachings and actions went against the established norms and taboos of his culture. Jesus was a social and spiritual revolutionary, yet the revolution he inaugurated is unlike any revolution the world has ever seen - giving his life for his enemies while praying for their forgiveness. Dr. Greg Boyd explores the life of Jesus in its first century context, demonstrating the radically unique way his followers can carry on his revolution today.
Greg Boyd: A Call To Anarchy
We cannot serve two masters. The Christian is called to be an anarchist - that is, one who is free from (”an”) earthly rule (”archy”). Focusing on the example of Christ and the early church, Dr. Greg Boyd will argue that the advancement of the Kingdom revolution depends on its followers remaining free from national and political allegiances.
Greg Boyd: Religious Noise: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Bruxy Cavey: What’s Next?
Want to know what to do next? Learn how to make contact with reality in meaningful, tangible ways - you won’t want to miss this interactive session with Bruxy.
Ian Smille: Live Aid, Dead Aid, Real Aid
The impact of world poverty was once local; now it is global. International borders can no longer halt disease, pollution, terrorism and people. Author Ian Smillie tackles one of the most difficult questions of our time - Does foreign aid work? Dambisa Moyo and others are calling for an end to aid, offering radical new solutions to old problems. Could they work, or would they make things worse?
Neil Hetherington: Bureaucracy at the Grassroots Level
The idea of maintaining grassroots functionality in an evolving and fundraising-driven organization seems incompatible: Can we simultaneously empower people while we accept big donor cheques from multi-national companies? Can we understand and meet the needs of each of our clients while we reach out to more vulnerable people year after year? In essence, can non-profits be effective vehicles for realizing the double demand of making profits and helping people?
Baxter Kruger: Why Should We Care?
Baxter addresses some of the theological foundations for social justice and speaks about how to avoid a “holier than thou” approach to international development and social justice change.
Fatmire Feka: My Long Journey Towards Forgiveness
Fatmire shares her experiences of growing up in war-torn Kosovo and her work in peace building and youth advocacy. Touching on personal loss (both her brother and her sister during the war), she takes listeners on her personal journey towards forgiveness.
Chris Wignall - Dreams Become Action
As Ychange wraps up some of us are burning inside. Something has sparked within and we know we need to do something about it: But what? Before heading out the door, gather for 45 minutes with like-minded individuals, and try to figure out what the dream is and how to get started. There are steps we can take today that will help ensure today’s passion doesn’t dry up tomorrow. (Limited to 75 people, registration required.)
Karen Craggs - One Voice Can Lead to Action
Hear and read about real stories of how individual voices have been used to initiate change. Karen will equip you with a simple toolkit, preparing you to use your voice to make positive, lasting change in the world.
Rikk Watts - Truth and Meaning: Rethinking the Nature of Ethics and Design-as-Agency
It is sad but true: often the loudest advocates of social change are perceived as nay-sayers bereft of ideas whose real passion and identity resides in being the moral police of the universe. Is this in part due to their starting point: Namely that holiness is defined as moral code where theology is largely a matter of description? Rikk proposes two lines of thinking that might promote and encourage a genuinely Christian entrepreneurial ministry of effecting change.
Dianne Oreggio - Are You Engaged?
Are you connected? Interacting and building relationships locally, nationally or internationally? Are You Engaged explores engagement: community, business, government and international. Through small group interaction, you will discuss the benefits and strategies of engagement and success stories.
Don Posterski - Principles Of Justice
As Nelson Mandela wrote, “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.” Don explores this notion and reminds us of how and what it means to be global citizens.
Julia Moulden - We Are The New Radicals
Around the world people who have enjoyed success in their chosen careers are getting the call to do something more with their lives - to give something back to a world that is in desperate need of help. They’re part of a growing movement based on a powerful idea: That doing good can mean more than volunteering and philanthropy. These are the New Radicals. This talk introduces a new group of role models and provides deeply practical insights that will help you transform your life.
Barry Slauenwhite - Dead Aid, Poverty and Why Sponsorship Matters
An intimate interview about the current situation about aid effectiveness and the dead aid debate, with Compassion Canada’s current CEO. Barry also addresses the continued effectiveness of child sponsorship.
Robin Wizsowaty - My Maasai Life
Opportunity isn’t a chance; it’s a choice. And the choices we make ultimately define the paths our lives will take. Growing up in suburban Illinois, Robin never pictured herself hauling water on her back four times a day up a dusty footpath, or living in a tiny hut made of cow dung. She never pictured herself meeting terminal patients in an AIDS ward, playing with starving street children in Nairobi’s slums or kayaking down the Nile’s crocodile-infested waters. Yet in her early twenties Robin embarked on an incredible journey that would shake her from complacency, take her to unimaginable places and change her life forever. Follow Robin’s remarkable voyage as she joins an impoverished Maasai family in rural Kenya and travels through some of the most remote areas of East Africa.
Eleanor Clitheroe- Less Law, More Order
Prevalent attitudes and laws supporting ‘crime and punishment’ have not lowered recidivism or led to sustainable change either in individual lives or in intergenerational crime. The cost of supporting the current system results in temporary removal of offenders from society and the subsequent release of more hardened criminal offenders. Canada’s justice system could be so much more, with less cost and more result.
Victor Shepherd - Who are the Poor
What does it mean to remember the poor? Far from a romantic notion providing fodder for the ‘righteous’, the poor are any in extreme need of any sort, and the unshrivelled heart must throb with the suffering of a fellow-sufferer.
James Biss - Students Only
