Thrive 2026

Summer Conference

Date: June 5-6, 2026
Location:
Crossings Community Church
14600 N Portland Ave
Oklahoma City, OK

Tickets: $35 per mom
Childcare: $5 per family
Provided for ages birth - 11 years

Event Highlights

Inspirational Speakers
Breakout Sessions
Catered Meals
Fabulous Door Prizes
Connect Time with Other Single Moms

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About the Event

Thrive is an inspiring weekend for single moms seeking community, encouragement, and guidance.

The Thrive Gathering is a one-of-a-kind event specifically for single moms. Held in Oklahoma City, women from all over the country will gather to be encouraged and empowered to flourish as single parents. In addition to inspiring teaching, Thrive Gathering connects attendees with other single moms and kids walking the same road.

Meet Our Leaders

Mel Hiett

Mel joined the Arise team as project development director in 2020 after serving 16 years as a youth pastor. While working with teens, she especially appreciated their curiosity and their many questions that oftentimes led to deep conversations. Mel was a single mom of two young boys—one now an adult son and one a middle schooler—for nine years before marrying her husband, Trae. Together they have five children, a dog, and some chickens. Mel is honored to walk alongside single moms in their journey and has a handful of wild stories and God moments to share with all of you.
Shelley Pulliam

Shelley enjoys travel, genealogy, and spending time with friends. Single, never married, she’s a former teacher of hormone-filled eighth graders. She was named teacher of the year and outstanding national Holocaust educator because of her innovative teaching methods. She loves kids and is passionate about impacting the lives of the next generation. Shelley is a voracious reader, loves sports, and enjoys movie marathons at the theater. Shelley is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Arise Single Moms, but her favorite title is aunt.
Lisa Leininger

Lisa’s greatest desire is for people to realize the powerful, never-ending love of Jesus. She’s passionate about creating an environment that allows believers to be honest and genuine in expressing their worship to God. While serving locally in various churches, her one mission is to point others to thehope of Christ. Lisa lives in Edmond, OK and has the joy of homeschooling and raising her four children.

Explore our Breakout Sessions & Speakers

Breakout Session #1 & Breakout Session #2

Lyn Watson

In this empowering and faith-filled breakout session, moms will learn practical and biblical strategies for building confidence in their children. Through identity-based encouragement, resilience training, and creating emotional safety at home, moms will discover how everyday moments shape courageous kids. Grounded in Scriptures such as Psalm 68:5 and Philippians 4:13, this session reminds mothers that God fills every gap they fear exists. Attendees will leave equipped with simple, actionable tools to raise brave, secure, and confident children.
Lyn Watson is the Pastor of People & Culture at Crossings Community Church. Lyn earned her BA in Journalism/PR from the University of Oklahoma and brings over 35 years of experience in HR, executive coaching, corporate training, employee development, and keynote speaking. As a former business owner, Lyn understands the challenges that many organizations face and welcomes the opportunity to lead others to success. She has served her community by engaging in various non-profit boards, leading small groups at her church, volunteering with the Junior League of OKC, and serving on the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board. Lyn and her husband Brad have two adult children, two precious grandkids, and a Covid fur baby.

Maddie Ritterpusch

Achieving financial freedom and independence can feel overwhelming. With a few tools and resources, the journey can be empowering and rewarding. The process is less about how much you earn and more about how well you can manage the money earned. Discover tips on saving, budgeting and investing for the long haul. As Christians, we are called to work hard, produce fruit, and be stewards to the community around us. This presentation will empower you to grow God’s abundant blessings and implement practical ways to live your life the way God intended.
As a Wealth Management Advisor, Maddie Ritterpusch helps clients develop strategies and solutions to manage their finances and realize their lifetime goals. After graduating from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Accounting and Marketing, Maddie spent the first part of her career working for Ernst and Young. After six years in Kansas City and Washington, DC, Maddie moved back to Oklahoma to pursue her commitment to help others achieve personal goals. Maddie holds the prestigious Certified Financial Fiduciary designation.
Maddie and her husband enjoy dedicating their time as CASA advocates and SPERO student teachers. She is committed to serving her community and is currently a member of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and a member at The Vine Community Church.

Lakresha Ferguson

Being single is often treated as simple in a sea of relationship status possibilities. As we look beneath the surface, the label carries expectations, questions, pointed looks and glares, and even a quiet—but oh so loud—pressure. With the options of staying single, actively dating, and keeping an open heart to love, being single is anything but ordinary. Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us there is a season and a time for everything. Allow God to guide you to the right date, the right time, and into the right room!
Lakresha Ferguson, gladly shares encouragement on embracing the single season of life as a meaningful time for purpose and growth. With a deep love for volunteering, serving, and engaging others, she strives to strengthen community and inspire service. Lakresha currently works with The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services and is the proud mom of one adult daughter whom she cherishes dearly. She enjoys traveling, discovering great coffee shops, and engaging in meaningful conversations. Lakresha’s love for Christ continues to grow deeper and stronger as her faith deepens each day.

