JOHN ACKERMAN is a retired pastor in the PC(USA) with over 40 years of experience in the area of pastoral ministry. He has a Masters of Sacred Theology in Christian Spirituality from General Theological Seminary in New York. He is a spiritual director, teacher, and workshop leader specializing in the areas of spiritual development, theology and spirituality, and the Myers-Briggs and spirituality. He is also a clergy consultant, meeting bi-weekly with groups focusing on ministry and spiritual development. The aim of these groups is discern God's call in the present.

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DALE ALLISON is Professor of  New  Testament Exegesis and Early Christianity at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  His areas of expertise include Second Temple Judaism, and he is the author of  books on early Christian eschatology, the Gospel of Matthew, the so-called  Sayings  Source of Q, the  historical  Jesus, and  the Testament of Abraham. He has also written The Silence of Angels, a book on religious experience in the modern world. He is currently at work on a full length commentary on the book of James as well as a book on the music of George Harrison.

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ELLEN BABINSKY is Associate Professor of Church History at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She brings to the classroom her expertise in the Early, Medieval, Reformation, and Modern periods of church history, with a specialization in medieval heresy and Christian mysticism. Ellen is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

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TINA BROADWAY is Coordinator for the Certificate in Spiritual Formation Program at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

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WILLIAM P. BROWN is Professor of Old Testament Language, Literature, and Exegesis at Columbia Theological Seminary.  He has abiding interest in the use of scripture in the life of the church and contemporary theological discourse, as well as in the ancient cultural contexts out of which scripture emerged.

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WALTER BRUEGGEMANN is the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. He has a Ph.D. from St. Louis University. He is the author of numerous books, including Praying the Psalms, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary, Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech for Proclamation, Texts Under Negotiation: The Bible and Postmodern Imagination, The Psalms and the Life of Faith, and Theology of the Old Testament. He is a well-known lecturer throughout the church both nationally and internationally. His love of the Old Testament is contagious and participants are always challenged and refreshed with his unique interpretation of the text.

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JOHN P. BURGESS is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Previously he was Associate for Theology in the offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  An ordained Presbyterian minister, John has served several congregations part-time. He is a board member and faculty mentor for Excellence from the Start, a Lilly Endowment-funded program that assists Presbyterian candidates in the transition from seminary into ministry. His publications include The East German Church and the End of Communism; Why Scripture Matters: Reading the Bible in a Time of Church Conflict; and After Baptism: Shaping the Christian Life. John has taught a class on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together in the Spiritual Formation Program.  

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Dr. BILL CLEMMONS is retired from professor of Christian Spirituality and Pastoral Ministry at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard (Chicago), Illinois. He has been teaching courses in spiritual formation for about twenty years and is a graduate of the Institute of Formative Spirituality at Duquesne University. He is also co-director of "Horizons of the Spirit," an ecumenical program in spirituality that meets each year at The Oratory in Rock Hill, SC. He is an Associate in the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, the oldest monastic community in the Episcopal Church in the modern period.

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REBECCA COLE-TURNER is a counselor educator, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She holds a Ph.D. from Syracuse University .  She also has a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary and is a graduate of the Certificate in Spiritual Formation from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  Rebecca enjoys teaching in the areas of personal transformation and healing, prayer, the Christian mystics, human development, parenting and listening skills. She has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels as well as in a variety of congregational settings.  She is an ordained elder in the PCUSA.  Rebecca is the author of Learning How to Die, Learning How to Live (1986) and Supporting Parents Through Good Times and Bad: Developing Support Groups for Parents (1983).

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RON CRAM is Associate Professor of Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary. He has a Ph.D. in Practical theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. His interests include the religious education of children, ritual and religious education, moral education and the practices of Christian faith, religious education in the era of "expanding religion," teaching strategies for adults learners, and reflective practice in religious education. He is the consulting editor for The International Journal of Children's Spirituality, published by the Chichester Institute of Higher Education, Chichester, West Sussex, England. He is the Director of Research of the Adolescent Spirituality Project at Columbia Seminary, a project made possible by a grant from the Griffith Foundation.

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JAMES E. DAVISON is the Director of Continuing Education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. During his junior year in college, he studied at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, traveling in the Middle East the following summer. After completing seminary, Jim lived and studied for seven years at the Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. At Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, he and his wife, Reeny, led five trips to Europe. Jim's dissertation was on the fathers of the Roman Church in the second century. This pilgrimage will be similar to the one he led to Rome in 2004.

