diff --git a/Package.swift b/Package.swift
index 94353929..44e2434f 100644
--- a/Package.swift
+++ b/Package.swift
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ let package = Package(
         .library(name: "AWSLambdaTesting", targets: ["AWSLambdaTesting"]),
     ],
     dependencies: [
-        .package(url: "https://github.com/apple/swift-nio.git", from: "2.8.0"),
-        .package(url: "https://github.com/apple/swift-log.git", from: "1.0.0"),
-        .package(url: "https://github.com/swift-server/swift-backtrace.git", from: "1.1.0"),
+        .package(url: "https://github.com/apple/swift-nio.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "2.17.0")),
+        .package(url: "https://github.com/apple/swift-log.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "1.0.0")),
+        .package(url: "https://github.com/swift-server/swift-backtrace.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "1.1.0")),
     ],
     targets: [
         .target(name: "AWSLambdaRuntime", dependencies: [
diff --git a/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/Lambda.swift b/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/Lambda.swift
index 51ab06c6..bf552b55 100644
--- a/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/Lambda.swift
+++ b/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/Lambda.swift
@@ -80,41 +80,49 @@ public enum Lambda {
     @discardableResult
     internal static func run(configuration: Configuration = .init(), factory: @escaping (EventLoop) throws -> Handler) -> Result<Int, Error> {
         self.run(configuration: configuration, factory: { eventloop -> EventLoopFuture<Handler> in
-            do {
-                let handler = try factory(eventloop)
-                return eventloop.makeSucceededFuture(handler)
-            } catch {
-                return eventloop.makeFailedFuture(error)
+            let promise = eventloop.makePromise(of: Handler.self)
+            // if we have a callback based handler factory, we offload the creation of the handler
+            // onto the default offload queue, to ensure that the eventloop is never blocked.
+            Lambda.defaultOffloadQueue.async {
+                do {
+                    promise.succeed(try factory(eventloop))
+                } catch {
+                    promise.fail(error)
+                }
             }
+            return promise.futureResult
         })
     }
 
     // for testing and internal use
     @discardableResult
     internal static func run(configuration: Configuration = .init(), factory: @escaping HandlerFactory) -> Result<Int, Error> {
-        do {
-            let eventLoopGroup = MultiThreadedEventLoopGroup(numberOfThreads: 1) // only need one thread, will improve performance
-            defer { try! eventLoopGroup.syncShutdownGracefully() }
-            let result = try self.runAsync(eventLoopGroup: eventLoopGroup, configuration: configuration, factory: factory).wait()
-            return .success(result)
-        } catch {
-            return .failure(error)
-        }
-    }
-
-    internal static func runAsync(eventLoopGroup: EventLoopGroup, configuration: Configuration, factory: @escaping HandlerFactory) -> EventLoopFuture<Int> {
         Backtrace.install()
         var logger = Logger(label: "Lambda")
         logger.logLevel = configuration.general.logLevel
-        let lifecycle = Lifecycle(eventLoop: eventLoopGroup.next(), logger: logger, configuration: configuration, factory: factory)
-        let signalSource = trap(signal: configuration.lifecycle.stopSignal) { signal in
-            logger.info("intercepted signal: \(signal)")
-            lifecycle.shutdown()
-        }
-        return lifecycle.start().flatMap {
-            return lifecycle.shutdownFuture.always { _ in
+
+        var result: Result<Int, Error>!
+        MultiThreadedEventLoopGroup.withCurrentThreadAsEventLoop { eventLoop in
+            let lifecycle = Lifecycle(eventLoop: eventLoop, logger: logger, configuration: configuration, factory: factory)
+            let signalSource = trap(signal: configuration.lifecycle.stopSignal) { signal in
+                logger.info("intercepted signal: \(signal)")
+                lifecycle.shutdown()
+            }
+
+            lifecycle.start().flatMap {
+                lifecycle.shutdownFuture
+            }.whenComplete { lifecycleResult in
                 signalSource.cancel()
+                eventLoop.shutdownGracefully { error in
+                    if let error = error {
+                        preconditionFailure("Failed to shutdown eventloop: \(error)")
+                    }
+                }
+                result = lifecycleResult
             }
         }
+
+        logger.info("shutdown completed")
+        return result
     }
 }
diff --git a/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/LambdaHandler.swift b/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/LambdaHandler.swift
index 9294e4f5..8e44792d 100644
--- a/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/LambdaHandler.swift
+++ b/Sources/AWSLambdaRuntimeCore/LambdaHandler.swift
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public protocol LambdaHandler: EventLoopLambdaHandler {
     func handle(context: Lambda.Context, payload: In, callback: @escaping (Result<Out, Error>) -> Void)
 }
 
-private extension Lambda {
+internal extension Lambda {
     static let defaultOffloadQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "LambdaHandler.offload")
 }
 
diff --git a/Tests/AWSLambdaRuntimeCoreTests/LambdaTest.swift b/Tests/AWSLambdaRuntimeCoreTests/LambdaTest.swift
index 60cc2e9a..764f7bcf 100644
--- a/Tests/AWSLambdaRuntimeCoreTests/LambdaTest.swift
+++ b/Tests/AWSLambdaRuntimeCoreTests/LambdaTest.swift
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ class LambdaTest: XCTestCase {
         assertLambdaLifecycleResult(result, shouldFailWithError: TestError("kaboom"))
     }
 
-    func testStartStop() {
+    func testStartStopInDebugMode() {
         let server = MockLambdaServer(behavior: Behavior())
         XCTAssertNoThrow(try server.start().wait())
         defer { XCTAssertNoThrow(try server.stop().wait()) }
@@ -136,19 +136,21 @@ class LambdaTest: XCTestCase {
         let signal = Signal.ALRM
         let maxTimes = 1000
         let configuration = Lambda.Configuration(lifecycle: .init(maxTimes: maxTimes, stopSignal: signal))
-        let eventLoopGroup = MultiThreadedEventLoopGroup(numberOfThreads: System.coreCount)
-        defer { XCTAssertNoThrow(try eventLoopGroup.syncShutdownGracefully()) }
 
-        let future = Lambda.runAsync(eventLoopGroup: eventLoopGroup, configuration: configuration, factory: { $0.makeSucceededFuture(EchoHandler()) })
         DispatchQueue(label: "test").async {
+            // we need to schedule the signal before we start the long running `Lambda.run`, since
+            // `Lambda.run` will block the main thread.
             usleep(100_000)
             kill(getpid(), signal.rawValue)
         }
-        future.whenSuccess { result in
-            XCTAssertGreaterThan(result, 0, "should have stopped before any request made")
-            XCTAssertLessThan(result, maxTimes, "should have stopped before \(maxTimes)")
+        let result = Lambda.run(configuration: configuration, factory: { $0.makeSucceededFuture(EchoHandler()) })
+
+        guard case .success(let invocationCount) = result else {
+            return XCTFail("expected to have not failed")
         }
-        XCTAssertNoThrow(try future.wait())
+
+        XCTAssertGreaterThan(invocationCount, 0, "should have stopped before any request made")
+        XCTAssertLessThan(invocationCount, maxTimes, "should have stopped before \(maxTimes)")
     }
 
     func testTimeout() {