Speaker List
Dr. Anthony Esolen
Author, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child
Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns
Anglican Bishop
S.D. Smith
Author, Green Ember series
Glenn Paauw
President, Institute for Bible Reading
Dr. Corey Latta
Author, C.S. Lewis and the Art of Writing
Lanier Ivester
Writer
Lancia Smith
Founder, The Cultivating Project
Matthew Clark
Singer-Songwriter
Brian Brown
Director, The Anselm Society
Fr. Matt Burnett
Rector, Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Heidi White
Writer and Teacher
Amy Lee
Writer
Matt Mellema
Co-Host, Believe to See Podcast
Michelle Hindman
Teacher
Elena Sorensen
Writer
Ashlee Cowles
Author, Beneath Wandering Stars
Evangeline Denmark
Author, Curio
Marcus Robinson
Singer-Songwriter
Teressa Mahoney
Singer-Songwriter
Kristopher Orr
Artist
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Anthony Esolen
Anthony M. Esolen is a writer, social commentator, translator of classical poetry, and professor of English Renaissance and classical literature. He has taught at Furman University and Providence College, and joined the faculty of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as a professor in 2017.
Esolen has translated into English Dante’s Divine Comedy, Lucretius‘ On the Nature of Things, and Torquato Tasso‘s Jerusalem Delivered. In addition to multiple books, he is the author of over five hundred articles in such publications as The Modern Age, The Catholic World Report, Chronicles, The Claremont Review of Books, The Public Discourse, First Things, Crisis Magazine, The Catholic Thing, and Touchstone, for which he serves as a senior editor. He is a regular contributor to Magnificat, and has written frequently for a host of other online journal.
Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns
Martyn Minns (born April 16, 1943) is an English-born American bishop who is passionate about making disciples of Jesus Christ.
He was consecrated a bishop on August 20, 2006 by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and appointed to serve as the founding missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) until his retirement in January 2014. He also served as Executive Director of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans from September 2011 through June 2014. Prior to becoming a bishop, he served as rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia.
Minns was raised in Nottingham, England. In 1964, he received a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Mathematics and Statistics from Birmingham University in Birmingham, England. From 1967 until 1975, Minns was an executive for the Mobil Corporation in New York City. Minns received a Master of Divinity in 1978 from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. He was ordained to the diaconate in June, 1978, and ordained to the priesthood in June, 1979.
From 1978 until 1982, he served as the associate rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Darien, Connecticut. From 1983 until 1988, he served as rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lafayette, Louisiana. From 1988 until 1991, he served as rector of All Angels Church, New York City. In 1991, Minns was installed as rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia.
In 1998 he was instrumental in founding Five Talents International a Christian Microfinance charity that primarily operates through the Anglican Communion. It provides loan capital and savings opportunities to groups of entrepreneurs, and also offers business training and mentoring to clients. It has offices in Washington and London and more than 50,000 clients in twelve developing nations. Minns continues to serves as Chairman emeritus.
He and his wife, the former Angela Rose Carlisle, are the proud parents of five children and have twelve grandchildren. They now make their home in Destin, Florida.
Bishop Minns is unashamed of the radical claims of the Gospel of Christ and believes that it is good news of great joy for all people.
Speakers and Performers
S.D. Smith
Author
Sam is the author of the middle-grade adventure fantasy novels, The Green Ember, The Black Star of Kingston, Ember Falls (The Green Ember: Book II), The Last Archer: A Green Ember Story, and Ember Rising: The Green Ember Book III. Sam has been featured as a runner-up for the West Virginia Fiction Award, World Magazine’s Children’s Book of the Year, and Audible’s Kids Audiobook of the Year.
Sam Smith lives with his wife and four kids in West Virginia.
Connect with Sam and his work at sdsmith.net and visit the Story Warren at storywarren.com.
Glenn Paauw
President, Institute for Bible Reading
The focus of Glenn’s 30 years in Bible ministry has been publishing, researching, speaking, and writing on the topic of reading and living the Bible well. His book Saving the Bible from Ourselves is available from InterVarsity Press. He is a leader in the development of Reader’s Bibles, and is currently working on Immerse: The Reading Bible for Tyndale House. Previously, Glenn was Bible Publisher and VP, Global Bible Engagement at Biblica. He is a former staff member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and high school Bible teacher.
Glenn has spoken on the Bible at the Q Conference, Bible Gateway FB Live!, Thrive, Radio Bible Class, and regularly presents at churches and conferences across the country. Glenn’s education was in philosophy and theology at Calvin College and Seminary. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Jain and has two adult sons.
