Sowing Seeds in the Sand: Transforming the Way You Find Yourself in Antiracism
Pre-Festival Offering
Thursday August 28, 2025
9 am – 5 pm
cost: $59.00
Participants will experience
- a heartfelt connection with America’s racial history
- a communal expression of grief and complexity
- a faithful Good News answer for why we do antiracism work in the church
- why our communities should embrace it.
There will be sociological examinations of definitions of race, racism, systemic racism, internalized racial privilege, internalized racial inferiority, and communal confession, healing and opportunity for liberation.
- Remember yourself as a child of God, as dearly loved for all of your uniqueness.
- Wonder together. When you are invited to wonder, this is not a rhetorical question!
- Be open to the dignity of every human being in the stories. Offering dignity is not celebrating the behavior. It might help us notice the places that we ourselves forget God’s dream that we love each other as dearly as God loves us.
- Realize there is no perfection in this work. White people often seek to read all the right books, memorize definitions and be straight-A students. We do not ascribe to that model.
- Be open to experience the definitions usually connected to antiracism you already know in a different way.
FACILITATORS
Jennifer Holt Enriquez (Jen, she/her/hers) is a Christian formation professional at St. Christopher’s in Oak Park in the Diocese of Chicago. She is a licensed attorney and has operated her own small business since 2003. Jen began working with kids in a professional capacity when her own kids were in preschool. She transitioned to ministry in 2015, and became active within Forma. Jen is an advocate for Christian formation and the importance of lay ministers within the church.
Jen’s path to antiracism work began when she created a Peace Camp for kids in 2017. At Peace Camp kids explore different world religions but no particular religion is promoted. It was successful at St. Christopher’s and gained the support of an ecumenical clergy group; it was due to expand to two other churches (a total of five) in 2020 with the theme of antiracism. When Jen connected with Will in a Zoom class in October 2020 she was inspired by how he articulated racism as a sin that separates us from God. The opportunity to bring our Christian faith to the real lives of families is infused with the Holy Spirit and the most meaningful work of her life.
Jen’s family includes husband Tony, two teenagers, and three dachshunds. She loves to get her hands dirty in the garden and recently began fostering monarch caterpillars. She has completed ten marathons. Jen grew up in North Dakota, spent 27 years in Virginia, and identifies as white.
William Bouvel (Will, he/him/his) was ordained in the diocese of Chicago in 2021 and was previously Director of Children’s Ministries for 5 years at St. Chrysostom’s Church Chicago. He completed his Masters of Divinity in 2020 at the University of Chicago and also holds a Masters in Music from the Royal Academy of Music London. He’s had several previous careers as a classical tenor soloist, computer programmer, and aspiring urban planner. Will identifies as White and is originally from the Philadelphia suburbs.
Will’s graduate thesis “Recovering Scripture through the Sacred Imagination of Bibliodrama” explores how imagination is essential to scriptural interpretation. Bibliodrama (developed by Peter Pitzele) and other wondering-based approaches easily invite individuals and communities, especially children, into the ongoing work to make meaning from the holy texts that tell us who and whose we are.
In 2018 Will started exploring the idea of an “antiracist Sunday School” and has been working with Children’s Formation leaders for several years to grow that work. The 2020 pandemic and outcry over racial injustice catalyzed this work in October 2020 when the Holy Spirit connected him with Jen Enriquez over a zoom session. He now works with her in sharing the good news that comes from bringing children into the work of dismantling racism. Their work together has been a great joy.
Outside of ministry, Will and husband Fred are new dads to their newborn daughter. Will loves living in Chicago, cooking, biking, bird watching, Star Trek, and yoga.
Check In for pre-festival events will be available on Wednesday from 1 pm to 5 pm, and Thursday from 7am to 9 am.
If you’re tent camping, there’s no additional campsite charge for Wednesday night.
Some campsite locations are restricted due to large venue tent construction in several areas.
RV campers will need to purchase an additional night.