Special Guests

Colleen Windham-Hughes, PhD, MDiv

• Associate Vice President for Mission and Identity, California Lutheran University

For thirteen years, Colleen served as a faculty member and department chair of Religion at Cal Lutheran. In recent years she also served as Associate Dean of Interdisciplinary Programs and Community Outreach in the College of Arts and Sciences. In July 2023, Colleen was officially appointed Associate Vice President for Mission and Identity. In this role, she works closely with faculty, staff, and students to articulate and help us embody the institutional values that ground our mission and make our university the kind of community where each person can cultivate gifts to offer and receive the gifts of others. 

Colleen is also active in the broader Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU), serving as editor of Intersections and on the Faculty Working Group that plans the Vocation of Lutheran Higher Education Conference. She is currently working on the Design Team of the Formation Co-Op, an ELCA grant for children, youth, and family ministry funded by the Lilly Foundation. 

Deacon John Weit

• Churchwide Representative, Executive for Worship at Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Deacon John Weit serves as Executive for Worship of the ELCA. In this role, John oversees the work of the worship team within the churchwide organization and provides leadership on behalf of the presiding bishop in matters related to worship. This includes developing and implementing strategies and resources that support worship in synods, congregations and other local worship assemblies across the ELCA as well as planning and worship leadership for churchwide events.

Prior to his call to the churchwide organization in 2016, John served as musician for congregations in Pennsylvania and most recently as cantor to Trinity Lutheran Church in Worcester, Mass. John earned a Master of Arts in religion with a concentration in liturgy and music from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, now United Lutheran Seminary. As part of his work with the ELCA, John works closely with the board of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.

Rev. Dr. Toni Hawkins

• Transitional Conference Minister, Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Altonnette D. Hawkins, fondly known as Dr. Toni, is an ordained minister dually aligned in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), currently serving the Southwest Conference of the UCC as their Transitional Conference Minister. 

She is an adjunct faculty member at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) and Lexington Theological Seminary. Toni has been mentoring seminarians and members in discernment for more than a decade as a field education supervisor, an Under Care mentor in the DOC, and advisor in the former In Care and current Member in Discernment processes in the UCC.

Dr. Hawkins is a licensed pastoral counselor, a certified conflict mediation and negotiation coach, and DEI facilitator. She received training at the Harvard University School of Law, Executive Education Program on Negotiation and Dispute Resolution. Also, she trained in conflict transformation through the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center and with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Anti-Racism and Pro-Reconciliation Training Team.

She has served as a local pastor in the DOC and the UCC in the states of Maryland and Kentucky. She is among those listed in Who’s Who in Louisville: African American Profiles. She serves on a variety of local, regional, and national boards.

She earned a B.A. in Public Administration from Rutgers University, a M.Div. at Howard University School of Divinity, and a D. Min. at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Dr. Hawkins is the mother of two adult sons, three grandchildren, and her heartbeat is her 90-year-old mother, fondly known as Mom Diva. Her guiding scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6 and favorite saying is "the best is yet to come!"

Chaplain, Capt Matthew W. Dobyns

• United States Air Force

Chaplain, Capt Matthew W. Dobyns is the Unit Chaplain assigned to an AFSOC Unit. His responsibilities include providing confidential pastoral counseling to military personnel, their dependents, and other authorized individuals. In addition to providing for the free exercise of religion, he advises leaders at all levels regarding mental and spiritual readiness, ethics, morale, and religious accommodation; conducts religious worship, rites and ceremonies; provides moral and religious education; and develops and implements proactive resiliency programs.

Chaplain Dobyns entered the Air Force in June 2015 with a direct commission into the Air Force Reserve as a chaplain. Chaplain Dobyns transferred to Active Duty in 2018. He is endorsed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Prior to his current assignment, Chaplain Dobyns was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.