AWAKEN 2023: Grand Rapids, MI

Join us for this weekend focused on healing, restoration and spiritual freedom from toxic faith.

Our guides for this event will help us recover from spiritual trauma, understand toxic theology, and reimagine our connection with God and others to help us move from deconstruction into reconstruction of faith.

AWAKEN 2023 will feature presentations from:

Dr. Jennifer Bird - Author of Permission Granted: Taking the Bible Into Your Own Hands and the forthcoming Biblical Marriage: I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means.

Doug Pagitt - Author, pastor, social activist and founder of Vote Common Good. Doug is a leading voice for progressive Christianity and makes frequent national media and speaking appearances. His new book, Outdoing Jesus is available now from Eerdmans Publishing.

Valarie Cunningham - Valarie is a transformational thinker, visionary leader and passionate voice to bridge the divide between the secular and the sacred, merge the intersection gap between faith and mental health, and mend the wounded places due to racial disparities, inequities and injustices. She is the founder of Valarie Cunningham Ministries International (VCMI).

Roger Wolsey - Roger is a Spiritual Director, United Methodist pastor; blogs as "The Holy Kiss" on Patheos; author of Discovering Fire: Spiritual Practices That Transform Lives [Quoir Publishing] and the best-selling Kissing Fish: Christianity for People Who Don’t Like Christianity; serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org and is a contributing writer for The Progressing Spirit newsletter. He is the father of a grown son and enjoys yoga, playing trumpet, trail running, and contemplative photography and poetry.

Keith Giles - Author of the 7-part Jesus Un book series and Sola Mysterium: Celebrating the Beautiful Uncertainty of Everything, and co-host of the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast. Keith has appeared on CNN, Fox News and John Fugelsang's "Tell Me Everything" and has been quoted in BuzzFeed, USA Today, Plough Quarterly and Relevant Magazine. He blogs regularly on Patheos at www.KeithGiles.com.

Karen Shock - Author of Too Much and Not Enough available now from Quoir Publishing.

Eric English - Author Unenlightenment available now from Quoir Publishing.

Dan Henderson - Author of Confessions of a Recovering Evangelical available now from Quoir Publishing.

Brandon Andress - Author of What Can’t Be Hidden (2021) and bestselling Beauty in the Wreckage: Finding Peace in the Age of Outrage from Quoir Publishing. As a freelance writer, he has contributed his work to Relevant Magazine, ReKnew, and Zondervan. Brandon lives in Columbus, Indiana and is a graduate of Hanover College in Psychology with an MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Jeff Turner - Jeff is the author of The Atheistic Theist: Why There is No God and You Should Follow Him. He's a former pastor turned self-proclaimed “atheistic theist,” whose mission is to convince a suspicious humanity that they are good, beloved, and embraced by the Divine. As an active speaker, minister, and author, he aims to help people find a sacred solidity in a deconstructed world. He is the author of two books, a sought after speaker, and host of the Religionless Podcast.

MUSICAL GUEST: Kevin Max is an American singer, songwriter, and poet. He is best known for being a member of the Christian pop group DC Talk. As a solo artist following the band going on hiatus, he has recorded 12 full-length studio albums, including a collaboration with guitarist Erick Cole on the critically-acclaimed Sad Astronauts album.

Details subject to change.