Amber Given

In a world full of parenting advice, pressure, and performance, it’s easy to feel like we’re falling short—or that our kids are defined by their most difficult moments. This session invites parents to pause and remember a powerful truth: you are more than your hardest day, and your child is more than their behavior.
Grounded in connection-based parenting, this talk explores how secure relationships—not control or compliance—build lifelong emotional health. You will learn practical ways to build trust, regulate emotions, and respond with empathy while holding healthy boundaries. Parenting isn’t about fixing kids; it’s about staying connected.
Amber Given has been a Licensed Professional Counselor for over 25 years. Overcoming the harm she experienced as a child, she’s passionate about helping others find their worth in the Lord and heal from trauma and attachment wounds. In her practice, she delights in watching people move forward toward a healthier concept of who God created them to be. Her hope for each person is to have a healthier, more connected relationship with God and others. She loves spending time with her family and friends, going to sporting events, playing pickleball, and walking her dog, Ellie.

Tierra Roberts

This session creates a safe, supportive space for women to be honest and vulnerable while facing the realities of trauma. Participants will be given room to breathe, reflect, and process difficult experiences without judgment. Tierra shares her journey through domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking, along with her advocacy work in prevention and awareness. Special attention will be given to the unique challenges women of color face and the need for culturally relevant support and resources. After 14 years as an Arise mom and now as a leader for two years, she credits Arise with helping her find her voice. Participants will leave with practical resources, renewed strength, and the reminder that they are more than their survival.
Tierra Kay Fudge-Roberts is a Comanche and Muskogee Creek advocate, speaker, and survivor who uses her voice to confront violence and protect the next generation. She has spoken at the Oklahoma State Capitol and worked alongside law enforcement and policymakers to bring awareness of student safety, teen dating violence, sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking. Rooted in her traditional cultural practices and strengthened by her Christian faith, Tierra’s message reminds others that they are more than their trauma, their past, and what tried to silence them.

Jennifer Sise

It’s no wonder that when you’re in the thick of trying to be all the things for all the people that you feel like you never have enough time—like you’re buried in decision fatigue, “shoulds” and mom guilt. Coming up for air can seem impossible when you can hardly remember the last time you truly had a moment to yourself. The good news … it doesn’t have to stay that way.
In this session Jennifer will help you set apart the time to take intentional, decisive action on what will ultimately move the needle in your life and work so that you can truly show up as the extraordinary women you were made to be. You don’t have to do it all to be all you want to be!
Jennifer Sise is a follower of Jesus, a cycle breaker, coach, consultant, podcast host, and best-selling author. She focuses on helping women get more of what they truly want out of their life and work without sacrificing who and what matters most in EVERY season of life! Although Jennifer may not be a single mom, she was raised by one and knows what it’s like when life feels like a circus. She and her husband Greg have two grown sons, and being a mom has been her favorite job of all-time. Jennifer truly believes you can change your life. All you need to get started is nine minutes.

Stacee Goetzinger

In a world full of chaos, your thoughts may be louder still. In the stress and pressure of parenting, jobs, relationships, bills, and more, life can be overwhelming. But your mental health is important for your children, your own wellness, and to God. In this session, you’ll be encouraged and learn tools and resources from ongoing experiences to support your mental health and even the deepest mental illness struggle. Let’s share in the hope that God cares for you and can carry you and your family through whatever you may be facing. You are not alone!
Stacee Goetzinger has experienced the depths of a lengthy battle with chronic mental illness and has discovered the even greater depths of God’s love for those who struggle. Her story is not one of “been there, done that” but is one of someone still on the journey of recovery. Stacee is a speaker and author and hosts with her husband, Doug, the “Speak Out Loud” podcast. Stacee is the founder of Speak Out Loud, Inc., a nonprofit sharing hope for those who struggle with mental health and for those who love and support them.

Paula Lorraine Jones

Motherhood is a meaningful assignment, but it’s not the foundation of a woman’s identity. In this teaching-focused session, single moms will explore a biblical framework for understanding identity, worth, and purpose as defined by God rather than by roles or seasons of life. Participants will learn how identity can become overshadowed by responsibility and will gain practical tools, such as renewing thought patterns, setting healthy boundaries, and reclaiming personal goals, to reconnect with their identity in Christ. Attendees will leave encouraged, equipped, and ready to live with greater clarity, confidence, and intention as mothers and women of purpose.
Paula Lorraine Jones is a minister, speaker, Trauma-Informed Life Story Coach, and YouVersion Bible Content Partner whose work centers on helping women find their identity in Christ, set healthy boundaries, and live from wholeness rather than survival. She became a mother at the age of 16, married and divorced early, and spent more than a decade raising her children as a single parent, learning to depend on God through seasons of survival, healing, and rebuilding. Even while tending to her own traumatic past, she has led women’s initiatives, Bible studies, and faith-centered spaces that invite healing and restoration. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and is the mother of six adult children and two bonus sons.