Anna-Therese Pierlot

Anna-Therese is a recent graduate of St. Stephen’s University (SSU) in New Brunswick. She is a passionate pursuant of narrative and its connection to dialogue, reconciliation, and the unavoidably relational nature of the human person. Hailing from Prince Edward Island, Canada, she currently works for SSU as Student Life Coordinator, where she continues to explore community in the context of the university’s commitment to beauty, justice, and compassion. 

Brad Jersak

Brad Jersak is an author and teacher based in Abbotsford, BC. He is currently the Principal of St. Stephen’s University (New Brunswick) and on the team and board of Plain Truth Ministries.

His heart is to share the good news that God is Love and that God’s love was shown to us perfectly in Jesus of Nazareth. Through his books and seminars, Brad teaches that anyone can learn to hear God’s voice through the simple practice of ”listening prayer.” 

Doctrine – Click here to view his comprehensive confession of faith.

Brad self-identifies as a follower of Christ. His spiritual journey includes his confession of faith and trinitarian baptism in the Baptist General Conference; followed by membership and ordination in the Conference of Mennonites in BC. Then after planting and serving in a church plant for 10 years, he was chrismated into the Orthodox Church (OCA) where he served a stretch as a reader and preacher.  He is now simply a lay person, ministering where invited. 

Andrew Klager

Andrew Klager holds a PhD in Religious Studies/History from the University of Glasgow and is on faculty at Trinity Western University (Langley, BC), the University of the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford, BC), Rocky Mountain College (Calgary, AB), and St. Stephen’s University (St. Stephen, NB), where he teaches on peace and conflict studies. He is also a Research Associate at the Anabaptist-Mennonite Centre for Faith and Learning at TWU. He has made presentations at conferences, symposiums, and dialogues across North America and is widely published in various peer-reviewed journals (Journal of Ecumenical Studies; Greek Orthodox Theological Review; Mennonite Quarterly Review; Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies; Conrad Grebel Review; Journal of Mennonite Studies; Journal of Theological Studies (Oxford); Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace; Reformation & Renaissance Review; Direction Journal) and books (Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ [Eerdmans 2007], Compassionate Eschatology: The Future as Friend [Wipf & Stock, 2011], and Canadian Christian Zionism: A Tangled Tale [Synaxis Press, 2014]) in a number of research fields ranging from early modern European history, peace and conflict studies, Anabaptist-Mennonite studies, interreligious peacebuilding especially in Egypt and the Middle East, peace theology, history of Christianity, 16th-century Reformation and Humanism, the Church fathers (especially St. Gregory of Nyssa), and Eastern Orthodox theology/asceticism. Andrew has written for Egypt Independent (Al-Masry Al-Youm) and currently writes regularly for the Huffington Post.

After growing up in a conservative Evangelical environment in BC and Ontario, Andrew began attending a Mennonite church when he was 15 years old and received his undergraduate education at a Mennonite institution (Columbia Bible College, Abbotsford, BC). His experiences during this time led him to pursue formal studies in both Patristics (MA, McMaster) and Anabaptist-Mennonite studies (PhD, Glasgow)—particularly history and peacebuilding. For the past eight years, however, he has attended an Eastern Orthodox parish and was brought into communion with the Orthodox Church through chrismation along with his family at Holy Nativity Orthodox Church (Antiochian) in Langley, BC on Pentecost of 2008. He currently attends Divine Liturgy at Holy Apostles Orthodox Mission Station (OCA) in Chilliwack, BC. Andrew is still strongly informed by the Mennonite peace tradition(s) and emphasis on social justice, simple living, peacebuilding, and conflict transformation—re-shaped and applied within an Orthodox theological, historical, and ascetic framework—resulting in his informal, somewhat tongue-in-cheek self-identification as ‘Mennodox.’

Andrew is also the editor of the book, From Suffering to Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Mennonite Interreligious, Interethnic, and International Peacebuilding (Pickwick, 2015). He will also release the book, Why the Creeds Matter: Gregory of Nyssa on the Iconic Function of Christological and Trinitarian Theology (St Macrina Press), later this year.

