Amplify Partners Show Up to Support Voicez, Inc. and Waters of Rest

MUSICAL GUEST

Courtland Pickens and members from KnownMPLS, brought energy to the room as they shared their musical gifts. They had the crowd up on their feet by the end of the evening! 

GUEST SPEAKER

Kirsten Marsh, a licensed marriage and family therapist, shared about the landscape of mental health and the current epidemic of loneliness. 

Marsh offered hope found in the power of relationships to heal. “Healing through relationships isn’t limited to therapy. It’s the power that we all possess as people made in the image of a relational, loving, and compassionate God.” 

She challenged partners to ditch the us versus them thinking. “We’ve been trained to see people who differ from us as other, or idiots, or evil, or some other terrible name. Tribalism breeds insecurity.”

Marsh encouraged those in the room to “make time to develop real connections based on who we are as individuals with unique stories and experiences. We need proximity and presence. We need to be face-to-face and voice-to-voice. We need to enter into each other’s lives looking for the individual, and not the ideology. We need a posture of sincere curiosity. We need to welcome a person’s story. We need to be patient with people who aren’t ready to be vulnerable.” 

She left us with the challenge to be conduits of love in the spaces we move in, “Who are the people you need to go towards? What holds you back? What might you risk and what might you gain?”

PRESENTING MINISTRIES

We heard from two young, emerging organizations who are lifting spirits, giving individuals renewed purpose and relying on the power of team work and unity to produce powerful change in self, family, and community. 

Courtland Pickens, founder of Voicez, Inc., uses the power of music and sound to unite youth in the heart of the city and help them become who they are destined to be. With a forty-member choir and big dreams for the future, Courtland shared the challenges that prevent him from bringing his vision to fruition. He invited leaders in the room to brainstorm creative solutions to increase capacity and propel him forward.

Cathleen Gosselin, founder of Waters of Rest, shared her mission to use the quiet and solitude of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to restore and transform individuals. Through fully outfitted summer trips, Waters of Rest provides adults the opportunity to find counter-cultural rest and renewal. Gosselin has largely relied on friends and family to help fund the organization in its beginning stage. She invited leaders in the room to help create a blueprint for new sustainable revenue.

Amplify partners then rolled up their sleeves and got to work, sharing ideas, connections, and expertise to help each ministry overcome the barriers presented and reach new levels of impact. 

Julie Eide, President of Amplify wrapped up the evening by sharing a preview of our next meeting in January and inviting partners to continue working with the ministries at the AMP Sessions next week.