Lanier Ivester
Writer
Lanier Ivester is a homemaker and writer in the beautiful state of Georgia where she maintains a small farm with her husband, Philip, and an ever-expanding menagerie of cats, dogs, sheep, goats, chickens, and peacocks. She is a regular contributor at The Rabbit Room, and she also keeps a web journal at lanierivester.com, where she is the proprietress of an online bookshop specializing in rare and out-of-print titles from a gentler era. A devoted Anglophile and lover of all things bookish, she is currently enrolled in a (mostly) distance-learning certificate program in English Literature at Oxford University.
Lancia Smith
Founder, The Cultivating Project
Lancia E. Smith is an author, photographer, teacher, and business owner based in Colorado. She is founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Cultivating, and of The Cultivating Project. A grateful lover of the Triune God, Lancia is passionate about spiritual formation and discipling believers engaging in the arts. She and her husband Peter run a thriving environmental and engineering firm in northern Colorado and try to keep up with their rambling house and gardens called House on the Way. Lancia loves every book she ever read by C.S. Lewis; drinks strong black coffee; and sincerely hopes in her lifetime to reach zero in her inbox!
Brian Brown
Director, The Anselm Society
Brian founded the Anselm Society in 2013. He developed a love of Gothic architecture at Princeton University, and a love of Jane Austen while sneaking out of bed to watch his parents' movies from the hallway at age five. He has spent over a decade in the nonprofit sector helping organizations grow, and nearly a decade in Colorado Springs, which he has eventually grown proud to call home. Every good picture of him was taken by Lancia Smith. He and his wife Christina share their appreciation for beauty with their two small children, Edmund and Edith.
Heidi White
Writer and Teacher
Heidi White is a writer, educator, researcher, and lecturer. She has an M.A. in Literature from Bethany College and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver. She serves as a Co-Director at Journey School, a hybrid Classical school in Colorado Springs, where she also teaches literature. She is a contributing writer at The Circe Institute, a classical education consulting firm and research institute. She serves on the boards of Converge Lecture Series and The Anselm Society. She has a particular interest in inspiring and equipping thoughtful people to read and discuss great books and the classics. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays and speaks about literary and cultural issues. She lives in Black Forest, Colorado with her husband, Scott, and their two children.
Dr. Corey Latta
Author, C.S. Lewis and the Art of Writing
Corey has a B.A. in Biblical studies, M.A. in New Testament Studies, M.A. in English, and Ph.D. in Literature. He has taught in Christian higher education and served in ministry for over ten years. A few of his passions in ministry include teaching biblical interpretation, creating discipleship relationships, and helping people see God’s purpose for their lives. Corey writes and teaches on C. S. Lewis, Christian Worldview, Theology and Literature, New Testament Studies, Apologetics, and Biblical Theology. He has published several books, including “Election and Unity in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans,” “Functioning Fantasies: Ideology, Theology, and Social Conception in the Fantasies of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien,” “When the Eternal Can Be Met: The Bergsonian Theology of Time in C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, and W. H. Auden,” “C.S. Lewis and the Art of Writing,” and (forthcoming) “Chasing Adam: A Return to Being Christian.” Corey’s poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction have appeared in several journals. Outside of Downline, Corey serves as Young Adult and Teaching Pastor at Christ United Methodist Church and Vice President of Academics at Visible Music College. Corey and his wife Jennifer have two sets of twin children, Justice and London, and Augustus and Emma Jane.
Matthew Clark
Singer-Songwriter
Matthew is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller from Mississippi. In a hurried, dislocated world, often the music we take in is like eating candy for dinner alone. Clark’s approach is more like lingering with friends around the kitchen table over a home-cooked meal and the interweaving of life’s stories. Matthew Clark’s most recent album, Come Tell Your Story, combines an eye for the resonate personal narrative and musicianship one might find in the work of David Wilcox or Paul Simon with the human warmth and spiritual depth of artists like Rich Mullins and Andrew Peterson.
Fr. Matt Burnett
Rector, Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Matt Burnett is the rector at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Colorado Springs. Born in Texas, he received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Texas A&M, worked for Compassion International all over the world, and founded Knowledge Builders, a small consulting company. He received his M.Div. from Trinity School for Ministry in Pittsburgh in 2002, and founded Holy Trinity in 2004. In addition to his beloved work in the parish, he is currently working on his doctorate, for which his dissertation focuses on the value of C.S. Lewis's fiction to catechesis and training up the next generation of the Church. He is married to Lauren and has three sons.