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Dr. ANDREW DEARMAN is currently Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East and is an experienced archaeological researcher. Andy is the author of four books and numerous papers, and is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

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ROSE MARY DOUGHERTYis a Sister of the School of Notre Dame and was most recently the program director for the Shalom Institute in Washington, DC.  She serves as a retreat leader and a consultant for group decision making processes.  She is the author of Group Spiritual Direction: Community for Discernment and has done a video by the same name. 

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ANDY DREITCER teaches at San Francisco Theological Seminary where he is the Director of Graduate Certificate Programs in Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Formation Studies and co-director in the Lily Endowment funded Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project. Andy was instrumental in designing the one of the first seminary-based Protestant spiritual director programs in the United States. He studied at Wabash College, Oxford, and Yale Divinity School, and received a Ph.D. in Christian Spirituality (with an emphasis on biblical and congregational spirituality). Andy and his wife, Wendy, serve as co-pastors at Sleepy Hollow Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo, California.

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LAURA DUNHAM is an ordained Presbyterian minister. She has served in the parish for over eight years. She is currently serving as an consultant in stewardship and church renewal, under a contract with the stewardship Education Office of the PC(USA). Her passions lie in the areas of eco-justice (earth and spirit), spiritual practices of simplicity, and spirituality of money.

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JUDY DURFF is a Presbyterian Pastor and has a diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary. 

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JULIA FOGG is currently assistant professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA.  She holds a Th.M. from Candler School of Theology and an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School.  She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University Graduate School of Religion.

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LIZ FORNEY  holds an M. Div from  Princeton Seminary and Columbia’s Certificate in Spiritual Formation.  She is a pastor in the Atlanta area and a freelance fused-glass artist.  Her essay "Arts and Spirituality" appears in the February 2007 edition of the Presbyterian Church’s Call to Worship Journal.

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CHRIS GLASER,  M. Div., an author of nine books, studied with Henri Nouwen at Yale Divinity School in the mid-70s, keeping touch as friends in the decades that followed.  Upon Nouwen's death in 1996, Glaser began leading workshops and retreats on his spiritual mentor's work to help others discern and cultivate their own spirituality based on his legacy.  His most recent book is, Henri's Mantle: 100 meditations on Nouwen's Legacy. 

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CATHERINE GONZALEZ is Professor Emerita of Church History at Columbia Theological Seminary. She has a Ph.D. from Boston University. She is particularly interested in the history of liturgy and how it displays the situation and the theology of the people; the history of women in the life of the church; and the effects on the church of the assimilation of new cultural groups within its life. She provides a refreshing look at the history of the church that keeps you coming back to hear more!

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JOAN GRAY, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly of the PC(USA), is a trained Spiritual Director and an  experienced Presbyterian Pastor with over 20 years of pastoral ministry experience in the PC(USA). She has a Master of Sacred Theology in Spiritual Direction from General Theological Seminary in New York. She has had numerous articles and book reviews in Reformed Liturgy and Music, Presbyterian Survey, Journal for Preachers, Religion and Health, Christianity and Crisis, and Presbyterian Outlook.   

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DR. KENT IRA GROFF, who served congregations for twenty years, is founding mentor of Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development, Camp Hill, Pa., and adjunct professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary. As a pilgrim of East and West, he is the author of Active Spirituality: A Guide for Seekers and Ministers (Alban), and The Soul of Tomorrow's Church (Upper Room). He is also a contributor to the Upper Room Spiritual Formation Dictionary. He describes his work as one beggar showing other beggars where to find bread. 

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MARGARET GUENTHER is the Associate Rector for Spiritual Formation, St. Columba's Episcopal Church, in Washington DC.  She is the retired Director of the Center for Christian Spirituality of The General Theological Seminary.  She has served on the faculties of Vancouver School of Theology, The George Washington University, and Harvard University, and is the author of numerous publications, among them: Notes for a Sojourner, My Soul in Silence Waits, Companions at the Threshold: Spiritual Direction with the Dying, The Practice of Prayer.

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STANLEY R. HALL is Jean Brown Associate Professor of Liturgics and Homiletics. He came to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1992, after having served churches in Indiana, Ohio, and Oregon. He was an editorial consultant for the 1995 Book of Common Worship.

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BEN JOHNSON is Professor Emeritus of Christian Spirituality at Columbia Theological Seminary and former director of the Spirituality Program. 

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DR. DAVID JOHNSON was called in 2001 to serve as director of Supervised Practice of Ministry at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary; shortly thereafter he agreed to direct the Seminary's Certificate in Spiritual Formation program as well.  Prior to joining the Austin Seminary administration, Johnson served churches in Galveston and Irving, Texas and Watchung, New Jersey.  From 1989-1993 Johnson served as assistant professor of historical theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas.

