Main Sessions
Levi Lusko is the author of the bestselling books “Through the Eyes of a Lion” and “Swipe Right.” He is also the lead pastor of Fresh Life Church – a multisite church located in Montana, Utah, Oregon, and Wyoming that he and his wife Jennie pioneered in 2007. Levi travels around the world speaking about Jesus. He takes pleasure in small things, such as black coffee, new shoes, fast Internet, and falling asleep in the sun. He and his wife have one son: Lennox, and four daughters: Alivia, Daisy, Clover, and Lenya, who is in heaven. His new book “I Declare War,” is now available.
Hosts
Joseph is a refreshing voice of leadership for this generation and is passionate about engaging people within the church and throughout culture. Joseph has been featured on NBC’s Your Move in a candid conversation with Andy Stanley, was a host for Passion Conference 2019, serves as the trusted voice for Catalyst Conferences, and is the chosen communicator for many other events throughout the country. As the founder of an Atlanta based creative agency, he leads a team that helps companies design programming, environments and other creative strategies that connect people to purpose.
Breakouts
S2 hosts over 25 practical workshops for all areas of ministry from administrative staff to lead pastors. Recording of sessions is not available so bring your staff to attend and maximize your church’s impact. Check back soon for speaker and topic details.
- Executive Leadership
- Children’s Ministry
- Student Ministry
- Creative Arts
- Administration
- Plus many more
S2 hosts over 25 practical workshops for all areas of ministry from administrative staff to lead pastors. Recording of sessions is not available so bring your staff to attend and maximize your church’s impact. Check back soon for speaker and topic details.
- Executive Leadership
- Children’s Ministry
- Student Ministry
- Creative Arts
- Administration
- Plus many more
- Justin Shapp – Digital Campus – How to do it well
- Clay Scroggins – Leading When You’re Not in Charge (Next Gen Audience)
- Brian Smith – Reaching and Speaking to the Next Generation
- Reggie Rice -Residencies that Multiply
- Dr. Ray Branton – Pastoral Self Care
- Jason Hamrock – Marketing Your Church
- Nathan Delturco – Creative/Worship Team Culture
- Jarrod Harris – Children’s Ministry in Person and Online
- Dave Briggs – Intentionally teach and lead people – personal stewardship, biblical finances
- Cal Jernigan – The Difficulty of Working in Ministry
- Danny Parmalee – Principles of Coaching
- Cal Jernigan – Racial Conflict & Reconcilliation – leading your church and staff
- Linn Winters – Delivering Powerful Sermons
- Alex Beaverson – The 10 things every next gen ministry needs to be successful
- Greg Tokinson + Tim Kaiser – Building a Next Generation Pipeline
- John Carr – Multisites: Move from managing to thriving
- Lee Stephenson – Church Planting and Growth to 1,000
- Lisa Winters – How to Assimilate Your Guests Digitally and In-Person
- Jason Young – Building Volunteer Teams that Thrive
- Joel Thomas – Leadership Post COVID
- S2 Worship Leaders – S2 Worship Leader Q & A
- Mark Driscoll – Spiritual Warfare
- Leisa MacDonald – Loving Our Neighbors in Action
- Jarrod Harris – Partnering with Parents Beyond the Take Home Resource
- Jason Young – Deliver Remarkable Hospitality – The Come Back Effect
- Tom Parker – Being the Least Anxious Leader in the Room
- Maxwell Clark – Create and Grow Diversity in your chruch
- Christian Mungai – Building Enviornments to Collaborate
- Landon MacDonald – How to Teach People About the Holy Spirit
- David Smullin– Thriving Youth Group
- Scott Ridout – Who is Converge?
- Diana Mescher – Women in Ministry
- Linn Winters – Where Have All the Disciples Gone?
Linn Winters, Building Messages That Change Lives
Linn Winters is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Chandler, Arizona where more than 5,000 people attend one of their three campuses. He spent 17 years in youth ministry and the last 24 years as lead pastor. He is a featured speaker at leadership conferences in the United States, Australia, Zambia, India and Kenya.
