Once again it is the privilege of C.S. Lewis Foundation and Cultivating Oaks Press to host our extraordinary gathering for those who shepherd words in the magnificent castle of Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs.
This conference offers a unique perspective among the great constellation of writer’s conferences: we do not address how to build a “platform” or how to get published. We address the why before the how of writing. We attend to the soul-craft of word shepherds.
Our speakers and workshop leaders are each seasoned word shepherds themselves – writers, editors, and publishers – both personally and professionally familiar with the challenges of a writer’s life, particularly as a follower of Christ. They share a wealth of real life field experience with us as fellow word shepherds.
This event bears quintessential marks of both the C.S. Lewis Foundation and Cultivating Oaks Press: superb teaching, nurtured relationships, rich hospitality, time to pray and to ponder, and opportunity to connect with fellow writers presented in the setting of grand beauty.
Whatever stage of life you may find yourself in as a word shepherd – just beginning, seasoned veteran, or somewhere in between – come join us and be renewed in the company of your kindred. This conference is made for you.
Coming soon! As we confirm our breakout seminar facilitators, we will post them here.
Coming soon! As we confirm our facilitators, we will post them here.
Facilitator’s topics are listed under their bio. Click the title for a popup with the description.
Matt is originally from Dallas, Texas. Following graduate school at Texas A&M, he went to work for Compassion International. During that time Matt, his wife Lauren, and family lived all over in places like the Dominican Republic and Australia. He is currently the Senior Pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church here in Colorado Springs and is doing doctoral work on how imagination can reinvigorate theology and renew faith.
Clay is a Christian writer and author of ten books, husband and father of a family of writers, Publisher of Whole Heart Press, director of Whole Heart Ministries, and a book conceiver/designer. He also writes acoustic music for guitar, sonnets for poetic exercise, creative fiction for challenge, and children’s books for pleasure.
Nicole is Director of Formational Community with The Cultivating Project and founder and co-director of OneStory. She serves locally as a teaching pastor with The Practice Church, an experimental community dedicated to practicing the way of Jesus together. Nicole holds a Masters in Apologetics from Houston Baptist University and is a wife and mother of four.
Junius is the executive director of Junius Johnson Academics, offering innovative classes for both children and adults. An essential member of The Cultivating Project and columnist for Cultivating Magazine, he holds a PhD in Philosophical Theology from Yale University, and is the author of five books, including On Teaching Fairy Stories.
Corey is a poet, writer, speaker, educator, and most importantly, a father of four. He holds Master’s Degrees in Religion, English, and Counseling, and a Ph.D. in Literature. A columnist for Cultivating Magazine, he is also the author of C. S. Lewis and the Art of Writing, and the forthcoming Live the Question: Letters on Faith and Art.
President of The Steve Laube Agency, Steve is a literary agent, editor, author, publisher of Enclave Publishing, and President of The Christian Writers Institute. He has worked in multiple facets of the publishing & bookselling industry for 40 years and brings an unparalleled wealth of perspective to Christian writers, publishers, and editors.
Amy is a founding member The Cultivating Project, contributing writer and columnist for Cultivating magazine, a literary member and former co-director of the Anselm Society Arts Guild, and the author of This Homeward Ache. A lifelong appreciator of stories, she holds an MA in English literature from the University of Virginia.
Amy holds an MA in creative writing from Lancaster University in England and is a multi-year fellow of The Cultivating Project. A columnist for Cultivating magazine, Amy writes poetry and creative nonfiction exploring questions about God, faith, and the soul.
Jason serves on the board of An Unexpected Journal, as a strategist for the C.S. Lewis Foundation, and as the senior editor for acquisitions and development at Wootton Major Publishing. He is the pseudonymous author of the much-loved young adult fantasy series Fayborn and reviews every book he reads at www.goodreads.com/mrwootton.
Adam Nettesheim is Director of Fellowship for The Cultivating Project, and a columnist for Cultivating Magazine. Through writing and illustrating, Adam seeks to pull on the golden thread that leads us Homeward. Adam is a Multimedia Specialist by day at a municipality in Colorado but his most important (and favorite) work is husband to his wife Sarah and father to his 3 children.
