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. She believes in courageously adapting to changing circumstances.

Diane is currently writing a devotional book for churches facing uncertain futures. Sign up for her book launch newsletter to read all about spiritually navigating unknown futures.

Diane has previously been published in the books Speaking Truth, We Pray With Her, and Holy Contradictions.

Diane is passionate about ecumenical work. She is the chairperson of Young Clergy Women International. She 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. She enjoys reading, podcasts, board games, hiking, and bike riding.

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 the devotional books Speaking Truth and We Pray With Her. You can hear more of Lorrin’s closure stories on these two podcast episodes on Courageous Leadership (Part 1 and Part 2).

She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her family and is appointed to family leave by the East Ohio Annual Conference. Her favorite activities are cuddling her small children, rainy day art projects, or talking all things church with her clergy spouse.

Cara is an ordained United Methodist pastor with over 15 years of experience serving a variety of sizes of local churches. She served as a district superintendent for four years in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, overseeing the ministry of 40 local churches and their pastors in western Washington State.

As district superintendent, Cara supported and coached pastors who oversaw the faithful completion of their congregations. She also worked with a dozen more congregations and their pastors as they searched for what their ministry could be in the future. During this time, Cara developed a method to help superintendents identify congregations that are in transition and the impact closing churches would have on the annual conference. 

In addition, Cara led a church through a merger with a smaller congregation during the pandemic.   

Cara is passionate about working with pastors and congregations in transition and is currently completing training in Interim Ministry. She continues to have hope for the Church and understands that congregations' best futures depend on their ability to be honest about where they are. 

Cara is the mother to three beautiful children and has been married to her best friend for over 25 years. She enjoys baking, reading, and all things Star Trek.