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Summit Schedule
These sessions were designed with YOU in mind & are here to provide the clarity, encouragement, and solutions you need to fulfill your calling.
Plan your weekend using the summit schedule below.
Live and on-demand sessions will be available to watch starting Thursday, October 16th. Click the session title to view a full description.
Live Sessions
Please join us LIVE for the following sessions at the times indicated:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16
8:00pm ET 
RISE UP KICKOFF:
Life is Hard, God is Good: Experiencing Real Joy in a World Gone Mad
With Brant Hansen, Linda Kardamis & David Schmus
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
11:00am ET
God-Pleasing Leadership in a People-Pleasing World
With an ACA's Nick Henkle & Derald Glover
8:00pm ET
Attitude is Altitude: The Power of Resilience
With Nick Vujicic
9:00 pm ET
Idea Swap Party 
With door prizes & advice from teachers around the globe!
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18
11:00am ET
How Everyone Thrives When We Embrace Our Strengths
With Bethany von Steinbergs
1:00pm ET
Using Questions to Reach the Next Generation
With Valerie O'Brien
2:30pm ET
Finding Rest Amidst Busyness
Wth Linda Kardamis
4:00pm ET
Practicing Joy: Create a Personal Action Plan
With Elizabeth Schmus
The Discussion Room will be open for 30 minutes after THESE LIVE sessions.
On-Demand Sessions
Watch these sessions on-demand throughout the weekend:
Reducing Stress & Overwhelm
4 Root Causes of Overwhelm (and How to Fix Them!)
With Rhapsody Jordan-Parisi
How Your Thoughts Impact Your Outlook (And What You Can Do About It)
With Jill Lillard
Get Unstuck: 3 Approaches to Help You Pray Like You Want To
With Christian Educators
Teaching Effectively
Smart Classroom Management Strategies for Difficult Students
With Michael Linsin
Fun Brain Break Ideas to Re-Energize Your Classroom
With Lori Adams
2 Powerful Methods to Motivate Your Students
With Dave Stuart Jr.
Nervous Systems, Noisy Rooms: A Brain-Based Guide to Classroom Calm
With Alan Bandstra
Creating a Classroom that Supports All Learners (Including Students with Disabilities)
With Dr. Kathleen VanTol
Exhibition Session: A Biblical Approach for Thinking About AI in Education
With Dr. Dave Mulder of Dordt University
Exhibition Session: How Christian Schools Can Better Serve Special Education Students
With Dr. Jodi Wolkerstorfer of The Collaborative
Reaching Hearts
From Insecurity to Confidence: Helping Students Discover their True Identity in Christ With Jonathan Holmes
Teaching Christianly: How to Live Out our Faith in Day-to-Day Choices
With Dr. Dave Mulder
Before You Speak: Navigating Hard Conversations with Courage & Compassion
With Jessica Cabeen
NEW! Admin Track!
*For Admin
LIVE Friday, Oct 17 at 11:00am ET
God-Pleasing Leadership in a People-Pleasing World
With an ACA's Nick Henkle & Derald Glover
*For Admin
How to Help Your Teachers Succeed at Classroom Management
With Linda Kardamis
*For Admin
Exhibition Session- 10 Pillions of a Healthy Talent Pipeline: What Every Christian School Leader Should Know
With Matthew Flippen of Gracelyn University
*For Admin and Teachers
LIVE Saturday, Oct 18 at 11:00am ET
How Everyone Thrives When We Embrace Our Strengths
With Bethany von Steinbergs
*For Admin and Teachers
Teach with Faith (not Fear): Navigating Public Schools as a Christian Educator
With David Schmus
*For Admin and Teachers
Before You Speak: Navigating Hard Conversations with Courage & Compassion
With Jessica Cabeen
"The topics were EXACTLY what I needed. I am so glad to know I'm not the only one who deals with these issues."
-Summit Participant
Sign up for FREE!
Enter your information below to reserve your spot!
LIVE Session Details:
Join LIVE as key note sessions are recorded with you in the online audience!
Details for this year's LIVE sessions are listed below:
Thursday
Thursday, October 16, 2025 at
8:00 PM EST
Life is Hard, God is Good: Experiencing Real Joy in a World Gone Mad
with Brant Hansen
Have you lost your joy in the classroom? Has the current educational landscape left you feeling anxious and even angry at times? In this session, nationally syndicated radio host and best-selling author Brant Hansen will challenge you to reframe the way you think about joy and consider the positive impact joy can have on your life. He will share heartwarming and hilarious stories and insights from the pages of his latest book, Life is Hard. God is Good. Let's Dance: Experiencing Real Joy in a World Gone Mad, leaving you laughing, crying, and learning how to dance through each day with contagious faith and joy, trusting in the character and promises of God.
