December’s gathering will focus on the topic “Addressing fear with faith in small church ministry.” We’ll welcome two guests from the “Small Churches Big Impact Collective” who will talk about their own experiences with small church ministry and lead us into conversation.

The Rev. Leyla King is an Episcopal priest lucky enough to serve as rector of Thankful Memorial Episcopal Church, Chattanooga, for more than a decade. She is passionate about spreading the good news of vibrant and vital small church ministry. Alongside her half-time role at Thankful, Leyla has served as Visiting Instructor of Arabic at the University of the South, Sewanee, and Interim Director of Contextual Education at the School of Theology at Sewanee. A wife, a mother to three young kids, and a proud Palestinian-American, Leyla blogs about her heritage, faith and ministry as The Thankful Priest.

The Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan serves as the part-time Rector of Little Fork Episcopal Church in Rixeyville, VA and she is the founder and CEO of Learning Forte. While Stacy serves in multiple professional ministry capacities, she understands herself to have a single vocation of fulfilling her baptismal ministry as a co-creative priest who integrates teaching and learning, research and practice, and ministry and theological education within and beyond the parish, seminary, and digital contexts. Stacy and her husband, Joel, love to play with their boys (dogs), travel, and watch baseball.