THE DISTILLERY

April 18-21, 2024
A Unitarian Universalist Preaching Conference

JOIN US FOR A WEEKEND OF PREACHING AND FELLOWSHIP

TAKING PLACE
April 18-21, 2024
Online and On-Site

This is The Distillery, a Unitarian Universalist (UU) Preaching Conference. Join us for a weekend of preaching and fellowship with UU ministers, seminarians, and lay leaders nationwide. This year's conference will be held both on-site and online.

Our Professional Days will be held from the 18th to the 19th. These days contain programs that focus on strengthening and sharpening preaching skills. These days are open to religious professionals and seminarians.

Our Conference Days are held on the weekend of the 20th is open for all to register.

We hope you will join us for this unique opportunity to learn, grow, and connect with fellow UUs.

This year's conference will feature a wide variety of workshops and ministers. Topics include sermon writing, public speaking, social justice, and more.
Check back for more updates!

SPEAKERS

Rev. Sadie Lansdale

Rev. Sadie Lansdale (she/her) serves the UU Church of Greensboro in North Carolina. Her ministry focuses on building creative structures to respond to the gifts and challenges of our time, both within and beyond the congregation. A lifelong Unitarian Universalist from Bethesda, Maryland, Rev. Lansdale earned her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 2017 and she holds a B.A. in English and Women’s Studies from Tufts University. She likes to run trails, make friends, and sit on the porch. She is thrilled to live in and explore Greensboro with her dog, Wheeler (pictured), and her husband and step-kids.

Rev. Kimberley Debus

Rev. Kimberley Debus is a community minister based in Takoma Park, Maryland, inspiring an artful and art-filled faith as "The Worship Whisperer." She consults with congregations and religious professionals throughout the denomination. She is a member of the UU Congregation of Saratoga Springs, NY and is affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, Nebraska. You may know her work on the Hymn by Hymn project at farfringe.com, or her writing about congregational life at her Hold My Chalice Substack, or from various workshops, worship services, and sabbatical ministries. She is currently leading the transitional ministry team at Community UU Congregation in White Plains, NY.

Rev. Verdis Levar Robinson

Rev. Verdis Levar Robinson is a Unitarian Universalist Minister, an Assistant Minister for Growth for the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, a General Assembly Coordinator for Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) and a member of the Appointments Committee and General Assembly Council Member for Unitiarian Universalist Associatiation (UUA)

The Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson

The Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson is the Senior Minister of The UU Church, Rockford, IL. He has his M.Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School and his D.Min. in Preaching from Iliff School of Theology. He is the author of Newboard Bards: A Theology of Preaching for Unitarian Universalists, and was the co-chair of the UUA's Presidential Search Committee from 2013-2019. He's a big nerd, the father of two 4-generation UU teenage children, a runner, and an aspiring world traveler.

Rev. Byron Tyler Coles

Rev. Byron Tyler Coles (they/he) is native of Roanoke, VA, and the only child of Monica and Terry. Inspired by the good news of Unitarian Universalism, Tyler believes that the best of our collective ministry strives towards conjuring the Beloved Kin-dom on earth as it is in heaven. They engage this mandate personally through multi-racial organizing and movement chaplaincy. Rev. Coles currently serves as member of the UUA's Congregational Life Staff Team in the Southern Region where they support faithful leadership across the American South, Caribbean, and northern Mexico.

The Rev. Sara Green (she/her)

The Rev. Sara Green (she/her) is a New Orleans-born, raised and returned performance artist and liturgist. She imagines liberation and beloved community as communities that have the ability to eat good food together, experience pleasure in our bodies and regularly put their hands in soil—all the while free from fear and violence. She understands herself as part of a legacy of cultural workers, maroons, southern queer freedom fighters and artists trying to shape god.

The Reverend Ali K.C. Bell

The Reverend Ali K.C. Bell, M.S.W., M.Div. is a Black, Neurodivergent Transgender man who is the son of activists and the continuation of an ancestral lineage of resistance and thriving. His pronouns are he/they or Rev. Ali. He currently serves at Cedar Lane UU Congregation in Bethesda, MD as the Minister of Congregational Life and Engagement. He lives into his faith values by strengthening the interdependent web through prophetic ministry, service in the margins, and loving the hell out of the world.

The Rev. Darrick Jackson (he/him)

The Rev. Darrick Jackson (he/him) is the Ministerial Credentialing Director with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). He is one of the authors in the book “Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity and Power in Ministry.” Rev. Darrick is active in DRUUMM (the UU ministry for people of color) and is the treasurer for Healing Moments (a ministry for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s). He is pursuing his D.Min in Theology and the Arts at the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

The Rev. Adam Lawrence Dyer

The Rev. Adam Lawrence Dyer is currently studying for a PhD in Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought at the University of Virginia with a research focus on equity and embodiment. From 2017 to 2022, he was the lead minister at First Parish in Cambridge, and a Unitarian Universalist chaplain at Harvard University. In addition to extensive public speaking and maintaining a personal blog, Spirituwellness.org, his scholarly work has appeared in the Harvard Kennedy School LGBTQ Policy Journal (2021), and he is the author of, Love Beyond God (2016). He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Pacific School of Religion.

Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern (she or they)

Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern (she or they) has served with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, California, since 2003, garnering several sermon awards along the way (Skinner Award, Interweave Continental Sermon Award, and three from the Pacific Central District). She also writes the online column, Ask Isabel: Advice for the Spiritually Perplexed or Vexed, and has led numerous classes and workshops at district and regional gatherings, General Assembly, and Starr King School for the Ministry. Over the years, Amy has moved from preaching virtually word-for-word from the page to using only a rough outline, or less. The responses have deeply affirmed this shift: “Mesmerizing . . . Powerful . . . Brilliantly woven, brave, wise and relevant . . . You have a magical way with words! . . . One of the best sermons I’ve ever heard . . . I feel like you are talking to each one of us, personally.” Next to preaching, adult education is her greatest love and strength in congregational ministry, so she is delighted to combine them for the conference.

SPONSERS

VIEW SCHEDULE >

We Are Currently Seeking Sponsors for The Distillery

One of our main fundraising goals is the opportunity to provide scholarships for current Unitarian Universalist seminarians.

We want UU seminarians who seek a scholarship to feel like their participation is important.
If you, your organization, and/or your congregation would like to sponsor this event and help to contribute to this goal, please send an email to info@uupreachingconference.com

For questions and comments, please email info@uupreachingconference.com

Or use the form below.

CONTACT

THE DISTILLERY

April 18-21, 2024 A Unitarian Universalist Preaching Conference

JOIN US FOR A WEEKEND OF PREACHING AND FELLOWSHIP

TAKING PLACE April 18-21, 2024 Online and On-Site

This year's conference will feature a wide variety of workshops and ministers. Topics include sermon writing, public speaking, social justice, and more. Check back for more updates!

For questions and comments, please email info@uupreachingconference.com

Or use the form below.

STAY UPDATED

April 18-21, 2024
A Unitarian Universalist Preaching Conference

TAKING PLACE
April 18-21, 2024
Online and On-Site

This year's conference will feature a wide variety of workshops and ministers. Topics include sermon writing, public speaking, social justice, and more.
Check back for more updates!