Brian Zahnd

Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church, a Christian congregation located in the heartland of America in Saint Joseph, Missouri. For 31 years, Brian and his wife Peri’s vision for the church has been to be an authentic expression of the Kingdom of Jesus in a modern world. Brian is known for his focus on embracing the deep and long history of the Church and wholeheartedly participating in God’s mission to redeem and restore His world.

Brian and Peri founded Word of Life Church in the autumn of 1981 with a handful of other young people in an old Methodist church building. For years, the church struggled to draw members. But as Brian began to be formed in a spirit of faith and prayer, the church proceeded to grow dramatically. After years of moving and expansion, the church moved to its present ministry campus on the east side of the city in 1996.

Today, Word of Life Church is a thriving congregation seeking to heal and help the people of Saint Joseph, Missouri. Through times of worship, instructional teaching, social justice programs, and many other avenues of outreach, the church helps its members to connect, grow, and serve others and Christ.

Brian is the author of three books: Beauty Will Save The World, Unconditional: The Call of Jesus To Radical Forgiveness, and What To Do On The Worst Day Of Your Life.

Cindy Brandt

I have an intolerance to alcohol. When I need a little something to keep me sane, I write.

I write about faith. Labels are limiting but I imperfectly identify as a progressive Christian. I drive a Prius, am more interested in being evangelized than evangelizing, am super social justice-y, and a Feminist. I am mostly drawn to those who are outside of faith, on their way out or teetering on the edge of it. I’m uncomfortable inside the faith circle, a stranger to those outside of it, but I dance right at the perimeter. I see faith in the irreverent, miracles in the ordinary and beauty at the margins. 

I struggle with belonging. Although I am Taiwanese, I was educated in an American school, married a Colorado man and am raising two TCKs (Third Culture Kids). Bilingual, bicultural, like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, I go both ways. It’s sometimes lonely, but mostly interesting. Stick around for conversations of East and West cultural issues or if you’re a therapist trained in managing identity crises. I could use the help.

Who wants to be serious all the time? I live on a tropical island with my husband and two fabulous kids who make me laugh every day. They inspire me to complain about them capture moments of our family’s shenanigans in writing.

Every night, on the nights I pray, I snuggle with my kids and say, “Dear God, please help us learn about You and Your wonderful world.” I think there is so much beauty here in this earth of ours, whenever I find something awesome, I’ll be sure to share it.

Cindy blogs at https://cindywangbrandt.com and is the author of Outside In: 10 Christian Voices We Can’t Ignore.

Felicia Murrell 

An opinionated, wanna be muse who is deeply bound to Love, Felicia Murrell is an occasional blogger (feliciamurrell.blogspot.com) and sometimes speaker, itinerantly and at her local church (www.viningslake.org). She is a freelance copy editor and the author of Truth Encounters. Her and husband, Doug are former pastors who make their home in Atlanta, GA, parenting four adult children.

Rev. Sophia A. Foutres

The Rev. Sophia A. Foutres holds a Master of Divinity from Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University and is an ordained minister at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where she loves being a part of a diverse community that is learning how to “Love God and Love Others Fearlessly.” She works as a spiritual counselor for those who are in recovery from addiction and trauma. Sophia is grateful to be a part of connecting others to a loving and kind God, One, way better than most of us met when we were younger! Being 100% Greek, she grew up practicing the traditions of the beautiful Greek Orthodox Church, but after having significant experiences with Jesus, she began engaging her faith in non-denominational churches. Sophia is passionate to see each person know they are deeply loved by God and experience the healing, wholeness and freedom that comes from being connected to God, self and others.

 Jill Carnuccio

Jill Carnuccio is a poet and blogger from West Chester, Pennsylvania who posts at “Finding Daphne.” She enjoys writing meditations on Scripture and holds a bible degree. Among her other writings, Jill has done studies in the book of Hebrews, a series of devotionals on depression, and another from the life of Christ. She also loves to write poetry, which we’ll feature on Clarion as well.

