Amber McZeal
Writer, vocalist, sacred scholar, and artivist, Amber McZeal, Ph.D., utilizes sound therapy and guided somatic imagery to engage the knowledge of the body within an interactive and liberatory arts practice. In 2018, Amber launched her organization, Decolonizing the Psyche, where she weaves somatic praxis with Afro-Indigenous spiritual technologies and social justice—deep decoloniality—in efforts to end oppression and create more humane social relationships. Amber holds an MA in Somatic Depth psychology and conducted doctoral research exploring Radical Love Traditions and the decolonial turn in maternal healthcare at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Andy Loving and Susan Taylor
Andy Loving and Susan Taylor have spent most of their adult lives imagining ways to act justly with money, learning along the way from communal living ventures, people without houses, and a beautiful array of spiritual companions on the road. Andy and Susan are partners in Just Money Advisors (justmoneyadvisors.com), a financial advising firm specializing in high-impact deposits and investments for people who want to see a more just, sustainable economy. They are both board members of Faith and Money Network. Among other service positions, Andy serves on the board of Kirkridge Retreat Center, and Susan chairs the board of…
Barbara McAfee
Barbara McAfee is a master voice coach, singer/ songwriter, community song leader and author of Full Voice: The Art and Practice of Vocal Presence. She lives on the St Croix River in northwest Wisconsin.
Bayo Akomolafe
Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the postactivist course/festival/event, ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California. He sits on…
Cat Greenstreet
Cat Greenstreet, M.Ed. has been a Courage & Renewal® Facilitator since 2006. She was an educator for 30 years and devoted the last 20 of those to Waldorf® education as an elementary and middle school teacher, a high school English and drama teacher, a teacher educator, and a school leader. In 2013 she helped co-found Hidden Water, an organization that offers a restorative justice approach for all who are impacted by childhood sexual abuse. She currently offers Circle of Trust® retreats, workshops, and one-on-one clearness conversations, based on Clearness Committees. A thread through all of her work has been creating…
Celina Medrano-Miller
Celina Medrano-Miller (they/them and she/her) is a former student from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in Linguistics who is passionate about language, land, and culture. As an uninvited guest from an Ashkenazi and Quechua heritage born on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory, Celina has been learning hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the language of the people and lands they grew up on since 2019. Their work includes language documentation with speakers of Secwepemctsín since 2020, and being a part of Salal + Cedar with Laurel since 2018. Celina loves supporting spaces of spirituality, radical rest, and justice and celebration for/of our environment and LGBTQ2S+ community.
Denise Crawn
A former Kirkridge employee, Columcille Board Member, and resident of the mountain now residing in Scotland, Denise Crawn has had a deep fascination of all things Celtic since an early age and enjoys spending as much time as possible wandering in nature and exploring ancient and sacred sites. Owner of Walking Awake, LLC, author of “Walking Awake: The Faces In Nature”, and the “Walking Awake on the Isle of Iona Inspirational Card Deck and Book Set”, Denise’s deep-rooted relationship with the natural world began as a child when she would spend extended periods in the great outdoors with her Father…
Denise Griebler
Denise Griebler is a potter and an ordained UCC pastor. She pastored congregations for over 30 years. She’s the founder of MannaWorks pottery studio at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, where she also served as pastor-in-charge until her retirement in 2023. Denise has a long history as a human rights and social justice activist, pastor, potter and retreat leader. Denise trusts and cultivates the connections between nature, spirituality, creativity, beauty, justice and joy.
Derrick Weston
Derrick Weston is the theological Education and training coordinator for Creation Justice Ministries, a faith-based environmental education and advocacy organization. He is a writer, filmmaker, podcaster, speaker, and educator whose most recent work has focused on the intersection of food and faith. He is the co-host of the Food and Faith podcast and producer of Spoon, Spade, and Soul, a podcast highlighting food and land-based ministries in the Episcopal church. Additionally, he is the producer of the short film series “A Wilderness Like Eden” highlighting the work of churches engaged in food justice work. After two decades of being a pastor…
Dianne Baker
Dianne Baker lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, unceded territory of the Shíshálh people, where she has a practice as a counselling therapist. Dianne has a strong commitment to social justice and human rights work, and deep hopes for building compassionate community. She gathers people in song circles, to share joy, grief, and playfulness, and is also connected to a small and loving church community. Dianne has been a Courage and Renewal facilitator since 2012.