Breakout Description:
Justin Shapp, Digital Campus - How to engage your online congregation
Justin has a calling on his life to bring freedom to people through the power of Jesus. He was called into ministry at the young age of 12 years old and has been leading teams ever since. He has been a part of a large megachurch, set-up and tear down churches, and some mid-sized churches that are growing. Justin is the Creative Pastor at Mountain View Church in Queen Creek, AZ who oversees worship, production, communications, and online ministry. He is a creative thinker, songwriter, and problem solver, who is passionate about reaching the lost through every creative
and innovative method available.
Breakout Description:
Clay Scroggins, Next Gens: How to Lead When You're Not In Charge
Clay Scroggins is the lead pastor of Buckhead Church, providing visionary and directional leadership for all of the local church staff and congregation. As the original and largest campus of North Point Ministries, ranked by Outreach Magazine in 2014 as the Largest Church in America, NPCC averages over 12,000 people in attendance. Clay works for Andy Stanley, one of the greatest leaders on the planet, and understands firsthand how to manage the tension of leading when you’re not in charge. Clay has worked his way through many organizational levels of North Point Ministries and knows all too well the challenge of authority deprivation.
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Maxwell Clark, Creating and Growing Diversity Within Your Church
With more than a decade of preaching and teaching ministry under his belt, Pastor Max has developed the ability to faithfully divide the timeless truths of God’s Word while making relevant and practical application to equip people to live for God in an ever changing world. Maxwell is a former student of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois.
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Reggie Rice, Internships, Residencies, and the Future of Pastoral Training
As a 3rd generation pastor, and over 20 years serving in church ministry, Reggie is driven to help the local church fulfill the mission of Jesus by making disciples and multiplying leaders. Reggie serves as the Director of Adult Ministries and the Director of the CCV Leadership Institute at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Phoenix, AZ.
Breakout Description:
Jason Hamrock, Google for Church
Jason is the CEO of Missional Marketing, an organization focused on driving and building a healthy online presence for churches. As CEO, Jason is the lead growth strategist, leads partner initiatives and manages the consultant team who oversees church marketing, digital outreach, and communications. Jason served as a Communications Director for 11 years at Central Christian Church of Arizona.
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Nathan Del Turco, Creative/Worship Team Culture
Nathan Del Turco is the Worship Pastor for Hillsong Church – Phoenix, which encompasses Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas, NV campuses. Nathan is the author of “Worship Leader Handbook” and is passionate about championing leaders and helping teams build healthy cultures that last the test of time.
Breakout Description:
Dave Briggs, Transforming Your Church by Creating a Culture of Stewardship
Dave Briggs spent the first 27 years of his career working for General Electric as a Financial Manager. In 2002, he left the business world and joined the staff of Willow Creek Community Church, near Chicago, to lead their Financial Stewardship Ministry. In 2009, he joined the staff at Central Christian Church of Arizona to help develop a full-time stewardship ministry. Dave currently serves on the board of the Christian Stewardship Network and is past Chairman of the Board of Financial Planning Ministry.
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Cal Jernigan, What They Never Told Me About Ministry
Cal Jernigan has served on the staff of Central Christian Church of Arizona since 1987 and has been the Lead Pastor since 1999. From his roots in youth ministry, Cal leads with a passion for communicating the Word of God in a relevant, timely, and engaging manner. His greatest desire is to help people understand there is a God who cares deeply for them and wants to connect with them personally.
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Cal Jernigan, Leading Your Church Through the Turbulence of Racism
Cal Jernigan has served on the staff of Central Christian Church of Arizona since 1987 and has been the Lead Pastor since 1999. From his roots in youth ministry, Cal leads with a passion for communicating the Word of God in a relevant, timely and engaging manner. His greatest desire is to help people understand there is a God who cares deeply for them and wants to connect with them personally.
Breakout Description:
Danny Parmalee, Coaching Planters, Pastors, & Staff
Danny Parmelee was the church planter and lead pastor of Epikos Church in Milwaukee, WI from 2005-2017. What started in his living room as a Bible study grew into a multi-site, multi-ethnic congregation of over 2,000. He currently is the Vice President of Church Planting for Converge MidAmerica. He is also a co-host on the podcast “Unfiltered,” a podcast about what it’s really like to plant a church.
Breakout Description:
Greg Tokinson + Tim Kaiser, Building a Next Generation Pipeline
Dr. Greg Tonkinson currently serves as the Spiritual Life Director for Valley Christian Schools in Chandler, AZ. Prior to working in Christian education, Dr. Tonkinson served for over a decade in the local church as a church planter, teaching pastor, and worship pastor. He is a TEDx speaker, has been a guest of Guy Raz (NPR), and recently performed a 45-minute interview with President George W. Bush. Dr. Tonkinson received his MDiv from Phoenix Seminary (1998) and his DMin from Talbot School of Theology (2015).
