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Connections 2024 Speakers
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Jessica Honegger
Jessica Honeggar is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, author of the best selling book Imperfect Courage. She is the founder of Noonday Collection, a people-first lifestyle brand offering a selection of soulful artisan goods that create opportunity for those living in vulnerable conditions. She is an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner in Austin, was featured in Inc Magazine as the Co CEO of the 45th fastest growing privately held company in the USA, and has written for such publications as the Magnolia Journal and Thrive Global.
She lives in Austin with her husband and three teenagers. She relishes nightly conversations around the dining table, a Ranch Water after wake surfing on Lake Travis, and the occasional queso and chips for dinner.
Dr. Dan Allender
Dr. Dan Allender received his Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Michigan State University. Currently, Dan serves as the founding President and Professor of Counseling at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology in Seattle, Washington. Dan travels and speaks extensively to present his unique perspective on sexual abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, leadership, Sabbath, and other related topics. He is the author of numerous books. His latest work, released in 2016 is Healing the Wounded Heart, a revisit to his work on sexual abuse and trauma. Dan can be heard weekly on The Allender Center podcast, engaging topics on healing and restoration through the unique intersection of theology and psychology. The Allender Center podcast is accessible via iTunes and Stitcher.
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He and his wife live in the Puget Sound area of Washington and have three children and five grandchildren.​
Sandra McCracken
Sandra McCracken is an award winning singer-songwriter, writer, and podcast host from Nashville, Tennessee. A 2023 Dove Award Winner for Best Roots/Bluegrass album (Light In The Canyon).
As a recording artist whose career spans 25 years of touring and producing music, McCracken has released 18 released studio albums. As a prominent artist-writers for modern hymns, Sandra has also shown a unique ability to recast sacred scripture texts into theologically rich yet accessible songs. Her thoughtful words and folk melodies in songs like “We Will Feast In The House Of Zion,” “Steadfast" and “Thy Mercy My God” have become staple anthems in churches across the U.S. As a writer, she contributes a regular column and podcast with Christianity Today and released her first book "Send Out Your Light” and is co-authoring a new children’s book with her husband, Tim Nicholson called “The Maker of The Mountain” to be released this fall, 2024 (B&H)
David M. Bailey
David M. Bailey is a public theologian, culture maker, and catalyst focused on building reconciling communities. David is the founder and Chief Vision Officer of Arrabon, a spiritual formation ministry that equips the American Church to actively and creatively pursue racial healing in their communities. He is the co-author of the study series, A People, A Place, and A Just Society, and the executive producer of the documentary 11 am: Hope for America's Most Segregated Hour and the Urban Doxology Project.
David is rooted at EastEnd Covenant Fellowship, serving on the preaching team, and his greatest honor is to be married to his wonderful wife, Joy.
Bette Dickinson
Bette is an artist who is as eloquent as she is gifted in her artwork. You will encounter her work as a way to become more curious and be invited into the beauty that is within yourself despite some parts being ones you'd rather keep in the dark.
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Bette Dickinson is a prophetic artist, writer, and speaker who invites audiences to connect with God through visual parables of the spiritual journey in her ministry Awakening the Soul. She has worked with organizations like Barna, World Vision, InterVarsity, Infinitum, and Community Christian Church to awaken the soul through beauty and wonder. Bette and her husband live in Traverse City Michigan with their two boys. Bette has an MDiv. in Pastoral Studies from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and is the author of Making Room in Advent: 25 Devotions for a Season of Wonder (IVP, 2022).
Curt Thompson, MD
Curt Thompson, MD, is a board certified psychiatrist, author, speaker, and co-host of The Being Known Podcast. He has been in private practice for over 30 years in Falls Church, Virginia, graduated from Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine, and completed his psychiatric residency at Temple University Hospital.
Curt strives to help patients develop flourishing lives by telling their stories more truly, in order to become more deeply known, for the purpose of creating beauty and goodness in the world. With conviction and humor, he trains clinicians and speaks at workshops, retreats and conferences, integrating neuroscience, human relationships and Christian faith. He and his wife Phyllis are the parents of two adult children and live in Northern Virginia.