Johnson is the author of a number of articles, including "making Theology Come Alive in the Parish," in the fall 1995 issue of Pro Ecclesia.  He contributed two entries to the Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation: "Cassiodorus" and "Pelagius." Johnson also writes occasional book reviews, stories, essays, and poems.

An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),  Johnson is a member of New Covenant Presbytery.

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JULIE JOHNSON  is a Presbyterian minister living in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with an M.Div. and from Columbia Theological Seminary with a D.Min. She has served both as a parish pastor and recently as the Director of the Spirituality Program at Columbia Theological Seminary.  When Julie is not serving as a spiritual director, congregational consultant and retreat leader, she enjoys her hobbies of friendship, photography and camping.

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Rev. BRAD KENT  Ph.D. is Associate for Spiritual Formation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). He has over 20 years of experience in parish ministry, has taught at two seminaries, and as Spiritual Director in Residence at the Heartland Presbyterian Center in Kansas City. He holds a Certificate in "The Art of Spiritual Direction" through San Francisco Theological Seminary.

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JOHN KLOEPFER is a Presbyterian Pastor in New York and received his Ph.D. in Spirituality from Duquesne University, where he taught in the Institute of Formative Spirituality. 

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ARNOLD W. KLUKAS is Associate Professor of Liturgics at Nashotah House, an Episcopal Seminary in Wisconsin.  Raised in an ecumenical home with an Irish, Roman Catholic mother and German, Lutheran father, Fr. Klukas discovered the Episcopal Church at age twelve and spent much of his adolescence exploring churches in southern New England.  He attended Wittenberg University, Ohio (B.A.) and Yale Divinity School (M.Div.).  He earned a diploma in theology from Oxford University, as well as a Ph.D. in Medieval Architecture and Liturgy from the University of Pittsburgh.  Ordained to the priesthood in 1975, Fr. Klukas served as curate at All Saints, Margaret Street, London (1975-78).  He returned to the U.S.A. in 1978 and taught Medieval Art at Oberlin College, Smith College and Emory University.  In 1989 he became interim rector at St. Mary’s, Charleroi, PA and in 1991 had a vision to establish a traditional Anglo-Catholic parish in Pittsburgh.  He began a ten-year ministry as rector at Grace Church, Mt. Washington.  Dr. Klukas is a spiritual director, and he has taught the history and practice of spirituality at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA.

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EMMANUEL LARTY is Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care at Columbia Theological Seminary. Emmanuel is interested in pastoral care, counseling and theology within and between different cultural contexts with particular reference to multifarious African, British and American expressions. He is current President of the International Council on Pastoral Care and Counseling (ICPCC). He is researching the theological implications and practical effects of the practice of western pastoral care and counseling in different cultural contexts, and exploring developments in African-centered pastoral care and counseling.  

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ELIZABETH LIEBERT is Professor of Spiritual Life and Director of the Program in Christian Spirituality at San Francisco Theological Seminary. She has a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. She is a leader of church retreats and conducts continuing education for the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church. She is currently working on two writing projects. One addresses women's experiences with the spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola – why they have been transformative for women and how they can remain so? The second seeks to reintroduce the psalms as a way of prayer for contemporary people. She is interested in spiritual formation in Protestant contexts and personal and corporate discernment.

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ELLEN K. McCORMACK Ph.D., a Roman Catholic laywoman, is the Director of the Soul Center, a spiritual life center, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church located in Pittsburgh, PA. Ellen has provided spiritual formation at East Liberty Presbyterian Church since 1996. She received her Ph.D. in 1997 from Duquesne University's Institute of Formative Spirituality, a program dedicated to helping faith-filled people live their everyday, personal and corporate lives in fidelity to God's call. Ellen teaches classes at ELPC in Christian spirituality, facilitates small and large groups in spiritual reading, depression support and Centering Prayer. Ellen also directs spiritual retreats, leads prayer for worship, and does teaching and consulting work for the Greater Pittsburgh Area in spiritual formation.

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BETTY MEADOWS  has served as the General Presbyter of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery for six and a half years, coming to Louisville from Atlanta where she was Associate Executive for Evangelism and Church Growth for seven years. Before that, Betty served  as pastor of a church in Texas for six years. Prior to attending seminary at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas, she was a school teacher.   

She is currently in a four-year study funded by the Louisville Institute, an arm of the Lilly Foundation, on the Missional Church.

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Martha Moore-Keish, Assistant Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. Prior to teaching at Columbia Seminary, she served in the Office of Theology and Worship of the PC(USA) and then taught liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School.

