Youth and Camp Workers Conference
The objective of the Youth and Camp Workers Conference (YCC) is to offer an enriching and uplifting experience that will connect youth and camp workers and provide them with inspirational and challenging ideas to help them refine and improve their work.
Registration for YCC 2021 is Open!
Join us virtually Thursday, January 28th and Friday, January 29th for our Annual Youth & Camp Workers Conference! Click here to register!
2021 Conference Speakers
Session 2: Friday, January 29th — 11am-1pm EST
Khouria Erin Kimmett is a graduate of Wichita State University, where she earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. She has designed and produced curriculum materials for the Orthodox Christian Education Commission as well as the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. A trained Byzantine iconographer, Kh. Erin writes icons for Orthodox churches across the country, and owns and manages The Annunciation Press. She also authored Hospitality & Joy, a cookbook about food and faith, cooking and ministering, and filled with “favorite recipes and cherished memories inspired by her grandmother’s kitchen.” Kh. Erin lives in New England with her husband, the Very Reverend Joseph Kimmett, pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, a small 100-year-old Byzantine church in Norwood, Massachusetts. They have two sons: Nicholas and Zachary.
The Very Rev. Dr. Sergius Halvorsen is assistant professor of Homiletics and Rhetoric at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and serves as director of the Doctor of Ministry Program. In addition to teaching homiletics and preaching, he also teaches courses in apologetics, faith and science, and Christian education. Fr. Sergius is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and is attached to Christ the Savior Church in Southbury, CT. He is an accomplished liturgical musician and has contributed to a number of “Archangel Voices” recordings. He currently lives in New Haven, CT with his wife and three children. He loves gardening, hiking, biking, and reading biographies and fiction.
The Rev. Jonathan Bannon is a priest in the far west of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. With an undergraduate degree in Art Education K-12 and an associate degree in Fine Art, he loves finding ways of sharing the ancient Faith in creative ways.
Session 3: Friday, January 29th — 2pm-4pm EST
Fr. Samuel Davis is a former evangelical who was not searching for the Orthodox Church until he came across an unexpected speaker on a charismatic television station; it was then that he made a commitment to serve the Holy Church in whatever capacity God would lead him. Fr. Samuel was baptized into the Orthodox Faith in September 2010 and, after receiving the blessing of his then hierarch, prayerfully began Sr. Simon of Cyrene Orthodox Mission in New Brunswick, NJ as a homeless outreach to meet the needs of the city’s “untouchables.” A graduate of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Fr. Samuel is the second Black priest in the Orthodox Church in America and the first Afro-Latino priest to enter ordained ministry in the history of the OCA Diocese of New York and New Jersey. He now serves the mission parish he built, St. Simon of Cyrene, as its parish priest. The community ministers to all, but particularly the local inner-city Black and Hispanic population. Fr. Samuel lives in New Jersey with his wife, Presbytera Julitssa, and their four children: Isaac, Morgan, Ava, and Alexander.
Jennifer Morris and Kathryn Ashbahian, working together since October 2015, have grown in their ministry as a camp-planning, grammar-slamming, retreat-crafting, resource-developing team. Jennifer double-majored in Psychology and Elementary Education, and then earned her Master of Arts in Curriculum and Teaching from Michigan State University. She was an elementary school teacher before beginning her service to the Armenian Diocese in 2005. Kathryn double-majored in English and Women & Gender Studies from The College of New Jersey, and then earned her Master of Arts in Theology from St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. Though one works from Michigan and the other from New York, they collaborate daily through the technological wonder of Skype and Google Drive. Kathryn focuses her energies on St. Vartan Camp and the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA) Juniors, while Jennifer focuses her attention on Hye Camp and ACYOA Seniors.
Fr. Chris Shadid was appointed Camp Director at Antiochian Village Camp in May 2020 after spending the past thirteen years serving the Camp in a variety of positions, including the last seven as Assistant Camp Director. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and a Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh. Outside of his Camp Director responsibilities, Fr. Chris works as a Licensed Social Worker providing counseling to individuals, couples, and families of all ages and backgrounds who struggle with a variety of mental health issues.