Brian is the founder and director of the Anselm Society, a Colorado-based organization dedicated to a renaissance of the Christian imagination. Since receiving his B.A. in political theory from Princeton, Brian has worked for various think tanks and as a strategy consultant with over a hundred organizations in the theology, worldview, and culture space.
Clay is a Christian writer and author of ten books, husband and father of a family of writers, Publisher of Whole Heart Press, director of Whole Heart Ministries, and a book conceiver/designer. He also writes acoustic music for guitar, sonnets for poetic exercise, creative fiction for challenge, and children’s books for pleasure.
Nicole is Director of Formational Community with The Cultivating Project and founder and co-director of OneStory. She serves locally as a teaching pastor with The Practice Church, an experimental community dedicated to practicing the way of Jesus together. Nicole holds a Masters in Apologetics from Houston Baptist University and is a wife and mother of four.
Junius is the executive director of Junius Johnson Academics, offering innovative classes for both children and adults. An essential member of The Cultivating Project and columnist for Cultivating Magazine, he holds a PhD in Philosophical Theology from Yale University, and is the author of five books, including On Teaching Fairy Stories.
Corey is a poet, writer, speaker, educator, and most importantly, a father of four. He holds Master’s Degrees in Religion, English, and Counseling, and a Ph.D. in Literature. A columnist for Cultivating Magazine, he is also the author of C. S. Lewis and the Art of Writing, and the forthcoming Live the Question: Letters on Faith and Art.
President of The Steve Laube Agency, Steve is a literary agent, editor, author, publisher of Enclave Publishing, and President of The Christian Writers Institute. He has worked in multiple facets of the publishing & bookselling industry for 40 years and brings an unparalleled wealth of perspective to Christian writers, publishers, and editors.
Amy is a founding member The Cultivating Project, contributing writer and columnist for Cultivating magazine, a literary member and former co-director of the Anselm Society Arts Guild, and the author of This Homeward Ache. A lifelong appreciator of stories, she holds an MA in English literature from the University of Virginia.
Amy holds an MA in creative writing from Lancaster University in England and is a multi-year fellow of The Cultivating Project. A columnist for Cultivating magazine, Amy writes poetry and creative nonfiction exploring questions about God, faith, and the soul.
Jason serves on the board of An Unexpected Journal, as a strategist for the C.S. Lewis Foundation, and as the senior editor for acquisitions and development at Wootton Major Publishing. He is the pseudonymous author of the much-loved young adult fantasy series Fayborn and reviews every book he reads at www.goodreads.com/mrwootton.
Adam Nettesheim is Director of Fellowship for The Cultivating Project, and a columnist for Cultivating Magazine. Through writing and illustrating, Adam seeks to pull on the golden thread that leads us Homeward. Adam is a Multimedia Specialist by day at a municipality in Colorado but his most important (and favorite) work is husband to his wife Sarah and father to his 3 children.
*See the Schedule for details on these Sessions & Classes.
Nestled on 723 breathtaking acres, Glen Eyrie is a place where, for a few sacred moments, guests can set aside their troubles and catch their breath.
Located at the edge of Colorado Springs, it is an extraordinary destination that provides an unforgettable experience enhanced by the natural, historical, and spiritual legacies of the property.
Situated in the serene and secluded Queen’s Canyon, guests feel miles away, though just minutes from the world-renown Garden of the Gods, historic downtown Colorado Springs, and shopping in Old Colorado City. The Colorado Springs Municipal Airport is only 30 minutes away and Denver is an easy, one-hour drive north.
*Description and © images courtesy of Glen Eyrie Castle.
We are currently sold out and registration is closed. If you would like to be added to a waitlist, please Contact Us.
High School Students:
Under age 18; must be accompanied by a responsible adult due to venue policy. If the adult is attending the conference, they will need to register for the conference at full price; if the adult is not attending, he or she will need to be present at the venue.