Sarah Van Diest

Educated as a teacher, Sarah taught stuff for nearly 20 years, ending that era as a high school Spanish teacher. In her save-the-world years, she lived in China amid rice paddies and water buffalo, and then in Costa Rica betwixt coffee bushes and giant cockroaches.

Sarah is married for the second time, is the mother to two young men and step-mother to three more. She and her husband, David, work together in The Van Diest Literary Agency, where they endeavor to promote messages that matter. They live in Boring, Oregon.

Her first and only book thus far, God in the Dark, came out with NavPress/Tyndale in April of 2018. For the past four years, Sarah has been a regular, though perhaps odd, contributor to the writer’s blog, The Write Conversation, and more recently to the Blue Ridge Christian Writer’s blog.

The Shire is deeply good, but the pilgrim’s path beckons.

Henry Smidstra (Departed)

Henry (Henk) Smidstra retired in 2012 from serving as Prison Chaplain for 21 years in British Columbia. Since then he has been reading and digging into theological, moral- philosophical questions about the current Canadian justice system that plagued him in his work. During the last few years he has been trying his hand at publishing some of his thoughts on select criminal justice issues looked at from a restorative justice perspective.  Two issues particularly in focus are the question of the ethics of punishment, and the over-representation of Aboriginal people in Prison and in the System in general. Henk does some awareness raising on Restorative Justice in his own denomination, the Christian Reformed Church, as well as spending time with his grandchildren and in his garden. Having been a history major at Calvin College, he is still vitally interested in Canadian History and in his own history as a 5 year old Dutch immigrant kid coming to Canada in 1949. He is slowly writing his memoirs.

Henk obtained a M.Div. from Calvin Seminary in 1977 and then spent 8 years as a missionary in Manila, Philippines. He then came to Vancouver and worked as a mediator with Christian Conciliation Services of BC, and for Victim Offender Reconciliation in Langley, BC. As well, he worked as coordinator for M2W2 before entering the Chaplaincy at Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women in 1990.  For on-going education he took courses in Criminology and Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University. He also obtained a certificate in conflict resolution and mediation at the Justice Institute of BC., as well as taking some studies in Spiritual Direction at VST.  Before his formal education at Calvin College and Seminary he had worked as a licenced auto mechanic in Ontario. His keen interest in Aboriginal issues began on his urban ministry internship in San Francisco; working largely with Navaho families trapped in urban poverty and addiction as a result of the American Aboriginal relocation policies of that era (Indian Termination policy and the Relocation Act of 1956).  Henk considers himself a “jack of all trades and a master of none”; a student of life and a practical theologian, with a heightened awareness of the immanence of the fellowship of the Spirit of Christ in daily life, in common grace; and believes, as the neo-Calvinists have said, “all of life is lived religion.” The Biblical concept of shalom informs vitally his perspectives on Justice. Henk considers himself an eclectic neo-Calvinist, influenced by life-experience and the exegetical courses he took at Calvin Sem., both Old and New Testaments; and by the moral philosophy of Henry Stob, Allen Verhey, and Nick Wolterstorff. 

Kevin Miller

Despite dwelling on hell for far longer than most would recommend, filmmaker Kevin Miller maintains an optimistic outlook on life—and death.

Originally from Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, Kevin always dreamed of being in the movie business but never actually believed he’d get there. So he’s as surprised as anyone to go onto imdb.com and find all of those credits listed under his name. Some of Kevin’s most recent projects include Hellbound?, spOILed, Sex+Money and With God On Our Side—not to mention a brief stint portraying Lex Luthor on Smallville.

Kevin’s work has taken him to over a dozen countries across five continents. He’s done everything from spelunking under the streets of Moscow to interviewing war-criminals-at-large in the dusty, fly-infested markets of Sierra Leone.

In addition to making films, Kevin teaches screenwriting at a number of film schools and conferences across North America and around the world.