Tim Kaiser has spent the last 15 years successfully transforming the worship and creative ministries at some of the largest churches in Michigan and Arizona, with a focus on the development and empowerment of the next generation. He loves everything about his family, the great outdoors, and always strives to leave a legacy for his seven amazing children.
Breakout Description:
John Carr, Multisite from the ground up
Jon Carr leads the campus construction and operations teams for Christ’s Church of the Valley. He has been on staff at CCV for over 9 years and oversees first impressions, food service, operations, facilities, architecture, construction and logistics. Before coming on staff at CCV he worked for multiple restaurant organizations across the country.
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Lee Stephenson, From Nothing to Significant
Lee Stephenson currently serves as the Executive Director of Church Planting for Converge and is the lead/founding pastor of Harvest Community Church in Orlando, Florida. Prior to moving to Orlando, Lee and his wife, Melissa, planted a flourishing church in Mesa, AZ. Lee has a heart to see the local church stay on mission and flourish. He is the co-author of First Steps to Planting a Missional Church and is a go to ministry coach.
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Alex Beaverson, The 10 Things Every Next Gen Ministry Needs to be Successful
Alex Beaverson is the College and Young Adult Pastor at Cornerstone in Chandler, AZ. He was formerly the High School Youth Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA and lead a successful youth ministry alongside other leaders, including Doug Fields, Josh Griffin, Justin Herman, and Eric Geiger. He was born and raised in Cody, WY, attended college at Azusa Pacific University, and currently resides in Chandler.
Breakout Description:
Jason Young, Building Volunteer Teams that Thrive
Dr. Jason Young is a hospitality and leadership author and speaker. He helps organizations grow their leadership and reclaim the art of hospitality. He has worked with leaders at Ford Motor Company, Life.Church, Chick-fil-A and many others. Most recently, Jason was the Director of Guest Experience at Buckhead Church and North Point Ministries, a nationally known network of churches with 40,000 people in average weekly attendance. He has written four books. He also created the Saturday Rundown, a free resource with practical ideas on hospitality and leadership. You can sign up at jasonyounglive.com.
Breakout Description:
Joel Thomas, Leading Through Post-COVID Change
Joel Thomas has served as the Lead Pastor of Mission Community Church since 2015. In this role, Joel provides visionary and directional leadership for the staff and congregation. He also serves as the primary communicator on the teaching team and as a small group leader in the church. Joel has a passion for seeing people’s lives transformed through the gospel and began his 25th year in local church ministry in 2020.
Breakout Description:
Mark Driscoll, Leadership and the Unseen Realm
Pastor Mark Driscoll has been preaching through books of the Bible as a senior pastor for more than two decades. He has authored over a dozen books. With his wife Grace and five children, Pastor Mark planted The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has a bachelor’s in speech and a master’s in exegetical theology, and he is one of the most respected and downloaded Bible teachers of his generation.
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Leisa MacDonald, Loving our Neighbors in Action
Leisa McDonald oversees the Refugee Ministry of Central Christian Church including resettlement co-sponsorships, English and Citizenship classes for adults, tutoring programs for children and leading the East Valley Refugee Coalition. She works alongside government, non-profit and ministry partners to identify needs within vulnerable populations and engage her congregation and broader faith community in establishing relief and development programs. Additionally, Leisa coordinates Global Events for Central Christian Church that bring awareness to global issues and local social justice concerns affecting marginalized people groups.
Breakout Description:
Jarrod Harris
Jarrod Harris has been in full-time, non-profit and local church ministry for over 15 years, spending most of that time within youth and kids ministry. Jarrod is a husband and father of three amazing girls. He loves the Lord, the Church, his family, movies, hiking, and collaborating with and connecting ministry leaders, any time, anywhere.
Jason Young, How to Deliver a Remarkable Guest Experience
Dr. Jason Young is a hospitality and leadership author and speaker. He helps organizations grow their leadership and reclaim the art of hospitality. He has worked with leaders at Ford Motor Company, Life.Church, Chick-fil-A and many others. Most recently, Jason was the Director of Guest Experience at Buckhead Church and North Point Ministries, a nationally known network of churches with 40,000 people in average weekly attendance. He has written four books. He also created the Saturday Rundown, a free resource with practical ideas on hospitality and leadership. You can sign up at jasonyounglive.com.
