Diane is a clergy coach and writer based out of New Haven, Connecticut. She specializes in adaptive change and cultivating communities of justice and peace.

After a decade of pastoring United Methodist churches in West Virginia and Missouri, Diane led a church merger. Earlier she facilitated the sale of two parsonages and helped two yoked churches discern that it was time to separate.

Diane is currently writing a devotional book for churches with uncertain futures. She has previously been published in the books We Pray With Her, Speaking Truth, and Holy Contradictions: What’s Next for the People Called United Methodist.

Diane is passionate about ecumenical work. She serves on the board for Young Clergy Women International, and previously worked as the County Ecumenical Officer for Churches Together in Cambridgeshire in Cambridge, England.

Diane and her clergy spouse have one very energetic five-year-old child. Visit Diane’s coaching website at www.dianekenaston.com

Lorrin is a mom, a pastor, and a clergy coach who believes in the power of God’s transforming love. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and a trained coach, Lorrin has a variety of ministry experiences that have shaped her life and ministry. Serving churches for the last 9 years, Lorrin’s first post-seminary appointment was as a solo pastor to a dying church in Wisconsin.

In that appointment, Lorrin walked with her congregation through their grief and closure process, helping the congregation honor the ways God had been and still was at work. Since that time, Lorrin has walked with other congregations through closure, the endings of particular ministries, and through the process of helping church leaders navigate and accept the changing climate of ministry in the local church and community.

Lorrin has been published in We Pray With Her and Speaking Truth, and currently serves as the Senior Pastor of The United Methodist Church of Macedonia in Ohio. Her favorite activities are cuddling her small children, rainy day art projects, or talking all things church with her clergy spouse.

To learn more about Lorrin, please visit https://revlorrinradzik.weebly.com/

Sara is an ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and currently serving University Christian Church in Hyattsville, Maryland. She is a pastor’s kid married to a pastor’s kid who is also a pastor, so church work is in her DNA! Sara is passionate about empowering pastors to lead from a place of creative imagination and proactivity.

Sara served as the senior pastor of a loving congregation on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, for three years, and led them through the process of discernment and faithful closure. With the question “How can we be the most faithful with the resources we have?” in front of them, the congregation made the difficult and holy decision to close in early 2021; Easter Sunday was significantly their final service together.

Sara’s spouse Jonathan is an ACPE Certified Educator and active duty Army chaplain, so they have lived throughout the continental United States. Together they have three curious, compassionate, confident kids, who are 10, 12, and 14. You can read more about her at saranavefisher.com.

Chelsey believes in the revolutionary power of interpersonal relationships to shape communities, systems, and societies for good. An ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Chelsey has led two congregations -one rural, one urban– through discernment to closure, facilitating the sale of a parsonage and church building. In suburban and large-church contexts, she has assessed individual ministries and worship services for sustainability.

Prior to ministry, Chelsey worked in a number of arenas, from crisis counseling and scientific editing to pastoral ministry and parenting. They now focus their vocational energy in their work as a writer, activist, and support for individuals and groups who seek to live authentically in the world. As a facilitator with the Center for Courage & Renewal and a coach pursuing her professional coaching licensed with the International Coaching Federation, Chelsey offers creative, soul-sensitive spaces to engage difficult issues across the United States. Chelsey is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Chelsey was a key part of launching the Good Friday Collaborative in 2022 before discerning in summer 2023 that it was time to end their formal collaboration. We will always be grateful for Chelsey’s writing and editorial gifts, and the way their questions shaped this collaborative.

To follow Chelsey’s current work, visit www.amateurefforts.com.