Plenary Speakers
We once again welcome Sister Sue Mosteller (member of the L’Arche Daybreak Community), a teacher, speaker, author and executor of the literary legacy of spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, to lead our morning “Gatherings.”
We are also thrilled to confirm that Juno-award winning singer/songwriter Steve Bell will once again be with us to lead in times of inspiration and celebration throughout the length of the conference – this time accompanied by Mike Janzen on piano, and Gilles Fournier on bass.
And we are proud to once again feature special multi-media presentations, or “rants” by Dion Oxford. Those who were at StreetLevel 2006 will fondly remember the “Potato Rant.”
Sister Sue Mosteller • Devotional and Reflections Leader
International Coordinator for L’Arche
www.larche.org
Born in Ohio, Sue Mosteller received most of her education from the Sisters of St. Joseph in Toronto. She entered the congregation of St. Joseph after high school, and as a Sister, taught school in B.C. and Ontario for fifteen years, during which time she completed her degree in English at the University of Toronto. In 1967, she met Jean Vanier, who called her to organize and preach Faith and Sharing Retreats in Canada and abroad. Inspired by Vanier, Sue became interested in the plight of persons with a disability, and organized a Faith and Light pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1971. From there, Sue moved to the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, where she has lived and worked with people with disabilities for more than 30 years. Sue replaced Jean Vanier as the International Coordinator of L’Arche, and traveled widely, visiting and assisting in birthing new L’Arche communities in many countries. With Father Henry J.M. Nouwen, Sue opened the “Dayspring”, a small center for spiritual growth that offers retreats and workshops focusing on spiritual life, and announcing a spiritual life inspired by the poor at the heart of the community. Sister Sue participated in both previous Street Level conferences, offering a plenary address in Calgary in 1996. Sue has published two books, My Brother, My Sister, and A Place to Hold My Shaky Heart. When Henri Nouwen died in 1996, Sue was named Executrix of his literary estate. She is presently retired at L’Arche Daybreak, where she works with the published and unpublished legacy of Henry Nouwen.
Sister Sue Mosteller will lead us in times of devotion and reflection on the theme of intimacy with Jesus on the Thursday and Friday mornings of the conference.
Steve Bell • Music and Worship Leader
Founder, Signpost Music
www.signpostvillage.com
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Steve’s life has revolved around music from his earliest years. Beginning with his family’s traveling Gospel band, it then moved through ten years of performance in the nightclubs of central Canada, to a full-time career as a Christian singer/songwriter. This most recent leg of his journey has yielded ten solo albums, two concert videos, two Juno Awards for best Gospel Album (and numerous other awards) and an extensive touring schedule throughout North America and the world. Steve has a deep concern for issues of poverty and homelessness and is involved in both the Micah Challenge and Make Poverty History campaigns. Steve presently lives in Manitoba with his wife Nanci and their three children, Sarah, Jesse and Micah.
Steve Bell, along with Mike Janzen and Gilles Fournier, will be leading us in our times of celebration and reflection throughout the conference.
Dion Oxford • Rants
Director, The Salvation Army Gateway
www.thegateway.ca
Dion Oxford along with his wife, Erinn, and daughter, Cate, live in Toronto and are committed to journeying alongside people in the margins of society. He and Erinn have spent a combined thirty years working amongst folks who are living on the streets of Toronto. Dion is the Director of the Salvation Army Gateway; a shelter for men experiencing homelessness. He and his wife see the solution to homelessness as the church taking seriously the 2 great commandments of loving God and loving our neighbour. He likes to read, rant, write, fly kites, cycle long distances, watch TV, play in his band and hang out with his friends.
John Mohan • Conference Co-Chair, Plenary emcee
Chief Executive Director, Siloam Mission
www.siloam.ca
John Mohan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Siloam Mission, serving Winnipeg’s inner-city since 1987. Siloam Mission is a connecting point between the compassionate and Winnipeg’s less fortunate, providing meals, clothing, health care, counseling and support services.
After twenty-two years in a pastoral ministry career, in 2001 John assumed the leadership of Siloam Mission. At that time, Siloam was a small mission of only two staff members operating out of a 2,400 square foot converted restaurant. Since then, John’s leadership has seen Siloam Mission grow exponentially; expanding to provide programs and services that not only aid in alleviating the hardships of homelessness but also assists in transitioning individuals who are currently experiencing poverty and homelessness into more self-sufficient and generous lifestyles.
