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I am a Mennonite writer and spiritual director interested in contemplation and community, with a passion for discernment and group dynamics. In addition to my Anabaptist/Mennonite roots, I have been deeply influenced by a period of worshiping with Quakers, and by reading in the Christian spiritual classics, as well as more recent writers such as Thomas Kelly, Elizabeth O'Connor, Richard Foster, Tilda Norberg, Joan Chittister, Henri Nouwen, Philip Newell, Martin Laird, Jan Richardson.
I graduated from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (now Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) in 2000 with a Masters of Divinity degree focusing on Biblical Studies, and later returned there for my training in spiritual direction (Spiritual Guidance and Advanced Spiritual Guidance Seminars, 2008 - 2010). In 2012 I completed the foundational training program in Gestalt Pastoral Care offered by Gestalt Pastoral Care Associates. I meet regularly with a spiritual director and with a peer supervision group. I am a member of the Mennonite Spiritual Directors Network and of Spiritual Directors International. |
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My published work is primarily in the area of congregational life, including In Tune with God: the Art of Congregational Discernment (Faith and Life Resources 2004). I have used a non-daily journal as a tool for spiritual and personal growth for decades.
I am serving in a part-time pastoral role as a congregational doula for Open Table Mennonite Fellowship, an emerging fellowship that meets in downtown Goshen. I have been peer or facilitator in many groups in the past 30 years, including weekly fellowship, lectionary and writers' groups, clearness committees and a plethora of congregational committees.
I grew up in the heart of midwestern Mennonite culture, in Goshen, Indiana, and returned here as a young adult, but also carry cross-cultural interests, having lived for a time in Peru, Nepal, Belgium, Poland and Costa Rica, thanks to family sabbaticals and other travels. I have a Masters degree in cultural/social anthropology from Indiana University where my studies focused on the dynamics of social and cultural change.
I am serving in a part-time pastoral role as a congregational doula for Open Table Mennonite Fellowship, an emerging fellowship that meets in downtown Goshen. I have been peer or facilitator in many groups in the past 30 years, including weekly fellowship, lectionary and writers' groups, clearness committees and a plethora of congregational committees.
I grew up in the heart of midwestern Mennonite culture, in Goshen, Indiana, and returned here as a young adult, but also carry cross-cultural interests, having lived for a time in Peru, Nepal, Belgium, Poland and Costa Rica, thanks to family sabbaticals and other travels. I have a Masters degree in cultural/social anthropology from Indiana University where my studies focused on the dynamics of social and cultural change.