Eileen Campbell-Reed
Eileen Campbell-Reed has been coaching writers for a decade and hosting a virtual writing table since March 2020. She blogs at eileencampbellreed.org and has published books, articles, opinion pieces, devotionals, camp bible studies, and faith formation curricula.
en sawyer
en sawyer (he/him) is an artist, taiko drummer, woodworker, urban mycologist, permaculturist, vipassana meditator, and father. He aspires to live with discernment and according to the dictates of wisdom. His central questions in life are how to live gracefully and harmoniously on this earth, to laugh heartily, share openly and learn tirelessly. He co-founded Taproot Sanctuary with his partner, Marcia Lee.
Jacks McNamara
Jacks McNamara is a queer, trans, neurodivergent poet, artist, activist, educator, performer, and somatic healing practitioner based on the Tewa land of O’ga P’ogeh, also known today as Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2012 Jacks was selected as a Lambda literary fellow, and their first book of poetry, Inbetweenland, was released by Deviant Type Press in 2013. Co-author of Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness, Jacks has toured across the US and Canada offering readings and workshops. They have also worked as a writer/artist in residence in many community organizations and the Santa Fe Public Schools. Their writing has appeared in…
Jim Reale
Jim Reale has been composing chant for more than two decades. He has presented at national conferences with Fr Richard Rohr and Fr Thomas Keating. He composed and produced the CD, Doorway to Devotion, A Contemplative Entry Into Christian Prayer. Currently he is the Liturgical chanter at St Peter Catholic Church in Liberty, New York.
John Dear
Rev. John Dear has been working for justice and disarmament and teaching peace for over four decades. A longtime activist, priest, and the former director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, John is the executive director of www.beatitudescenter.org where he hosts zooms on Jesus and Gospel peacemaking. He is the author of 40 books, including most recently, The Gospel of Peace. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize many times, including by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (see www.johndear.org)
Joyce Hollyday
Joyce Hollyday is the author of Pillar of Fire, a historical novel based on the witness of the Beguines. She has written several other books on oral history, spirituality, and social witness, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us, and a memoir titled Turning Toward Home. Joyce has served as an editor of Sojourners magazine, a co-founder and co-pastor of Circle of Mercy in Asheville, N.C., a court advocate for survivors of domestic violence, a chaplain to children with cancer, and a visitor on death row. She is a member of the intentional community at Kirkridge.
Kathy Garrett
Kathy Garrett, Ph.D. is a certified SoulCollage® facilitator and retreat leader who is deeply trained to create a nourishing, safe, inclusive, and creative retreat experience where anyone can discover their wisdom and answer their own life’s questions. She is also a team and leadership professor, consultant and coach who is devoted to creating healthy spaces in the world of work.
Laurel Dykstra
Laurel Dykstra (no pronouns or they/them) is an author, ecojustice activist, amateur naturalist, and sought-after preacher. Their Flemish and Anglo Celtic forebears came to the land of Hul’qumi’num speaking peoples near the Salish Sea as part of colonization and resource extraction projects. Laurel is and Anglican priest and founder a Salal + Cedar, a church that worships outdoors. They have experienced a life-time of spiritual formation in nature, provide accompaniment and discernment for individuals and communities involved in direct action, and have received training and supervision in nature-based spiritual direction from the Center for Prophetic Imagination. Laurel’s writing includes books, articles,…
Lucy A. Wachter Webb
Rev. Lucy A. Waechter Webb (she/her) is a politicized faith leader & organizer, somatic coach, writer and ritualist working at the intersections of spirit, body and anti-oppression to support the emergence of our collective liberation. She believes the work of engaging our spiritual life is not so very different from engaging in our shared public (political) life. After ten years as a pastor, she is now focused on engaging other racialized-white people in anti-racism practice, as she is always deepening her own. She is a part of rural community on Anishinaabek land (otherwise known as Northern Michigan). She considers the…
Lydia Wylie-Kellerman
Lydia Wylie-Kellermann is a writer, editor, activist, and mother. She is the director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center and editor of Geez magazine, which explores the intersection of activism, art, and spirit. She is the editor of The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World. She lives with her partner and two boys at Kirkridge on Lenape land now known as Bangor, Pennsylvania.
Lynice Pinkard
Rev. Lynice Pinkard is a Black writer, teacher, healer, pastor, recovering addict, and public intellectual operating at the intersection of Christianity, economics, and social change. Her current work is dedicated to decolonizing the human spirit and freeing people from what she calls “empire affective disorder.” Her commitment is to inspire and nurture a new generation of Spirit-filled servant leaders dedicated to the remediation of day-to-day suffering, the building of collective resilience for transformative change, and the pursuit of structural and systemic justice in the world.
Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk
Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk (she/they) is the Director of the Center for Prophetic Imagination in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ashe is the author of A Wolf at the Gate, unKingdom, and That Holy Anarchist, as well as a contributor to a number of edited tomes and publications. Ashe earned an MDiv from Bethel Theological Seminary, studied Spiritual Direction at the University of St. Catherine’s graduate school, and is currently writing her doctoral dissertation at United Theological Seminary.
Marcia Lee
Marcia Lee lives in Waawiiyatanong, currently known as Detroit, MI. She aspires to create a more just and compassionate world through deep reflection and conscious actions. Marcia is a Courage and Renewal facilitator who creates embodied spaces for people to connect with their own inner voice. She co-founded Taproot Sanctuary to live in right relationship with ourselves, the earth, and our neighbors. Marcia’s background is in environmental justice, restorative justice, and healing justice. She is a certified healing centered leadership coach; restorative justice circle keeper; popular education facilitator; and tai chi teacher. She is a mother, wife, friend, sister, and daughter.
Marissa Metelica
Marissa Metelica is a queer, white racial equity consultant, artist, and healer experienced in applied theatre, politicized somatics, and ancestral lineage healing. When facilitating groups, Marissa seeks to illuminate and honor previously hidden wisdom in the body for the sake of experiencing greater belonging, both to ourselves and one another. Through Equity Allies, which she founded in 2019, Marissa offers interactive, trauma-informed anti-oppression training and consulting. Marissa serves as a core consultant for the Racial Healing Initiative and as the Vice Chair of the Board at Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center. Her theatre for peacebuilding and reconciliation work has…
Marjory Zoet Bankson
Marjory Zoet Bankson is an author, artist, and seasoned spiritual guide. After time as a professional potter, Marjory attended Virginia Seminary and then led Faith@Work for 20 years. During that period, she began making unfired burial urns for friends. Her books include Call to the Soul, Creative Aging, The Soulwork of Clay and Stalking the Spirit. Now, as president of Church of the Saviour in Washington DC, she publishes a quarterly newsletter, Callings, for the wider CoS community and curates the CoS website, inwardoutward.org.
Megan LeBoutillier
Megan LeBoutillier, Ph.D., is an artist and a writer. She has been a Courage and Renewal facilitator since 1998. For half the year she walks the wintery woods of Virginia trying to pay close attention to Nature. For the second half of the year she lives within a community of Homesteaders and organic gardeners in Maine where she digs in the muck and coaxes vegetables and flowers to emerge.
Mervin Primeaux-OBryant
Mervin Primeaux-OBryant (he/they), a native of Lafayette, LA, is a non-binary Deaf artist, performer, and CEO/Founder of MPO Foundation. Mervin attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he obtained his degree in Dance Performance & Choreography. He is an actor, director, producer, choreographer, international performer, and advocate. Currently, he’s busy producing a feature documentary and spends time managing his Mervin Primeaux-OBryant foundation and serving on the board as a Co-founder of Def Lens Media. His creative journey has blessed him with many experiences; including with Quest Visual Theatre as an assistant director and as a consultant for American…
Michael Adee
Michael J. Adee, Ph.D., a LGBTQ+ human rights activist and educator. Michael led the successful campaign for ordination and marriage equality in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He is the director of the Global Faith and Justice Project and his home is Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mike Lew
Mike Lew is the author of Victims No Longer: The Classic Guide for Men Recovering from Sexual Child Abuse.
