CULTIVATE 2025 is here! Come join faithful creatives and leaders from all over the world in this exclusive virtual event taking place June 20-22. This year we are focusing on cultivating UNRELENTING HOPE.

THE RETREAT WILL BE LIVE ON ZOOM AND RECORDED FOR AFTER-VIEWING FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT ATTEND ALL SESSIONS LIVE OR WISH TO RE-WATCH THE EXPERIENCE. THE LIVE EVENT AND RECORDINGS ARE INCLUDED IN THE PRICE.

NEW Presenter and Performance Line-up:

DAY ONE: JUNE 20

• Welcome: Community Introductions and Overview with Kimberly Phinney, Edward Holmes, and TWBTO Team @ 7:00-7:45 pm EST

• SESSION 1: Edward Holmes, spoken word poet, author, podcaster, and publisher @ 7:45-8:45 pm EST

Hope Through Speaking Up

Edward Holmes brings a message of hope with his poetry, podcasting, and prompts. Enjoy live spoken word and encouragement on the theme of hope. Then, learn how to start your first podcast and why recording and performing your poetry matters.

DAY TWO: JUNE 21

• SESSION 2: KEYNOTE –Sarah E. Westfall, writer, speaker, author of The Way of Belonging @ 11:00 am-12:00 pm EST

Belonging Right Where You Are

We are communal creatures, but for many of us, belonging is complicated. Barriers surface from outside and from within, and our longing for a place and a people often sours into an ache. But in this session, Sarah E. Westfall invites us to re-examine our approach to belonging, not as something we strive to attain or achieve, but as a way of being in the world–right here, right now.

• SESSION 3: BREAKOUTS 1 @ 1:00-2:00 PM (PICK ONE)

Room 1: Kayleon Dortch-Elliott, speaker and author of To Everything and It is Well: Cultivating Hope in the In-Between- Join Kayleon as we explore liminality, liminal spaces, and liminal theology. She’ll be sharing on the misconceptions surrounding hope, why hope is worth cultivating, and how to practically cultivate hope in the spiritual in-between. She’ll also reveal how the creative process is a liminal space and how you can practically cultivate hope in the creative in-between through writing practices.

Room 2: Heather Lobe Johnson, poet, podcaster, and instructor with the Poetry Cohort: Anchored and Unafraid: Growing Your Writing Voice with Daily Faithful Steps-In this session, join Heather as we explore how daily creative rhythms rooted in faith can help you uncover your authentic voice, overcome resistance, and write with greater clarity, boldness, and hope. You’ll walk away inspired and equipped as you take your next steps in cultivating hope and your writing voice.

Room 3: Deidre Braley, editor, writer, podcaster, and author of The Shape I Take: ROOM 3: Boiling Down Your Book Idea: A Workshop on Flash-Drafting Your Title, Subtitle, and Elevator Pitch- Come get hopeful and productive about your next big book idea with Deidre. Get the inside scoop on how to distill the ideas floating around in your head into clear and concise phrases that will help you communicate your message and pique the interest of prospective literary agents and editors.

Room 4:Mariana Mosli, academic, writer, podcaster, theologian with Meet at the Well: Border-Crossing Grace: Gospel for the Outsider- For anyone who’s felt like they are too much, not enough, or out of place—this session is for you. Mariana offers a gentle invitation through Woman at the Well theology, exploring how we are known in our questions and contradictions. You’ll leave with language for your story to enrich your soul and writing rhythms, practices for reframing rejection, and the reminder that even when you feel unseen—you are deeply known.