Friday
Friday, October 17, 2025 at
11:00 AM EST
Godly leadership & the problem of people pleasing
with a panel of administrators
As administrators, do you feel drained trying to make everyone—teachers, parents, students, your district—happy? People-pleasing in leadership is difficult and often leaves us feeling discouraged. In this session, you’ll discover what godly leadership looks like and how to shift your focus from seeking everyone's approval to leading in a way that honors God and the people you lead.
Friday, October 17, 2025 at
8:00 PM EST
Attitude is Altitude: The Power of Resilience
with Nick Vujicic
Known as an expert on resilience and reframing challenges, Nick Vujicic’s courage and tenacity for life despite his physical limitations of living with no arms and no legs have made him one of the most well-known motivational speakers in the world. This international bestselling author, entrepreneur, investor, producer, and actor, will share his universal message of hope and offer practical tips for educators to help foster resilience and positive attitudes in students.
Friday, October 17, 2025 at
9:00 PM EST
Idea Swap
with teachers like you!
We all know that the best ideas come from fellow teachers, and hearing what's working for someone else can be invaluable! That's exactly what we'll do in this exciting Idea Swap Party. We'll share ideas, laugh together, enjoy fun giveaways, and more! It's sort of like a party in the teachers' lounge - but without the drama!
Saturday
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at
11:00 AM EST
How Everyone Thrives When We Embrace Our Strengths
with Bethany von Steinbergs
What if the key to a thriving, joyful learning environment was already within you? In this engaging session, Bethany von Steinbergs introduces Gallup’s StrengthsSpotting™ model—a powerful tool designed to help educators and school leaders identify and nurture their innate talents, as well as those they teach and lead. Through insightful discussion, interactive moments, and actionable strategies, you'll learn how to cultivate a strengths-based culture that energizes teaching, supports student growth, and strengthens your entire school community.
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at
1:00 PM EST
Using Questions to Reach the Next Generation
with Valerie O'Brien
Do you ever struggle to connect with this generation of students? If you feel more distant from them, you are not alone: the current generational gaps have grown wider than ever before. What strategies and insights can we use to reach students who are culturally so different from us? Val O'Brien shares how to engage the hearts of our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students with good questions, and teaches us how to make our classrooms safe places for our students to ask their own deep questions.
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at
2:30 PM EST
Finding Rest Amidst Busyness
with Linda Kardamis
Are you so busy you can't imagine how to rest in this season? Linda Kardamis of Teach 4 the Heart will share her practical and spiritual methods for trusting God and finding rest for our souls. She'll talk us through scheduling rest, stewarding time, evaluating harmful habits, and convince us that our minds and souls can experience rest in the midst of busyness.
Saturday, October 19, 2024 at
4:00 PM EST
Practicing Joy: Create a Personal Action Plan
with Elizabeth Schmus
Have you ever left a conference excited about all you have learned, only to jump back into the daily grind and never put any of it into practice? Get together LIVE and workshop your own joy plan! We will take our favorite ideas from the conference and embed them into our regular daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms to create a life full of joy.
"This summit has blessed me!!! I was really thinking about leaving teaching and your Rise Up Summit 2024 has encouraged and inspired me to continue and I feel a renewal of my love for teaching."
-Malisa P.
On-Demand Sessions
Below are the On-Demand sessions that will be available from October 16th - 21st.
Reducing stress & overwhelm:
CATEGORY: REDUCING STRESS & OVERWHELM
4 Root Causes of Overwhelm (and How to Fix Them!)
with Rhapsody Jordan-Parisi
Teachers, are you feeling buried under to-do lists, obligations, and mental clutter? If so, you’re not alone. Overwhelm doesn’t just happen; it has roots. Dig deep into the real reasons you feel stretched too thin in this session with Rhapsody Jordan-Parisi. Uncover the common causes of overwhelm so you can develop a toolkit of strategies to break free.
CATEGORY: REDUCING STRESS & OVERWHELM
How your Thoughts Impact Your Outlook (And What You Can DO About It)
with Jill Lillard
Whether you're aware of it or not, the way you think about your experiences impacts how you respond — even in the classroom. What if you could overcome some of your biggest teaching challenges with truth and a healthier thought life? Join Jill Lillard as she shares practical ways to retrain your thoughts so you can walk in freedom.