Undergraduate College Students:
Must be 25 years old or under and currently attending a college or university to receive this rate.
Cancellations and Refunds:
• Registrations are fully refundable through 2/28/26.
• After 2/28/26, $75 of the registration fee is non-refundable. The remainder is refundable if registration is cancelled by 4/8/26.
• After 4/8/2026, the registration fee is non-refundable, but may be transferred to another person who hasn’t already registered.
Lodging:
Registrants are responsible for the costs of their accommodations, separate from the registration fee listed above.
Photography and Filming Policy:
By registering for the event, you give your consent to be filmed/photographed during the event for potential use for archival, fundraising, marketing, and promotional productions of Cultivating Oaks Press, LLC., and The C.S. Lewis Foundation. We will request parental consent before we publicly use any photo including a minor.
Andrew Peterson is a singer-songwriter, author, and founder of the Rabbit Room.
As an acclaimed musician, he has earned a reputation for songs that connect with his listeners in ways equally powerful, poetic, and intimate. As an author, Andrew’s books include the four volumes of the award-winning Wingfeather Saga, which have sold more than a million copies, along with his creative memoirs, Adorning the Dark, and The God of the Garden. He’s also an executive producer of the Wingfeather Saga Animated Series, which is currently in production on its third season with Angel Studios.
In 2008 Andrew founded the Rabbit Room, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, Tennessee that nourishes Christ-centered communities by cultivating and curating stories, art, and music.
Lancia E. Smith is the founder and Executive Director of Cultivating, The Maker’s Project, and Cultivating Oaks Press.
As a writer, publisher, speaker, and teacher, her life’s work has been committed to helping others find their recovery and roots in Christ, and to find their voices and calling to bear Him witness.
To that end, Lancia has served in executive management in business, church leadership, school boards, and art & faith organizations providing consulting and organizational support. She is editor-in-chief for Cultivating Oak Press publications and writes three columns for their flagship publication, Cultivating.
Next in her queue are two books coming out in the spring of 2026: Bearing Witness – Fifteen Years of Conversations with Malcolm Guite, and Cultivating A Writer’s Life: A Field Guide for Word Shepherds. You can follow her on Substack at Cultivating A Writer’s Life.
Malcolm Guite is an English poet, Anglican priest, academic, and singer-songwriter.
He lectures internationally and is the author of full length collections of poetry, including Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (2012), The Singing Bowl (2013), and David’s Crown (2021); books on Christian faith and theology including Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2017) and Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination (2012), and The Word Within the Words (2022); and has contributed to numerous collaborative manuscripts.
His newest endeavour, Galahad and the Grail, will release in March 2026. This is the first volume of his Arthuriad titled, Merlin’s Isle, a four volume epic ballad re-introducing a readers to the numinous tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
He is host of the wildly popular YouTube channel, A Spell in Library.
Andrew Roycroft is a freelance editor and writer who has served for better than twenty-four years in full-time ministry, in local church pastorates and as a missionary in Perú.
He is a visiting lecturer at the Irish Baptist College, teaching Biblical Theology and Apologetics and has led seminars with the C.S. Lewis Foundation for the Summer Institute held in Belfast, Northern Ireland. As an active writer and editor, Andrew has published poetry in a number of Irish and British literary journals, produced work for BBC Radio 4, contributed to Arts Council Northern Ireland projects, and written commissioned work for New Irish Arts. Andrew is also a regular contributor to the Rabbit Room Poetry community, and is a columnist for Cultivating. His first poetry collection, 33 (published by Square Halo Books in 2022) is a collaborative work with visual artist Ned Bustard, offering reflections on John’s gospel.
He is working on his next full length collection of poetry titled, 66, with Square Halo Books.
A pretty deep dive into Narnia-specific essays “Three Ways,” “Sometimes Fairy Tales,” and especially “On Stories,” to glean how Lewis desired the Chronicles to be written, read, and lived.