With an annual operating budget of $4.5M, a staff of 68 and over 7000 volunteers, Siloam Mission is Winnipeg’s leading non-profit agency advocating for those who are poor and homeless. Siloam Mission operates Manitoba’s largest emergency shelter, a state of the art full service health centre, an employment training program, and serves over 600 meals a day to Winnipeg’s inner-city community.
A popular and humorous speaker, John travels extensively to advocate on behalf of Winnipeg’s poor and homeless and consults with emerging street level ministries and agencies. He is a graduate of International Bible College in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and an ordained elder with the Church of the Nazarene. John is also a weekly columnist for the Winnipeg Sun and has written numerous articles for other publications.
John and his wife Brenda have been married for over 30 years and have three adult children and one grandchild.
Greg Paul • VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET: Living an ancient and generous radicalism
Executive Director, Sanctuary Ministries
www.sanctuarytoronto.ca
Greg Paul, author of God in the Alley: Being and Seeing Jesus in a Broken World, and The Twenty Piece Shuffle: Why the Poor and the Rich Need Each Other, is the founder of Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto, the current director of the organization and pastor of the Sanctuary community. Sanctuary makes a priority of welcoming and caring for some of the most hurting and excluded people in Toronto, including addicts, prostitutes, homeless men, women and youth, gay, lesbian and transgendered people. In addition to maintaining and perpetuating the vision for Sanctuary, Greg’s role includes pastoral care, counseling and leadership, organizational partnerships, fundraising, and representing Sanctuary to the public.
A former carpenter, Greg has been involved in inner-city ministry for over twenty-five years. His passionate commitment to the people on the street grew out of his fascination with the city and a strong interest in the issues of the street. Greg has participated in the building of a community in which people who are wealthy and people who are poor live, work and share their experiences and resources on a daily basis.
Greg is the father of four children and the lead vocalist and keyboardist for Red Rain, the band that planted the seed for Sanctuary in the mid-1980s. Red Rain still performs regularly, and is currently working on a fourth recording project. Their most recent recording, A Night At Grace’s, is available through the Sanctuary web site, as are Greg’s books.
Pierre Allard • RECLAIMING OUR LEGACY: Why have we become so punitive when there is so much liberation in a restorative/biblical justice?
President, Just.Equipping
www.justequipping.org
From 2001 to 2006, the Rev. Dr. Pierre Allard was the Assistant Commissioner, Community Engagement for the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). In that capacity, he was responsible for engaging the public in ensuring the protection of society. Pierre began working with the CSC in 1972 as a chaplain at Archambault Penitentiary and since that time, has served in a variety of roles within the CSC, including as Regional Chaplain for the Atlantic Region, Director of Chaplaincy at CSC National Headquarters and Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs. He obtained his Doctorate in 1986, and in 1996 and 1998 respectively, was granted honorary doctorates of divinity from McMaster and Queen’s Universities. From 1995 to 2005, Rev. Allard was President of the International Prison Chaplains’ Association (IPCA), and was involved in the organization of three worldwide conferences. For over thirty years, Pierre has been engaged in building partnerships with volunteers and in the spiritual sustenance of prisoners. His work has placed him at the forefront of the restorative justice movement, which brings together communities, offenders, and victims of crime to discuss the effects of criminal acts on the community.
He speaks regularly about Corrections both nationally and internationally and is a course instructor in Restorative Justice at Queen’s University. Since retiring from CSC in 2006, Pierre is the President of Just.Equipping, committed to training/equipping prison chaplains in developing countries in the area of Restorative Justice. Just.Equipping is working in Rwanda, Burundi, RD Congo and Cameroon in 2008.
Throughout his career, Pierre has been the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his work in the community and in the field of corrections. Of note, he received the first Head of the Public Service Award in 1998, the Achievement and Good Samaritan award at the 2001 Canadian Criminal Justice Association congress in Halifax. In September 2002 the Governor General presented Rev. Allard with the Meritorious Service Medal and in 2004 he received the Service Commendation of Parliament Hill. Pierre also received the Maud Booth Award in Chicago in August 2004. In 2005, he received ‘The Best in the Business Award’ from the American Correctional Association (ACA). Upon his retirement, the Correctional Service of Canada created the Pierre Allard Award, first presented in May 2007. In November 2007, Pierre received the Mitchell Sharp Award for Meritorious Service, given to a retired federal employee who has made and continues to make an extraordinary contribution to his community.