Kevin is fascinated by theology; philosophy, film and meta-theories that seek to explain everything from storytelling to the origin of evil. Kevin’s key influences include Rene Girard, Ernest Becker, Joseph Campbell, Charles Darwin, Ernest Hemingway, Werner Herzog, Walt Disney, George Lucas, James Cameron, Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and anyone else bold enough to rewrite the rules in pursuit of a vision only they can see.

When he’s not on the road, Kevin can be found hanging out with his wife and four children and occasionally sneaking away to play hockey, hike, snowshoe—or write his own bio in the third person.

Ron Dart

Ron was on staff with Amnesty International before he joined UFV in 1990. Ron has an interest in Canadian Nationalism, Canadian Red/High Toryism, Literature and Politics, Religion and Politics, Human Rights, World Religions, International Relations, International Organizations, the clash between the Ancients and the Moderns, Political Philosophy, Mountaineering and Mountaineering Culture, Ecology and Politics. He has also done work on political Zionism (Christian and Jewish) and the impact of Zionist ideology on the Palestinians.

Ron is the Political Science advisor to the Stephen Leacock Home/Museum, on the National Executive of the Thomas Merton Society of Canada, and he has written/published on George Grant, Stephen Leacock and Thomas Merton. Ron has published 22 books.

Tracy Saletta

Rev. Dr. Tracy L. Saletta has been serving Christ in various ministry leadership positions for over 30 years. She has been the lead pastor at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in West Chester, Pa since 2015 and was the associate pastor for 9 years prior to that.  She is the director of an internship program which focuses on training up men and women in the emotional relational terrain of ministry. She is also the President and Executive Director of JusticeRain, INC., which was the focus of her doctoral work at Palmer Theological Seminary. Dr. Saletta’s heart is to train up the body of Christ and ministry leaders to incarnate God’s kingdom of love and justice with integrity, character and faithfulness, in this world.

Kenneth Tanner

The Rev. Kenneth Tanner is pastor of Church of the Holy Redeemer in Rochester Hills, Michigan, where he lives with his wife and seven children. His writing has appeared in Books & Culture, Huffington Post, Sojourners, National Review, Christianity Today, Behemoth, and Real Clear Religion. 

Wayne Northey

Wayne Northey was Director of Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman – Restorative Christian Ministries (M2/W2) in British Columbia, Canada from 1998 to 2014, when he retired. He has been active in the criminal justice arena and a keen promoter of Restorative Justice since 1974. He has published widely on peacemaking and justice themes.

Jessica Williams

Originally from Sacramento, California, I grew up tucked into a forest in Washington State with an Aunt and Uncle who thought they’d provide a home for me “until my mother was better.” As the days of waiting for that turned into years, I found myself stretched between these two places, holding out hope for a dream that I watched slowly disappear.

I write about the pain of my childhood a lot. I grew up in a loving but broken family full of addiction, abuse and abandonment. My parents spent most of my life in prison and neither overcame the grips of addiction before their recent deaths. I tell their story because it is also mine and because it is the primal learning ground for so much of my life.

I discovered God through a small country church that welcomed me into the family. The language of the church being a “family” and its members being my “brothers and sisters” filled a deep ache in my young heart. The church offered what I needed most: love and belonging.

This has (remarkably) remained true for me, even as I began to deconstruct, challenge and rethink the traditional/conservative beliefs I grew up on. That reality gives me hope for the church today and it is why I remain loyal, even as I persist in pursuing change. 

My deep devotion to the church and to see others receive this gift of love led me to go to Bible School and to enter missions at a young age. My husband and I spent the first 8 years of our marriage devoted to missionary work in Malawi, Africa. Our ideas and beliefs about this kind of work shifted through the years and we transitioned accordingly, moving from the mega-organization that trained and sent us there to a more grass-roots, locally founded and run NGO that focused on community development.