CATEGORY: REDUCING STRESS & OVERWHELM
Get Unstuck: 3 Approaches to Help You Pray Like You Want To
with Christian Educators
Prayer changes things—but making it a daily habit can be a challenge. Join a panel of seasoned educators as they guide you through prayer practices that have transformed their lives. Hear three unique approaches to bring more prayer—and more power— into your daily routine starting immediately.
Teaching Effectively:
CATEGORY: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
Smart Classroom Management Strategies for Difficult Students
with Michael Linsin
Every teacher encounters students that challenge them. What strategies should we use to help them and keep our classrooms calm? Join us as we talk with Michael Linsin from Smart Classroom Management about how to respond to disrespectful students, students who talk back, students with ADHD, students with ODD, and students who just don't care about consequences.
CATEGORY: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
Fun Brain Break Ideas to Re-Energize Your Classroom
with Lori Adams
Kids need to move! Movement energizes our brains and helps the learning process more than we might think. Join veteran PE teacher and Christian Educators member, Lori Adams, for this lively, fun-filled session exploring the many ways brain-break activities can enhance classroom culture and content connection.
CATEGORY: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
2 Powerful methods to motivate your students
with Dave Stuart Jr.
Motivating our students can feel like an uphill battle. Do they even want to learn? Dave Stuart Jr. firmly believes they do, and that you really can help motivate your students! In this session he shares how to use Mini-Sermons and Moments of Genuine Connection to cultivate student motivation. These methods will help you connect with your students and help your students catch the vision for why learning, school, and your class are important to them.
CATEGORY: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
Creating a Classroom that Supports All Learners (including Students with Disabilities)
with Dr. Kathleen VanTol
Making a classroom an encouraging place where any student can thrive, even a student with a disability, is no small task. Kathleen VanTol has some practical and simple tips for helping us make our classroom the best place for every learner. She shares helpful ideas for helping us accommodate different students' needs and make our classroom a great place for any student to be a successful learner.
CATEGORY: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
Nervous Systems, Noisy Rooms: A Brain-Based Guide to Classroom Calm
with Alan Bandstra
In a classroom, emotions can run high, and every day can feel like it has the potential to escalate student behavior. How does the nervous system contribute to contagious behavior and teacher reactivity? Alan Bandstra shares his insights from neurobiology and practical classroom experience to invite us to help our students (and ourselves) participate in a calm classroom culture.
EXHIBITION SESSION: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
A Biblical Approach for Thinking About AI in Education
with Dr. Dave Mulder
How do we think wisely when it comes to Artificial Intelligence? In this session with Dr. Dave Mulder, Professor of Education at Dordt University, you will reflect on your current imagination for AI and consider what a Christian imagination for AI might look like. You'll also discover how your thinking about AI can impact how you teach and lead.
EXHIBITION SESSION: TEACHING EFFECTIVELY
How Christian Schools Can Better Serve Special Education Students
with Dr. Jodi Wolkerstorfer
Christian schools are uniquely positioned to reflect Christ’s heart by welcoming and serving students of all abilities, but what are the practical steps to get there? In this hope-filled session, Dr. Jodi Wolkerstorfer will explore how Christian schools can partner with teachers and families to support and welcome all students as image-bearers of God.
Reaching hearts:
CATEGORY: REACHING HEARTS
Teaching Christianly: How to Live Out our Faith in Day-to-Day Choices
with Dr. Dave Mulder
What does it mean to be a teacher and a Christian at the same time? How do we carry the goodness of Christ with us into the classroom--whether in public or private schools? Dr. David Mulder joins us to share about what it means to "teach Christianly" and how even our smallest decisions in the classroom can be means of sharing God's Kingdom with the students and staff that we meet there.
CATEGORY: REACHING HEARTS
From Insecurity to Confidence: Helping Students Discover their True Identity in Christ
with Jonathan Holmes
Children and teens face a tremendous amount of pressure from peers and culture to find their identity in their activities, feelings, or performance. This modern way of looking at identity can be challenging to navigate for teachers and parents who grew up with a traditional view of identity rooted in predetermined roles. Jonathan Holmes explores the five core areas of identity struggles most common to teens: sports, academics, moralism, sexual orientation, and gender confusion. He then provides practical ways to help children and teenagers find their identity in something that never never changes—God’s grace.