Pierre participated in the first three national Street Level conferences, as both a workshop and plenary speaker.
Cheryl Bear • MAN OF SORROWS: Jesus, Story and Sorrow
Supervisor of First Nations Ministry for the Canadian Foursquare Church
www.foursquare.ca
Cheryl Bear is a member of the Nadleh Whut ‘en First Nation. Along with her husband Randy Barnetson and 3 teenage sons, she has served as a pastor in Vancouver and Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Pacific Life Bible College BTh ’99, Regent College MDiv ’04, and The King’s Seminary DMin Candidate ’09. Cheryl has traveled widely in music ministry and has won 3 Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards and is currently nominated for two Covenant Awards and two Native American Music Awards.
Bruxy Cavey • OOPS I DID IT AGAIN: Confessions of a repentant evangelical
Teaching Pastor, The Meeting House
www.themeetinghouse.ca
Bruxy Cavey is the Teaching Pastor of The Meeting House, a multiple site church in the Greater Toronto Area. He is a highly sought after communicator on university campuses, in high schools, at church leadership conferences and in churches throughout North America. He has taught at the college level on the interaction between faith and the arts and has been a guest on various television and radio programs. Bruxy’s first book entitled “The End of Religion” was released by NavPress in the fall of 2007.
Tim Huff • DANCING WITH DYNAMITE: Celebrating the legacy of small victories and sacred moments
Director, Light Patrol and Homelessness Initiatives
Youth Unlimited (Toronto YFC)
www.lightpatrol.ca; www.signpostvillage.com/timhuff
A native Torontonian, Tim has been on staff with Youth Unlimited (Toronto YFC) since 1987, working with ‘high risk’ and ‘street-involved youth’. At that time he developed and opened ‘Frontlines’, a drop-in for youth in the northwest area of Toronto, which is still thriving to this day. In 1995, Tim moved to a full time role working with homeless youth. In that role, Tim pioneered the project ‘Light Patrol’, a mobile street outreach work among ‘street-involved youth’, and initiated ‘Operation Good Thing‘’ and advocacy and street relief project. Tim was a member of the national Street Level committee for the first two conferences in 1994 and 1996, Chair of the Street Level Toronto coalition from 1996-2005 and Chair of the 2006 national StreetLevel Conference. He is a member of StreetLevel: The National Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness, and sits on the Board of Directors of The Daily Bread Food Bank. Tim is the author of BENT HOPE: A Street Journal, an inspirational journey through Tim’s twenty years of street outreach, and The Cardboard Shack Beneath the Bridge, a best-selling children’s book that Tim wrote and illustrated, designed to address the complex questions children have about homelessness.
Tim is the lead singer of Outrider, a classic rock band – which will be doing a special ‘after-hours’ concert on the Friday night of the conference at Ottawa’s Hard Rock Café.
Rick Tobias • A HIGHER LOVE
President, CEO, Yonge Street Mission
www.ysm.on.ca
Rick Tobias is best known for his life-long advocacy on behalf of low-income and marginalized people, and for collaborating with business and professional leaders to promote change in the city.
A native of Saint John, New Brunswick, Rick received a BA in Sociology from Acadia University and a Master of Divinity degree from Acadia Divinity College. He is also a graduate of the Seminary Consortium For Urban Pastoral Education in Chicago. In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity from McMaster University.
In 1983, Rick became coordinator of Yonge Street Mission’s Evergreen Centre, which he refocused to address needs of street youth. His innovative work led to the invitation to become the agency’s CEO, a position he has held since 1989. He continues to lead staff and volunteers as they craft programs that help break the cycle of multi-generational poverty.
Rick has spoken hundreds of times on Canadian poverty, urban ministry, youth-at-risk and strategies for community-wide change. He appears frequently on television and radio, and in print media, and is sought after as a consultant and coach. Since 1984 he has been a regular lecturer at Tyndale University College & Seminary, and has both taught and consulted abroad.
Rick lives in Toronto with his wife Charis, who owns a graphic design business. They have two adult sons, Jeremy and James. Apart from family and work, his key interests are motorcycling, music, and deepening his understanding of personal spirituality.