But, the real faith shift happened for me when I became a mother. When I became a mother my heart broke open. This was a love like no other and it changed everything. Long held beliefs no longer made sense to me. What kind of a loving God would eventually allow the eternal torment of his/her “children”? In my experience, once you allow yourself to start questioning such foundational teachings there is a domino effect. Other themes, such as the church’s ties to colonialism, the exclusion and oppression of minorities of all kinds, and white Christian supremacy became impossible to ignore in our context. After our third child was born we found ourselves not just confused by our place in that system but deeply unsettled by how we might be contributing to it. Though we’d always imagined we’d live elsewhere, we found ourselves moving back to my husband’s hometown – Winnipeg Manitoba.

Once resettled I let go of the idea of formal ministry and I trained as a doula – supporting women in childbirth. I have loved this work. Even so, my unsettled mind and heart would not relent and my theological questions persisted. I allowed those questions to take me on a journey and I’m so thankful that I did. Following that trail of questions eventually led me to the fine people at St. Stephen’s University, where I am currently a graduate student in their Masters of Ministry program. The teaching I’ve encountered here has felt like the theological treasure I’ve been searching for.

I write words and poetry as a way to understand this life, as a way to process pain, and as a way to express the faith I know and long for. I believe in Love and that we are loved completely but I am still discovering how this is true. I believe that everything and everyone belongs but I can see that we are not living in this reality just yet. I see myself as a student of this Love. I am just learning. My hope is that learning and focusing my attention on Love will ultimately lead to my becoming that Love in the world around me. If there is a goal, I think this is it.

I write words and poetry as a way to understand this life, as a way to process pain, and as a way to express the faith I know and long for. I believe in Love and that we are loved completely but I am still discovering how this is true. I believe that everything and everyone belongs but I can see that we are not living in this reality just yet. I see myself as a student of this Love. I am just learning. My hope is that learning and focusing my attention on Love will ultimately lead to my becoming that Love in the world around me. If there is a goal, I think this is it.

Joni Miller

Director of Worship & Arts

Joni Miller traveled for 15 years in music/worship ministry and is currently serving as the Director of Worship & the Arts at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. Joni oversees four worship teams, the dance ministry team, Cornerstone’s artistry and décor, and Cornerstone’s Artist in Residence Program. Her passion and vision is to bring glory and praise to the Lord through music, songwriting, dance, drama, and other forms of art

Greg Albrecht

Greg Albrecht directs Plain Truth Ministries, an outreach ministry to those who’ve suffered spiritual abuse, legalism or disillusionment. After triggering the wholesale conversion of the Worldwide Church of God in the late 80’s, Albrecht, the media director at the time, was released to run the magazine as a ministry to former Armstrongites. He deliberately chose to maintain the name of the magazine until 2014, as it represents a testimony of God’s grace. Moving forward, Greg’s ministry has broadened to the broader Christian world and so has slated a name change for their flagship magazine in 2015 to CWRm (Christianity Without the Religion Magazine). He will continue to challenge legalism and promote Christ-centered, grace-based faith. Albrecht conducts a weekly online service, also titled Christianity Without the Religion along with audio and video resources at www.ptm.org. He has authored many books, including Bad News Religion and Revelation Revolution. Plain Truth Ministries is a member of the Evangelical Press Association and National Religious Broadcasters. 

Caleb Miller

Caleb Miller (The Imperfect Pastor) is an ex addict, ex charismatic, ex pastor. After filling nearly every position within the four walls of the church from janitor to senior pastor, he now travels, blogs, writes and studies where theology meets life. 

Michael Hardin

Michael is a grateful graduate (1988) of North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago where he studied Dietrich Bonhoeffer with F. Burton Nelson and Rene Girard with Edwin A. Hallsten and earned his MDiv. He is currently a PhD candidate at Charles Sturt University where he is engaging doctoral research on Karl Barth and Rene Girard. He lives in Lancaster, PA (in the heart of Amish country). Michael and his beloved Lorri have three daughters and two granddaughters, all named from characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Simarillion.         

