Sohayla Courtin
Women's Panel Contributor - Topic: Identity. Sohayla was born Tehran, Iran in 1982 during the war between Iran and Iraq. Sohayla’s family arrived in Canada in 1988. At 9 years of age Sohayla was sexually abused and was terrified to tell her family. She tried many times to commit suicide and in the 8th grade was introduced by a teacher to the occult. In grade 10 Sohayla connected with Scott (now her husband), who was a Christian, and instantly she knew that he had something she was missing. Scott started telling her about the Bible and who Jesus but, being a Muslim at the time, and coming from a very morally strict family, she knew that she was not allowed to date Scott, and especially believe in Jesus. One day Sohayla realized that “if I died right now, I would be going to hell”. She immediately called Scott and began to ask “how someone becomes a Christian?” and he said “you just pray and declare that Jesus is Lord, and that you want Him to be your Savior!”. The next day she and Scott walked out back of their high school, to a little forest area, found a bench to sit on, and Scott led her to Christ. Sohayla has experienced many poignant moments along her Christian journey and one of the most recent miraculous experiences was in 2015 when she was given a diagnosis of Stage 3 invasive breast cancer. Her prognosis was bleak and Sohayla decided to keep the severity of the diagnosis from everyone. Sohayla was miraculously healed from cancer after one year of journeying with this disease.
Christina Dawson
Christina suffered years of child abuse at the hand of her mom. Once her mother passed away, Christina moved to Vancouver with her boyfriend and son. Struggling with being homeless in downtown Vancouver, they stepped into a church feeding program and found a place that treated them with respect and honor. Blown away by God's love, she received Christ into her heart and was empowered to forgive her late mom. Christina signed up to attend Bible College at Street Church Ministries, and fast-tracking her graduation, she quickly planted a church and serves as Associate Pastor for the ministry. She is a bright light in her community!
Colleen Blake-Miller
Women's Panel Contributor - Topic: Identity. Colleen is a psychotherapist and nationally renowned speaker who has worked diligently for more than a decade supporting hundreds in achieving health, wellness, and personal growth. Having attained a Master’s Degree in individual, couple and family therapy, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, and certificates in Crisis Intervention, and Grief and Bereavement Counselling, she is committed to helping individuals uncover the emotional and psychological hurdles that hinder their forward progression and impede their achievement of high-level success. Colleen currently lives in Toronto, Canada and enjoys singing, going to the gym, salsa dancing and watching movies with her beloved husband Leroy, along with their three boys and daughter. http://colleenblakemiller.com
Karmyn Bokma
Women's Panel Contributor - Topic: Identity. Karmyn Bokma is currently serving as the Lead Pastor at The Meeting House, Oakville, as well as serving as one of the teaching pastors. She is passionate about helping people discover, and understand more deeply, their identity in Christ. Nothing energizes her more than leading teams of people as they work and serve out of who God made them to be. Karmyn is married to Ben and they have three children: Elliana, Ezekiel and Silas.