CATEGORY: REACHING HEARTS
Teach with Faith (not Fear): Navigating Public Schools as a Christian Educator
with David Schmus
Recent court cases, presidential actions, and cultural changes have shifted the legal landscape for Christians serving in our public schools. Join David Schmus of Christian Educators for this compelling Q & A session where you will learn the legal “do’s and don’ts” so that you can remain a thriving ambassador for Christ in your school.
CATEGORY: REACHING HEARTS
Before You Speak: Navigating Hard Conversations with Courage & Compassion
with Jessica Cabeen
As Christian educators, we are often called to courageous and sometimes difficult conversations with colleagues, students, and parents. But how do we engage in these moments with truth and grace? How do we align our words with our witness? This session offers faith-based principles to help you approach correction with humility and empathy, differentiate behavior from identity, and align your leadership actions with God’s Word.
NEW! Admin Track:
For Admin
CATEGORY: LEADERSHIP
How to Help Your Teachers Succeed at Classroom Management
with Linda Kardamis
As an admin, you probably watch many of your teachers struggle with classroom management, resulting in chaotic classrooms, lost learning time, struggling students, and disillusioned teachers. In this training, you’ll learn how you, as an administrator, can help your teachers improve their classroom management, turning things around to rein in disruptions and create a conducive learning environment where students and teachers can succeed.
For Admin
LIVE Friday, October 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST
God-Pleasing Leadership in a People-Pleasing World
with Nick Henkle + Derald Glover
As administrators, do you feel drained trying to make everyone—teachers, parents, students, your district—happy? People-pleasing in leadership is difficult and often leaves us feeling discouraged. In this session, you’ll discover what godly leadership looks like and how to shift your focus from seeking everyone's approval to leading in a way that honors God and the people you lead.
For Admin & Staff
CATEGORY: LEADERSHIP
Teach with Faith (not Fear): Navigating Public Schools as a Christian Educator
with David Schmus
Recent court cases, presidential actions, and cultural changes have shifted the legal landscape for Christians serving in our public schools. Join David Schmus of Christian Educators for this compelling session where you will learn the legal “do’s and don’ts” so that you can remain a thriving ambassador for Christ in your school.
For Admin & Staff
CATEGORY: REACHING HEARTS
Before You Speak: Navigating Hard Conversations with Courage & Compassion
with Jessica Cabeen
As Christian educators, we are often called to courageous and sometimes difficult conversations with colleagues, students, and parents. But how do we engage in these moments with truth and grace? How do we align our words with our witness? This session offers faith-based principles to help you approach correction with humility and empathy, differentiate behavior from identity, and align your leadership actions with God’s Word.
For Admin & Staff
LIVE Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST
How Everyone Thrives When We Embrace Our Strengths
with Bethany von Steinbergs
What if the key to a thriving, joyful learning environment was already within you? In this engaging session, Bethany von Steinbergs introduces Gallup’s StrengthsSpotting™ model—a powerful tool designed to help educators and school leaders identify and nurture their innate talents, as well as those they teach and lead. Through insightful discussion, interactive moments, and actionable strategies, you'll learn how to cultivate a strengths-based culture that energizes teaching, supports student growth, and strengthens your entire school community.
For Admin
EXHIBITION SESSION: LEADERSHIP
10 Pillars of a Healthy Talent Pipeline
with Matthew Flippen
Struggling to find and keep great teachers and staff? You’re not alone---many Christian school leaders juggle multiple roles while trying to build strong teams. In this session, “The 10 Pillars of a Healthy Talent Pipeline: What Every Christian School Leader Should Know,” you’ll discover a practical, high-level framework from the Win with Your Talent Pipeline book, tailored for the unique challenges of Christian schools. Gain a clear roadmap for growing, mentoring, and supporting staff so your school can thrive long term.
How the Rise Up Summit Works:
1
Register for FREE
Sessions are designed for Christian educators in private and public schools. Everything is online & there's no cost to attend!
2
Join Us Live Oct 16- 18
Be energized & inspired by the camaraderie that comes from attending live with so many fellow teachers. Live sessions begin Thursday evening and continue throughout Saturday.
3
Watch On-Demand
In addition to the live sessions, enjoy an amazing lineup of on-demand sessions available to watch at your convenience beginning Thursday morning
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Rise Up Christian Educators Virtual Summit is presented by Christian Educators and Teach 4 the Heart. © 2025
CONTACT US | SIGN UP | BECOME A SPONSOR
Rise Up Christian Educators Virtual Summit is presented by Christian Educators and Teach 4 the Heart.
© 2025
CONTACT US | SIGN UP | BECOME A SPONSOR