Breakout Description:
Tom Parker, Being the Least Anxious Leader in the Room
I’m Tom Parker. I am a pastor and I work with ministers both one on one and in peer groups as the director of EmpoweringLeaders.io. I have over 32 years of experience working with pastors. (I’m even married to one.) Gayle, my wife, and I co-pastor The Spring Church in Tempe – which we planted with a team twelve years ago. I also served as the Director of Fuller Theological Seminary Arizona for thirty years and taught there as well.
Breakout Description:
Christian Mungai, BUILDING ENVIRONMENTS TO COLLABORATE: What the American Church can learn from the global world on collaboration
Christian Mungai is a native Kenyan, who is answering God’s call to be a missionary to the United States. Christian serves as the Global Engagement and Global Convene Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, California, where he is passionate about deploying the Church into what God is doing around the world. Christian has served in the United States for more than a decade now.
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David Smullin, How to Build a Thriving Youth Ministry
David is the Next Gen Pastor at Rock Creek overseeing the Student ministry through Young Adults. Under his leadership, the student ministry has grown from 30 to 100+ kids. He is passionate about creatively connecting God’s word to people’s lives in hopes that they grow in their relationship with Jesus.
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Diana Mescher, Women Following Jesus and Leading in Ministry
Diana is an Iowa native who moved to Arizona to complete her Masters of Divinity. With over a decade of experience leading in local church ministry and supporting ministry leaders around the globe, her wisdom, insight and passion for ministry is evident. Diana has spoken at churches, women’s events, and chapels in the states and around the world. She is a voice of Cornerstone’s Daily Devos and weekend host team. Listen to Diana today at YouTube.com/DianaMescher.
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Lisa Winters, How to Assimilate Your Guests Digitally and In-Person
Lisa is the Executive Director of Connecting Point at Cornerstone Church. She brings strategic thinking and systems to move the church community toward becoming fully devoted followers of Christ by connecting, serving, and growing.
Breakout Description:
It’s vital to connect with our guests and assimilate them into our church; to move them intentionally to their next step to grow closer to Jesus. In-person assimilation looks much different than digital, and as we find ourselves immersed in the digital world, we need to have a different approach for the two audiences.
Linn Winters, Where Have All The Disciples Gone?
Linn Winters is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Chandler, Arizona where more than 5,000 people attend one of their three campuses. He spent 17 years in youth ministry and the last 24 years as lead pastor. He is a featured speaker at leadership conferences in the United States, Australia, Zambia, India and Kenya.
Breakout Description:
S2 Worship Leader Q & A
Join us in this breakout where YOU decide the topic. We have our Worship Leaders and Creative Director from the conference ready to chat, dialogue, and discuss how to create amazing teams and powerful worship experiences. This panel led breakout is perfect for anyone trying to take an event or experience to a next level.
Sammy Flores, Leading Next Generation Worship Leaders Doesn't Have to be a Mystery
Sammy has led worship in churches in Alabama, Virginia, Texas and Missouri. He has been serving at Christ Fellowship Miami for the last 22 years and is currently their Pastor Director of Guest Services and Connections. As the Worship Pastor, he was and continues to be a part of leading Christ Fellowship from a church of one location and one worship service to a multicultural diverse multisite church with seven locations in Miami-Dade County as well as Global Christ Fellowship campuses in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Breakout Description:
Scott Ridout, Who is Converge?
Scott Ridout graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and earned an M.Div. in Evangelism from Columbia International University. Scott has served as the President of Converge since November 2014. He served as the Director of Generosity for Converge from 2007-2014, concurrently with his time at Sun Valley. He also serves on the Board of Church Multiplication Partners and the GACX.
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Todd Wagner, Leadership Q&A
Todd Wagner and a small group of friends established Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas in November 1999. Watermark is one of the largest and fastest-growing churches in the United States. Todd’s first published book, Come and See: Everything You Ever Wanted in the One Place You Would Never Look, was released in October 2017. His weekly video podcast, “Real Truth Real Quick” reaches tens of thousands of people each month.