Good writing is an art. On the canvas of paper or pixels, it is skillfully and imaginatively using the living lines of language, the mercurial colors of words, and the careful composition of sentences to tell a story that only you can tell. The art of good writing does not happen by accident; it emerges from a heart cultivated with a love for the life of writing. In many ways, good writing is an incarnation in words of the heart of the writer. In this session we will briefly explore four taproots of the serious writer’s life—Character, Creativity, Craft, and Community—to discover how writing as a work of heart becomes the writer’s work of art.
We were not meant to write alone. As deep calls unto deep, our souls are formed by and for connection with others, and the same is true of our writing. As we work to cultivate our craft, God is deep at work making a masterpiece of us. And both are worked out in relationship. In this session, we will explore some foundational practices for cultivating intimate community such as building safety and connection, how to give and receive feedback, and naming some common barriers we all face in forming true and lasting connection – all so we might spur one another on to do the good works He has planned for us long ago.
Just as it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth sings, so it is by the overflow of the heart’s joy that the soul sings. And if we, as writers, wish to inspire our readers to sing, or if we wish to fill their hearts with wonder, we must begin with the wonder that is in our own souls. In this session, author and educator, Junius Johnson, offers a guided discussion aimed at exploring our blockages and dry spots as writers then looks at the practices and principles that help us keep our own wonder tanks filled. This interactive class will prepare you to take command of your daily and weekly routines and more consistently find your own place of inspiration.”
There is a certain wildness in the way Lewis dared to depict big themes, but never at the expense of effective prose. Drawing from his fiction and literary essays, we will discuss how C. S. Lewis expressed bold ideas about God, life, love, and the imagination in clear and moving prose. We will discuss just how Lewis was able to communicate abstract ideas through concrete language as well as engage in experiential exercises to embody practical writing tips.
Tackle the core elements that make up every successful book project.
Some Christian and mainstream cultures promote an emotional prosperity gospel that stifles a broad swath of human experience. In this session, poet Amy Malskeit will lead us in discovering an invitation and a practice rooted in the Psalms, to befriend the fullness of our human experience in God’s presence. Drawing from poets such as Levertov, L’Engle and Oliver, we will write in concert with Psalms that will help us orient ourselves in The Story, finding ourselves invited to cultivate our own humanity, and as we write, invite others to do the same.
What is the aim of our writing? Why aren’t we content to let writing be a private hobby, and what, exactly, do we expect it to be instead?
When we begin to act on that persistent inner prompting to write, we often have some end in mind. Notions of publishing deals, bestseller lists, speaking tours, literary awards, high-profile interviews, or film options jostle for our imaginative attention and distract from the project beneath our pen. These phantasms creep round the edges of our mental landscape, taunting and troubling us with ill-defined dreams.
But who taught us to want these things? What does attaining them look like? What effect does chasing them, even in daydreams, have on our writing, and more importantly, on us as writers?
In this session, we’ll take a sober look at the writing-industrial complex and at ourselves to become “wise as serpents and innocent as doves,” seeking the inner renewal and transformation that will ennoble us to act as prophets and priests, baptizers and redeemers, heralds and ambassadors in the world of professional writing.
Like everything on this side of Eden, community does not always come easily. The ‘thistles and thorns’ that curse the ground after the fall can grow in relationships too. For those of us with strong imaginations, sensitive spirits, and impulses that bend toward introversion, sometimes making worlds in our mind or on paper or on a canvas feels safer than living in the real one with real people. In this class we will acknowledge both ache and need that reminds us that what was spoken from the beginning is still true today: “it is not good for man to be alone”.
Being a Christian and a writer is a tall order—whether we’re struggling with the link between faith and craft, or with crippling habits we’ve unconsciously absorbed from the surrounding culture. In this session, Brian Brown will draw from Dante, Dorothy Sayers, and a decade of working with writers and churches to cast a renewed vision for both your identity and your creative process.
High altitude has its benefits; our bodies use more calories and burn more fat. But, for lowland travelers who are new to a high altitude environment, it can produce some unusual side effects such as dizziness, nausea and headaches.
Below you will find some helpful high altitude tips to help you acclimate to our elevation.