Amy Lee
Writer
Amy Baik Lee is a writer and a member artist of the Anselm Arts Guild, where she has the privilege of seeing “Bandersnatch in action” through artists flourishing in community. Once upon a time, she studied Medieval and Renaissance literature at the University of Virginia; today, Amy writes about beauty, the longing for Home, and a house with a name from Middle-earth at Sun Steeped Days. Her work has appeared on The Cultivating Project, Humane Pursuits, Story Warren, and elsewhere. She lives in Colorado with her husband and their two daughters.
Elena Sorensen
Writer
Elena Sorensen was born and raised in New England near Mark Twain’s house. She received a masters degree in fairy tale and folklore theory, and taught writing and literature before shifting to writing fiction. Elena is an editor in Denver and is at work on a collection of short stories inspired by fairy and gothic tales.
Ashlee Cowles
Author, Beneath Wandering Stars
Ashlee Cowles is the author of BENEATH WANDERING STARS (Simon & Schuster 2016), a Young Adult novel about two teens who walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, which was selected as the 2017 winner of a Colorado Book Award. BELOW NORTHERN LIGHTS, a companion novel set on St. Columba's Way in the Scottish Highlands, was published this year. Raised in a military family without roots, Ashlee spent several years as an itinerant scholar, studying Theology and Medieval History at Duke Divinity School and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She currently makes her home in Colorado Springs with her husband and daughter. When she isn’t discussing creative writing and classic literature with high school students as a teacher, Ashlee is likely traveling overseas or writing in a local coffee shop.
Teressa Mahoney
Singer-Songwriter
Teressa Mahoney is a singer/songwriter who likes to sing about beauty and goodness that crash through into the shadowlands. Her debut EP, "Made New," was released in the fall of 2017. She sings and plays guitar at local venues as well as leading worship for churches and events. Teressa is currently working on her first full length album. She lives in Castle Rock, CO with her husband and their four children.
Matt Mellema
Co-Host, Believe to See Podcast
Matt Mellema is a writer and attorney in Colorado Springs who moonlights (technically daylights) as the founder and co-host of the Believe to See Podcast, an Anselm podcast that brings artists of faith together to talk about deep, challenging, and frequently funny things. You can listen on iTunes or on our Soundcloud page. Matt's writing can be found at mattmellema.com.
Michelle Hindman
Teacher
As director of hospitality for the Anselm Society, Michelle crafts some of our most unique events, including our fall retreat, Divine Inspiration: Approaching God in the Artist's Craft. She also teaches literature at a classical school and has a knack for captivating a room with her retellings of stories from classic literature. She is a graduate of Westmont College.
Evangeline Denmark
Author, Curio
Evangeline writes stories with hints of whimsy, glimmers of fantasy, and strokes of the supernatural. Her debut novel, Curio (Blink, 2016), is a young adult steampunk fantasy. She has also published Mark of Blood and Alchemy: A Curio Prequel and The Ice Child: A Winter Fairy Tale. She lives in Colorado in a house stuffed full of animals and creative people that would surely go to ruin were it not for the watchful eye of a cattle dog named Willie. You can find her in all the usual social media spots by searching her weird name or at www.evangelinedenmark.com.
Marcus Robinson
Singer-Songwriter
Marcus Robinson (aka Mearlan) is a songwriter taking songs into his neighborhood. Around the age of fifteen he picked up a guitar and started banging out his own songs, singing them against the walls of his bedroom as if life depended on it. Maybe it did. Music became a vital part of Marcus' pastoral calling after college. He led worship bands for congregations, conferences, camps, and once even led songs from the front of a train climbing Pikes Peak. Marcus kept writing his own songs and even formed an occasional band with friends. As director of the Anselm Society Arts Guild he is being shaped by writers, painters, poets, visual artists, classical musicians, and other songwriters. His music and live show schedule can me found at mearlan.com.
Kristopher Orr
Artist
After Kristopher earned his Bachelor’s of Arts in Art from Belhaven College, he apprenticed under the famous artist Thomas Blackshear. From Thomas, Kristopher developed a sense of the way shapes, lines, and forms interact and press into space to shape stories. Those stories reach their greatest potential when crafted in phileo love for one’s audience.
Kristopher is an award winning Art Director at WaterBrook Multnomah. He has had the privilege of working with authors such as Tim Tebow, Katie Davis Majors, Nick Vujicic, Erwin Raphael McManus, Jeffrey Overstreet, Lori Benton, and many others. Kristopher excels at finding the core idea and figuring out a creative way to say that visually to a specific audience.
Kristopher greatly enjoys the deep thoughts and heart stirrings that come with experiencing art with his wife. When not engaged in aesthetics, Kristopher can be found exploring Colorado with his family.
See more of Kristopher’s work at www.Korrart.com