Mike Little
Mike Little leads the inward and outward work of Faith and Money Network. Within the network, Mike fosters relationships with individuals and faith communities, leading reflections and discussions on the role of money in our lives as people of faith and in our work as the community of faith. He’s also a skilled and sought-after group facilitator, with decades of experience helping groups learn, grow, and work together. Mike has spent more than three decades working with Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC, in the areas of homelessness, addictions, affordable housing, and job services. He has a life-long commitment…
Naomi Washington-Leapheart
Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is a Black queer preacher, teacher, strategist, and justice advocate. She is an adjunct professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and the Government Fellow for Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. Rev. Naomi also serves as the first-ever Strategic Partnerships Director at Political Research Associates (PRA), a social justice research and strategy center that provides strategic insights and actionable research that identifies, disrupts, and competes with movements and institutions that undermine democracy, justice, and human rights. In 2021, Rev. Naomi founded Salt | Yeast | Light, an organization that develops spaces of…
Nichola Torbett
Nichola Torbett is a white, queer, raised-working-class spiritual seeker, recovering addict, gospel preacher, racial justice podcaster, and nonviolent direct action trainer. She grew up in a sundown town in Ohio and had no consciousness of racism until she was nearly 25. She is grateful to the powerful BIPOC-led movements of Oakland and San Francisco, California, for her political education and to the friends of color who told her about herself and took a chance on her despite it all. She is committed to helping other white people unlearn internalized supremacy and become part of multiracial coalitions to end racism and…
Nick Prance
Nick Prance was born in the north of Ireland, raised in Liverpool, and has lived in Scotland for the last 20+ years. He worked within the Mental Health services in the UK as a Psychiatric Nurse latterly as a Cognitive Behavioural therapist. Whilst pursuing this career Nick also trained for and was ordained as a minister within the Anglican Church. Shortly afterward he took a career break to live and work for three years on the Island of Iona working for the Iona Community helping to organize and run the program for the many guests who came on pilgrimage and…
Rain Black
Rain Black, M.P.H., CPH (Fae/He) is a trans autistic watercolor artist and forager who earned faers bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Public Health and Art from Cedar Crest College. He holds a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the University of South Florida and is Certified in Public Health. He is a community educator with 7 years of experience focusing on topics around domestic and intimate partner abuse, queer and transgender justice, foraged art making, life skills, and public health. Fae also teaches about native plants, forest conservation, and foraging on social media and in person. He is a…
Rev. Cathy Bristow
Rev. Cathy Bristow has a background as a business leader with responsibilities including contract negotiations, human resources, and quality process control. She facilitated dialogue across differences and created a diversity initiative in the financial service industry that focused on gender and racial equity. These experiences led to her co-creating courses for a diversity certification at Cornell University School of Labor Relations. Believing there was a spiritual foundation for her dialogue model, she became an ordained interfaith interspiritual minister through One Spirit Learning Alliance, where she remains active in their anti-racism initiative. In her Harlem community she has offered free workshops…
Rev. Jean Brown
Reverend Jean Brown, pastor, potter, photographer and pollinator is giving shape to Earthen Hands Ministry at Dayspring. The group gathers in the Seneca Creek Watershed in Germantown, MD for nature walks, outdoor worship and wanders, lessons from the potter’’s wheel, and contemplative pottery workshops. Through Earthen Hands she is creating a spiritual home for those drawn to God in nature and inspiring the changes needed to be in right relationship with this precious earth.
Rev. Lorren Z. Buck
Rev. Lorren Z. Buck is a sexual liberation theologian whose healing activism reflects her bold sentiments that the Creator desires people to experience pleasure and healing from the legacy of sexual violence and theological malpractice. She is blurring the lines between the profane and sacred under the moniker The Pussy Pastor. This to her is a holy act of resistance. Lorren has a background in church leadership, sexual health education and executive non-profit management. She has over 15 years of experience in group facilitation, social justice education and curriculum writing. Both Lorren’s profession and passions led her to consider the…
Spencer Grugan
Spencer Grugan (they/them), a native of Central Pennsylvania, is a queer transgender Deaf author, content creator, LGBTQ+ advocate, and DEIA specialist. Spencer attended the Rochester Institute of Technology for their undergrad, specializing in Creative Writing, Women & Gender Studies, Psychology, and Communications, and Wright State University to obtain a Master of Arts in Higher Education. Spencer focuses on advocating for civil rights, diversity, inclusion, and equal employment during their daytime job. Spencer authored “Learn to Sign with Your Baby: 50 Essential Signs ASL Signs to help your child communicate their needs, wants, and feelings”. Whenever Spencer is not reading or writing,…
Stephen Hoog
Stephen Hoog has been a Macrobiotic Dietary Counselor and Shiatsu Practitioner since 1980. He has taught Shiatsu classes on numerous occasions over that time and for several years taught a 300 hour Certification course. He expanded his knowledge of Holistic health by studying and applying Cranio-Sacral work, Lymphatic Drainage, Applied Kinesiology [muscle testing], and Meridian Emotional Release. Stephen has a great interest in the Natural world. In the early 1970’s he began to learn about the use of wild plants as edibles and herbal medicine. In 1975 he began offering Wild Food and Herb Walks in Eastern Pennsylvania and New…
Thom Harrigan
Thom leads groups for male survivors and has worked extensively in the field of recovery from childhood sexual abuse.