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ELLEN MORSETH, BVM, a native of Seattle, WA, is a Staff Mentor of Worshipful-Work: Center for Transforming Religious Leadership, an inclusive ecumenical ministry focusing on the integration of spirituality and administration in church governance, officed in Kansas City, MO. She has served as Pastoral Administrator of Roman Catholic parishes in Montana, in the leadership of her own religious congregation, and as Coordinator of Leadership Development for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO. She is the author of numerous guidebooks and handbooks for congregational leaders published by Worshipful-Work.

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LISA MYERS has done ministry in the areas of Spiritual Formation as a lay person for the last twenty years. She has worked with both adults and youth, and has taught and done consulting with a variety of churches and Christian organizations. Lisa's primary focus is individual and small group spiritual guidance and retreat direction with clergy, seminarians, and laity. She is a graduate of programs in Spiritual Guidance at the Shalem Institute in Washington, D.C. and the Spirituality Center of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

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ROY AND MARY NEILSON:  Roy is the senior pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa.  He has held numerous pastorates and has extensive training inthe Enneagram.  His wife Mary is an editor and publisher of religious books and a retreat leader.

PHILIP J. NEWELL is the author of many books. We list two that are used by the Spiritual Program – The Iona Community Worship Book and Listening for the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality.

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KATHLEEN O'CONNOR is Professor of Old Testament Language, Literature, and Exegesis at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She has a Ph.D. in Old Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary. Kathleen brings to our program a love of delving into the Old Testament in a new and extremely informative way. She is interested in lament, grief, the spiritual life, and how our local contexts are influencing our interpretations of the Bible.

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DON POSTEMA is a member of the Christian Reformed Church and has served as a chaplain at the University of Michigan for over 35 years. He has also been a retreat leader, teacher, and conference speaker for a number of years. He is the author of the book Catch Your Breath: God's Invitation to Sabbath Rest.

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BOB RATCLIFF Ph.D. is the Editor of Abingdon Press, a publisher of academic books. His doctoral work was in church history and historical theology, specializing in patristics. He is very interested in the spirituality of the early church and teaching on such things as the development of the creed and canon, authority in the church, women in early Christianity, the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology, desert spirituality, and Augustine's theology of grace.

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STEPHEN REID is Professor of Old Testament Studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is the author of four books, most recently, Listening In: A Multicultural Reading of the Psalms. Steve is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren.

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HOWARD RICE (D. D.) is Professor of Ministry and Chaplain Emeritus of San Francisco Theological seminary, having recently retired after 29 years of teaching there. He is presently serving as Theologian in Residence at the Church of the Roses in Santa Rosa, California, where he now lives with his wife, Nancy. Dr. Rice served as moderator of the 191st General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church and has been awarded numerous honors, as well as honorary doctorates from Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington and from his alma mater, Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Dr. Rice has been instrumental in the development of the spirituality program at SFTS and especially the five-day retreats known as Companion on the Inner way.

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CYNTHIA RIGBY is Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her special area of interest is setting Reformed theologies in conversation with theologies of liberation, particularly feminist, womanist, and mujerista theologies. Cindy is much in demand as a leader of church conferences and adult education class teacher.

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Dr. V. Bruce Rigdon is a distinguished scholar and church historian. He is an authority on Eastern Orthodoxy, especially the Russian Orthodox Church.

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MARTHA ROBBINS, Th.D., is Joan Marshall Associate Professor of Pastoral Care at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where she teaches courses in spiritual formation, spiritual direction, discernment, pastoral care and counseling, among others.  Dr. Robbins has engaged in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises as both a participant and as a retreat facilitator and has led national and international workshops on various aspects of Christian Spirituality, Discernment, and Spiritual Direction since 1974.   Martha, also a licensed psychologist, continues to explore the role of imagination, prayer and faith in the dynamics of healing and transformation from both psychological and Christian perspectives. She is a graduate of Maryville University (B.A.), St. Louis University (M.A.) and Harvard University (Th.D).  An Episcopalian, Martha lives with her husband, Walter Bowman, in Oakmont, PA; their son Christopher’s family lives in Southern California.

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STAN SAUNDERS is a radical baptized Christian! He has a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Stan is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. His specialty is in the area of New Testament Spirituality with interests focus on early Christian understandings of "the last day," the nature of the Church, and ecclesial self-definition, with a special interest in the Gospel according to Matthew.