Breakout Description:
Joseph Sojourner, Fear, Faith and Failure
Joseph is a refreshing voice of leadership for this generation and is passionate about engaging people within the church and throughout culture. Joseph has been featured on NBC’s Your Move in a candid conversation with Andy Stanley, was a host for Passion Conference 2019, serves as the trusted voice for Catalyst Conferences, and is the chosen communicator for many other events throughout the country. As the founder of an Atlanta based creative agency, he leads a team that helps companies design programming, environments and other creative strategies that connect people to purpose.
Breakout Description:
Jeff Larson, Leadership Pipeline: Internship & Residency
Jeff has been involved in youth ministry for over 20 years. He is currently the Lead Director of Next Gen Ministries as well as the Internship Director at Rock Point Church. He is passionate about seeing the church reach and empower the next generation. He spends most of his time pouring into the leadership development of his staff and interns.
Breakout Description:
Alfred Ells, It's all about Self-Leadership
Al is the founder-director of Leaders that Last Ministries™. He is a gifted coach, counselor and leadership consultant. Al authored several best-selling books and devotionals, has co-authored a book for church and ministry leaders and has founded or helped establish a number of Christ-centered treatment programs for individuals, families and youth.
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Jana Petersen, Engaging Women and Growing Leaders in Ministry
Jana Petersen is the Women’s Ministry Director at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. She has served the Women’s ministry faithfully for 7 years, where she has developed the program and its ministry leaders to be a driving force in the community. Jana loves to travel and serve on mission trips all over the world.
Breakout Description:
Paul Carpenter, Confrontation & Encouragement
Paul has been on staff at Central Christian Church for 24 years where he currently serves on the Executive Team. He has a Masters in Biblical Theology from Fuller Seminary, and is currently working on his doctorate at Grand Canyon University. Paul has been married to Katie for 21 years, and they have two daughters.
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Greg Curtis, The 4 Ingredients of a Successful Assimilation Strategy
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Carri Laufle & Kelly Busk, Administrative Assistant Panel Discussion
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Eric Weight, What is Your Church's Finance Philosophy
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Sammy Flores, Little Things that make Worship Development BIG
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Greg Curtis, How to Place Anyone as a Volunteer...Automatically
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Mark Driscoll, Spiritual Warfare Insights for Ministry Leaders and their Families
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Lee Stephenson, Church Planting - The Beginning
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Melissa Widmer, Why Children are the Most Important People in the Church
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Alfred Ells, The Do's and Don'ts of Caring for and Counseling Your Flock
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This workshop will explore the rcommended do’s and don’ts of providing care and counseling for others. As well as, two hidden pitfalls every pastor should avoid.
Landon MacDonald, How to Teach People About the Holy Spirit
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Who is the Holy Spirit? How is the Holy Spirit different from my conscience or instinct? How do we teach about such an esoteric, mysterious but personal thing? Join us to find out.
Brad Shank, Move & Multiply
Breakout Description:
Does your church have a clear strategy to move someone from Baptism to Disciple-Maker? Come discover the key elements of building a discipleship flow process that will move and multiply your ministry like never before.
Kelly O'Donnell, Staff Development - Seeing the Possibilities
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Dave Sutherland & Bill Bush, The 10 Questions You SHOULD be Asking Before Starting a Building Campaign
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Ryan Emenecker, Branding and Marketing your Church
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Ty Banks, Social Media: More than Posting a Pretty Picture
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Ed Stetzer, How the Mission Force can Engage the Mission Field Well
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Carey Nieuwhof, 7 Success Killers Even Top Leaders Miss
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Harold Lewis, Biblical Diversity 101: A Basic Introduction
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Jenni LaBlanc, Making Midweek Exciting for Elementary Kids
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Dette Derr, Employee On-Boarding: What Every New Hire Needs
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Andrea Sing, Building the Bridge from Analytics to Engagement
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Landon MacDonald, Teaching the Actual, Literal Bible to Teenagers
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Brian Smith, The Fish are still Biting: Reviving Evangelism on College Campuses
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Brad Wilkerson, Hello World!
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Paul Carpenter, Multisites - Best Practices
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Ryan Emenecker, Church Communications 101
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Dr. Ray Branton, Pastoral Self-care: The Spirituality & Science of Healthy Self-care, Leadership, & Avoiding Burnout
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2019 S2 Highlights
