The Council of Bishops Leadership Gathering brings bishops, general secretaries, and leaders from every episcopal area to Calgary, October 20–24, 2026. Meet the speakers who will help shape the conversation, with a short preview of what each will bring.
Each of the five covenant cohorts (Discipleship, Leadership, Impact, Stewardship, and Accountability) hears from a plenary speaker. The program booklet shows how cohorts and covenant groups work.
Cohort plenary speakers
Beth Ludlum
Ordained elder; strategic planning and program development, Wesley Theological Seminary
Discipleship cohort plenary speaker, with April Casperson
Beth is passionate about empowering young people in leadership and helping churches build innovative, sustainable, and faithful ministry. She teaches master’s-level courses on innovation in ministry and designs curricula through The Hub, so listen for practical ways to rethink how the church forms disciples.
April Casperson
Ordained deacon; Director of Enrollment Management, Methodist Theological School in Ohio
Discipleship cohort plenary speaker, with Beth Ludlum
April will help us redefine and rethink discipleship. Passionate about vocational discernment, she hopes for a church that keeps forming leaders and is open to many ways of serving, not only ordination.
Anne Thompson
Elder, The United Methodist Church in Denmark; author
Leadership cohort plenary speaker
Anne brings a Nordic voice to the conversation. She serves a small, vibrant congregation in the middle of a Danish town and teaches on children, their spirituality, and their place in the church. Her first book, on the theology of children, is published this October.
John Yambasu Jr.
Pastor, Salem United Methodist Church, Covington, Georgia
Impact cohort plenary speaker
Raised in the United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, John moved from information technology and public service into ministry, and served as a Global Missions Fellow along the way. He brings a global lens and a pastor’s eye for how the church makes a difference.
Chris McAlilly
Lead Pastor, Oxford University United Methodist Church, Oxford, Mississippi; founder, Church Leadership Co-operative
Stewardship cohort plenary speaker
Chris explores how people, leaders, and organizations grow, change, and flourish. He speaks on developing resilient and emotionally healthy leaders, leading through seasons of change, and forming cultures of trust and purpose. He also co-hosts the podcast The Weight.
Meredith Hoxie Schol
Dean, Drew Theological School; ordained deacon
Accountability cohort plenary speaker
Meredith believes Christian education should do more than inform us. It should help us love God and neighbor more fully. Her teaching and scholarship focus on faith formation, adult learning, and how churches become communities where people grow in faith and live it in the world.
Also speaking
Dorlimar Lebron
Elder in full connection; Connectional Relations Manager, Wespath
Baptized in the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and a delegate to General Conference, Dorlimar champions support and access to resources for clergy and church leaders around well-being. Her ministry is about connecting and empowering the whole Methodist connection.
Derrick Scott III
Associate Director of Learning and Innovation, Texas Methodist Foundation and Wesleyan Impact Partners; Executive Director, Studio Wesley
Derrick helps leaders lean into changing missional realities. He designs ecosystem-shaping initiatives, leads Studio Wesley, a digital campus ministry, and has spent more than 20 years serving college-aged adults.
Tyler Sit
Pastor, Northeast United Methodist Church; Associate Director of Multicultural Ministry, Minnesota Annual Conference
Tyler is the author of Staying Awake: The Gospel for Changemakers and the founding pastor of New City Church in Minneapolis, the first built-from-scratch church plant to charter in Minnesota United Methodism in decades. He co-founded Intersect, an intersectional church planting network.
Leah Wandera
Deaconess; Africa Region Coordinator, Deaconess/Home Missioner Office, United Women in Faith
Leah is the first United Methodist deaconess from the Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference. She sees the lay order of deaconesses as one of the church’s most powerful tools for evangelization, with professionals acting as agents of peace, justice, and healing in their own communities.
Dave Rombaoa
President, National United Methodist Youth Fellowship in the Philippines; Youth Co-Chair, Young People’s Connectional Network
Dave is a young lay leader from Victoria, Tarlac, in the Philippines who also sits on the Connectional Table executive committee and chairs its Connectional Conversations. He speaks on discipleship, shared leadership, and belonging for the next generation, and on looking beyond institutional norms to intentionally transform people’s lives.
See the full schedule on the Leadership Gathering Agenda page.
Return to the Council of Bishops Leadership Gathering.