We are pleased to welcome Dr. Marina Hofman to the ELO Forums speakers' roster for 2026. She will be speaking in both Winnipeg (October 22) and Vancouver (November 4).

In a culture that rewards speed, visibility, and constant performance, leadership can quietly become unsustainable. Many leaders feel the demand to produce, grow, and succeed—yet find that the very pace required to keep up erodes clarity, conviction, and spiritual grounding.

This is the tension Dr. Marina Hofman will address in her upcoming session: “What Does It Mean to Lead Like Christ in a Culture of Pressure and Performance Without Losing Your Center?”

Dr. Hofman serves as Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. A biblical scholar, award-winning author, and speaker, her work focuses on how Scripture forms leaders who can carry influence, pressure, and responsibility without losing their center in Christ.

Bringing together scholarship and real-world leadership formation, Dr. Hofman has written for both ministry and academic contexts. She is the author of Women in the Bible: Small Group Bible Study, Everyday Faith for Your Family, Walking Through the Storms of Life with God’s Word, and Christian Leadership Values for a New Generation (gen. ed.). Her work has received national academic recognition and contributes to conversations in biblical interpretation, leadership, and spiritual formation.

In addition to her academic and writing work, she is co-owner and Director of Professional Services at the publishing company Castle Quay Books and regularly engages national and international Christian audiences through media platforms and speaking engagements.

In this session, Dr. Hofman reframes leadership around a different center. Rather than building from pressure or performance, she invites leaders to consider what it means to lead from abiding in Christ as the source from which they build, lead, and make decisions.

With particular attention to the realities women face in leadership, this session offers both a compelling vision and practical direction for those who want to grow what they are building without losing what grounds them.

If you are navigating the tension between calling and capacity, growth and sustainability, you won’t want to miss this conversation. 

To learn more and read her story, visit womeninthebible.info

Interested in attending?