• SESSION 4: BREAKOUTS 2 @ 2:15-3:15 PM

Room 1: Kayleon Dortch-Elliott, speaker and author of To Everything and It is Well: Cultivating Hope in the In-Between (REPEATED)

Room 2: Heather Lobe Johnson, poet, podcaster, and instructor with the Poetry Cohort: Anchored and Unafraid: Growing Your Writing Voice with Daily Faithful Steps (REPEATED)

Room 3: Deidre Braley, editor, writer, podcaster, and author of The Shape I Take: ROOM 3: Crafting Your Nonfiction Book Proposal: An Overview of the Necessary Components- Join Deidre in this extremely informative and equipping talk on learning the essential components of the nonfiction book proposal and receive a helpful list of the “dos and don’ts” to consider before you hit “submit.” (NEW)

Room 4:Mariana Mosli, academic, writer, podcaster, theologian with Meet at the Well: Breaking Barriers, Not People: A Hopeful Way Forward- With the increasing pressure to pick sides or stay silent, what if hope in a polarized world looked like a conversation at a well? In this session, Mariana explores how Meet at the Well theology offers a relational way to bridge divides—through dignity, curiosity, and faith in action. Learn how to cultivate holy space for healing dialogue and the freedom to begin the conversation–not just in your writing but in the communities you serve and live in. (NEW)

• SESSION 5: Matt Nash, writer, spiritual director, and founder of Kardia Community @ 4:00-5:00 pm EST

Cultivating Embodied Hope

In seasons of sorrow, uncertainty, or inner wilderness, it can be easy to feel disconnected—from ourselves, from others, and from hope. Matt will help us explore how to embody hope—not as a distant concept, but as a living, breathing presence that can take root within you, even in the midst of pain. We will learn spiritual practices together that will help you cultivate hope in your mind, body, and soul everyday.

• SESSION 6: Kimberly Phinney, professor, author, and founder of The Way Back to Ourselves @ 5:00-6:30 pm EST

Part 1: Seeking Exalted Ground: Writing and Hoping Through the Holy and Hard- For every hard place, there is holy ground. Even valleys bloom flowers. And even the dark night gives way to the morning. Journey with Kimberly Phinney into your deepest pains and learn how to access them, heal through them, and trust them to God with your calling and creativity.

Part 2: Your Hopeful Purpose: Publishing and Platform- Come learn about publishing (traditional, independent, hybrid, and literary journals, etc.) and growing authentic platforms that serve as spiritual pillars and literary lighthouses through Substack and Instagram.

DAY THREE: JUNE 22

• SESSION 7: KEYNOTE– Tanner Olson, writer, poet, author, and founder of WrittentoSpeak.com @ 2:00-3:00 pm EST

Hope in Enduring: Faithful Practices for the Soul and the Creative

Come join Tanner Olson as he performs some of his most popular poetry, spreads the message of hope in hard times, and talks about growing as an artist, as we learn to create sustainable rhythms for longevity while holding fast to hope in every season.

• SESSION 8: KEYNOTE– Stephen Roach, writer, speaker, podcaster of Makers and Mystics, and founder of The Breath and the Clay @ 3:15-4:15 pm EST

Architects of Hope: A Counter-Cultural Approach to Making Art

The cynicism and negative bent of our modern cultural environment are antithetical to true creative expression. In this talk, Stephen Roach will show, through historical examples, scriptural references, and personal experiences, how artists of faith can offer hope to our communities through encounters with wonder and counter-cultural approaches to life and art.

• SESSION 9: Sarah Steele, speaker, poet, editor, and author of An Ocean Without @ 4:45-5:45 pm EST

  Hope in Smallness: Why a Small Life is a Good Life

Big platforms aren’t the only places beauty grows. Sarah Steele invites writers and creatives to consider the quiet power of showing up locally, creating faithfully, and rooting their work in physical communities—not just digital ones. Come be encouraged to trade striving for significance for a slower, more lasting kind of fruitfulness.

• SESSION 10: GOODBYE/OPEN MIC/Q&A hosted by Kimberly Phinney and Edward Holmes @ 5:45-6:30 pm EST

Cultivating Unrelenting Hope, Together

Join Kimberly, Edward, and TWBTO Team in this closing session where we reflect, share, ask questions, and perform our own poetry. It will be a special time to bring this memorable retreat to a close.

PLEASE NOTE: *Due to the nature of this event, all purchases are nonrefundable.