Carol is a bestselling author and international speaker. With vulnerable openness, irrepressible hope, restored joy, and a sense of humor, she directs you to choices based on God’s truth. Carol says, “When God writes your story, you will be in for the adventure of a lifetime!”
She is the president of Speak Up Speaker Services, a Christian speakers’ bureau, and the founder and director of Speak Up Conferences, a ministry committed to helping Christians develop their speaking, writing, and leadership skills. She and her husband, Gene, have founded the nonprofit organization, Speak Up for Hope, which benefits inmates and their families. Carol holds a master’s degree in communication arts and a bachelor’s degree in speech education. She has taught speech and drama, and directed women’s ministries at a large Mid-western church.
Carol has trained Christian speakers for over twenty-five years and she has been a featured speaker at Women of Faith, Extraordinary Women, and Women of Joy arena events. She is the founder and director of the Speak Up Conference and the author of over twenty books, including Becoming a Woman of Influence, When I Lay My Isaac Down, A New Normal, Between a Rock and a Grace Place, Unquenchable, Waiting Together and her newest release, He Holds My Hand.
Breakout Sessions
“Speaking 101: Developing a Topical Presentation”
The fear of public speaking is the #1 fear of people in the U.S. today. But people who learn to communicate their message have the opportunity to give hope, courage, truth, and inspiration to others. This session will give you a start-to-finish overview of how to prepare a talk on any topic. You will learn how to analyze your audience, select a topic, write out a specific, measurable aim, and conclude with appropriate applications.
“Preparing Your Personal Testimony — You Have a Story to Tell”
Have you ever wondered what to include in the story of your life? Every Christian has a personal testimony and God can use your journey to offer hope to someone else. Come to this session to learn how to concisely share your testimony in a way that will positively impact listeners. Whether you’re sharing your story from a public platform or in an informal setting, you can communicate your faith-journey with confidence, authenticity, and conviction. This session will help you decide what to delete and what to include as you point people to everlasting hope.
“Making Your Speeches Come Alive: Start with a Bang, Develop Key Illustrations, and Hone Your Delivery Skills”
Speakers and teachers are evaluated as being either boring or interesting within the first 30 seconds of speech. Carol Kent has trained thousands of Christian leaders across the U.S. and Canada to communicate their messages effectively. This session will help you to communicate so people will listen. You will learn how to gain the attention of your audience, develop effective illustrations, and master powerful delivery skills.
“Teaching the Bible with Clarity and Confidence”
The Word of God is life changing and powerful! This session will give you all the tools necessary for taking a Bible passage and producing a dynamic talk for Bible studies or adult Christian education classes. The information in this session will be helpful for studying the Bible, as well as for teaching. Handouts will outline a step-by-step approach to Bible study that could change your life and ministry.
Visit Carol’s Website
Visit Speak Up Speaker Services
Visit Speak Up For Hope
Laura spends most of her time creating and leading worship experiences that help connect people with the story of God. She has served in vocational ministry as the Creative Arts Director at The Creek, a large church in Indianapolis, for over a decade. She loves to show people how their story intersects with the redemptive story of God. She enjoys belting Broadway, laughing hysterically and reading great books. More than anything, though, she enjoys living life with her favorite two people in the whole world, her husband, Matt, and her spunky daughter, Abigail. Matt, Laura, and Abigail live on a 14-acre property just south of Indy where they provide space for spiritual growth and renewal for leaders in ministry.
She is the author of I Am Found: Quitting the Game of Hide and Seek with God and Others (Moody Publishers), This I Know: Trusting Your Unknown Future to a Known God , and Life Rhythms: Learning to Live in God-Centered Time (self-published).
Tracy is an author, speaker, comedienne and mother of five sons. Trained at The Second City in Chicago, she cut her comedy teeth at open-mic nights in the Windy City making her fearless on stage. She’s engaged and entertained audiences in churches, corporations, non-profit organizations, schools, women’s conferences, civic organizations and more. Tracy combines humor with a winning motivational speaking style that people love.
She is available for stand-up comedy, humorous/inspirational keynotes, outreach, fundraisers, ladies/couples events, guest speaking, pulpit-supply, Emcee and workshops. Tracy’s signature event is her 90-minute one-woman show “Life Happens Laugh Anyway” where she takes the audience through the seasons of a woman’s life from getting married and having kids to gaining weight and growing a beard. And then, they meet Jesus! It’s a hilarious event closing with Tracy sharing the gospel message. It’s the perfect outreach event. Tracy lives in the Chicago area with her husband and sons.
Visit Tracy’s Website
Living really … really living.
This tagline describes Elisa’s zeal for everyday authenticity that expresses an ever-growing faith and vibrant embrace of all life brings.
Elisa Morgan was named by Christianity Today as one of the top fifty women influencing today’s church and culture and is one of today’s most sought-after authors, speakers, and leaders. She has authored over twenty-five books on mothering, spiritual formation, and evangelism, including Hello, Beauty Full, The Beauty of Broken, She Did What She Could: Five Words of Jesus That Will Change Your Life, the NIV Mom’s Devotional Bible. Her latest book is Hello, Beauty Full: Seeing Yourself As God Sees You, and offers seven video teachings for group study.
Her blog, Really, platforms both Elisa’s voice and the voices of a myriad of women who are committed to living out their influence in real life.
For twenty years, Elisa Morgan served as CEO of MOPS International (www.mops.org). Under her leadership MOPS grew from 350 to over 4,000 groups throughout the United States and in thirty other countries, influencing over 100,000 moms every year. Elisa now serves as President Emerita.
Elisa received a BS from the University of Texas and an MDiv from Denver Seminary. She served as the dean of women of Western Bible College (now Colorado Christian University) and on the board of ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). Currently she serves on the board of Denver Seminary.
Elisa is a co-host of the syndicated radio program Discover the Word (www.discovertheword.org), a daily fifteen-minute real-time conversation around the written and living Word of God. She is married to Evan (Founder and President of Christian University Global Net and Our Daily Bread University) and has two grown children and two grandchildren who live near her in Denver, Colorado. Wilson, her Rottweiler-wanna-be, takes her on walks in the open space behind her house.
Faculty listed alphabetically