Rob Grayson

My name is Rob, and I live pretty much in the middle of England with my wife, our daughter, two cats and a dog. We also have a son who recently moved out.

I’ve been trying to follow Jesus for the best part of thirty years. Outside of family and work, church is what I’ve poured most of my time and energy into, mainly as a worship leader and musician.

I’m an avid reader, but it took me a long time to get around to starting my own blog, mainly because I wasn’t sure I’d have anything fresh or unique to say. But I enjoy writing – in fact, I write for a living, mainly by expressing other people’s thoughts in my own language (I’m a freelance translator). I finally decided to take the plunge and begin writing some of my own musings in August 2013.

I mainly write about theology and faith, and what I’m often trying to do is strip away layers of accumulated non-essentials that get added to our faith over time. I sometimes also comment on various aspects of the wider culture. For most of my first year of blogging, I tried to publish two posts most weekdays, plus maybe a post or two at the weekend. I found that this pace was not sustainable in the long term, so have now eased back to around two posts a week.

Richard Murray

Richard K. Murray is a practicing criminal-defense attorney from Dalton, Georgia where he lives with his wife Rita and their seven children: Sloan, Caleb, Micah, Abraham, Sarah, Ben and Annie. 

Jessica Cotten holds a degree in Spanish and International Relations, a certificate in Intelligence Collection, and a certificate in Herbalism. She has been an ESOL teacher, Spanish teacher, musician, tea server at a fancy hotel, worship leader, manager of an online school, and a creative director. She is currently a writer focusing on poetry, a sci-fi fantasy series, and a non-fiction book for artists. She’s always up for a conversation, and you can connect with her on Twitter (@jessicacotten), Instagram (@jessicathecotten), or on her website (jessicacotten.com).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fran Francis

Hello from the South Pacific! I’m Fran Francis, a spiritual director (www.solace.org.nz )and since 2017 have been National Co-ordinator of an ecumenical spiritual directors formation programme founded in 1988 and offered by Spiritual Growth Ministries here in Aotearoa-New Zealand (www.sgm.org.nz). I was a Vineyard pastor for 23 years until moving into the leadership of the Spiritual Directors Formation Programme. 

 

Like many women, I found the transitions from work to full time parenting (twins/3 under 3 yrs), “wife of” etc and back to work again presented life-changing questions about my identity, about God, and about my abilities and vocation. During the parenting/pastoring years I studied and began to develop the skills which have become my “bread and butter.” I followed the “green-finger of God” to spiritual direction formation and to a Masters in Ministry but really, no-one is more surprised than me that the random assortment of things I appear to be good at have cohered into something recognisable and useful to God and others (apart from being a valuable addition to any pub quiz team).

 

As an enneagram 7 with an 8 wing I have found my sense of justice has got me into trouble in my earlier years when I lacked the tempering of timing, discernment and grace. These have helped with my tendency to “shoot from the lip”. I’m not justice-y in a placard-waving/protest way – I always seem to miss those memos. I have found instead, that my voice, my presence at particular events or in particular places to be in relationship with others and increasingly, the land, along with my writing are how I engage with spirituality and justice. Listening is an act of justice and spiritual direction is listening in as “deep calls to deep”.

 

I enjoy opportunities to speak and lead contemplative practices for my church community and I am enjoying experiencing church community life more from a parishioner perspective.

 

In my practice I work creatively in care of souls with a wide variety of individuals and groups, at home here in Aotearoa-New Zealand and in far-flung places – from Jaigaon on the Indo-Bhutan border to Davao City, Philippines to Melbourne, Australia. Pretty much everywhere is far from here.

 

I’m a creative who writes and leads contemplative retreats and curates spaces in which people can encounter God, I am convinced St Gregory the Great was right when he said, “Care of souls is the art of arts.”

 

Fran Francis

National Co-ordinator

Spiritual Directors

Formation Programme

SPIRITUAL GROWTH MINISTRIES

 

Email:  fran.francis@sgm.org.nz

Website:  www.sgm.org.nz