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Dr. TOM SCHWANDA is associate professor of Christian Formation and Ministry at Wheaton College and adjunct associate professor of Christian Spirituality at Fuller Theological Seminary. Previously he spent eighteen years as a pastor serving churches in NJ and MI. Tom writes and teaches frequently on Reformed Spirituality, the history of Christian spirituality, spiritual direction, and worship. He has taught this course four times previously and also led the Columbia Theological Seminary pilgrimage course on John Calvin's Spirituality to Geneva. He is a retreat leader and spiritual director. Tom lives in Wheaton, IL with his wife Grace, a music professor and choir director. They have two adult children, Rebecca and Steve.

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NORMAN SHANKS is a Church of Scotland Minister who is to be a Resident Scholar at Columbia Seminary during the Fall Term 2007.  He is currently minister of Govan Old Parish Church, Glasgow, was Leader of the Iona Community from 1995 - 2002, and chaired the planning committee for the World Council of Churches Assembly at Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006.

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N. GRAHAM STANDISH is currently pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, where he has been working to form a church that is more intentionally open to God’s guidance and grace through prayer and spirituality.  He is the author of Paradoxes for Living and Discovering the Narrow Path, both by Westminster John Knox Press; Forming Faith in a Hurricane, by Upper Room Books; and numerous articles in spirituality and spiritual direction.  He is also on the editorial board of Presence, the journal of Spiritual Directors International. Graham has a Ph.D. in formative spirituality from Duquesne University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  Graham is a teacher, retreat leader, spiritual director, and consultant to congregations on creating more spiritually open churches.  He has a background in individual, marital, and family therapy.

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LAURA S. SUGG loves to share the beauty and rich traditions of Celtic Christianity with varied audiences. She earned her Ph.D. in theology at the University of Edinburgh in 1997. Her research focused on a nineteenth century collection of Celtic prayers from the highlands and islands of Scotland, looking particularly at the experience of God in everyday life (immanence). Dr. Sugg has served in higher education ministry as chaplain, teacher, and/or campus minister for most of her twenty years of ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She is adjunct faculty at Columbia Theological Seminary and serves Westminster Presbyterian Church and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. 

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BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR is an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Atlanta. Ordained in 1983, she served urban and rural parishes in Georgia for fifteen years before assuming her current post as Butman Professor Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. In recent years, she has lectured on preaching at Yale, Duke, and Emory Universities, and has preached at churches across the country. A columnist and editor-at-large for The Christian Century, Taylor is the author of ten books, including When God is Silent (Cowley 1998) and Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation (Cowley 2000).

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MARJORIE J. THOMPSON is an ordained Presbyterian Minister serving as Director of Pathways in Congregational Spirituality with Upper Room Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the architect of Companions in Christ, a small group resource series in spiritual formation, as well as author of the books Soul Feast and Family the Forming Center. Marjorie brings 25 years of experience to retreat leadership, spiritual guidance, and teaching in Christian spirituality.

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BONNIE BOWMAN THURSTON held the William F. Orr chair in New Testament and was a full professor in the New Testament faculty at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary until June 2002. She came to Pittsburgh in September 1995 from her service as Associate Professor of Theology at Wheeling Jesuit College. She left Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to devote herself to writing, teaching, and leading workshops and retreats.

 Dr. Thurston received her degrees from Bethany College (B.A.) and the University of Virginia (M.A. and Ph. D.). She has also done post-doctoral study at Harvard Divinity School, Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, and the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. She has written numerous articles and twelve books, including To Everything a Season: A Spirituality of Time, Preaching Mark, and "Philippians" in Philippians and Philemon. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

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BERNARD TICKERHOOF, TOR serves on the faculty of the Institute for Contemporary Franciscan Life at St. Francis University in Loretto, PA.  He is a friar priest of the Sacred Heart Province of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. His current assignment is as Novice Director.  In addition, he continues his ministry of spirituality and retreat work, and is a Provincial Spiritual Assistant of the Secular Franciscan Order. Bernie has the M.Div. (Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley) and the D.Min. (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary).  He has also done graduate studies at St. Bonaventure University. Bernie is author of the books, Conversion and the Enneagram: Transformation of the Self In Christ (Dimension Books, 1991) and Paradox: The Spiritual Path to Transformation (Twenty-Third Publications, 2002).

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JANE E. VENNARD is ordained to a special ministry of teaching and spiritual direction in the United Church of Christ. She is senior adjunct faculty of prayer and spirituality at the Iliff School of Theology. In addition, Jane is a spiritual director in private practice, teaches classes in a variety of ecumenical settings, and leads retreats nationally. She is the author of numerous articles and five books: Praying for Friends and Enemies (1995); Praying with body and Soul (1998); Be Still: designing and Leading Contemplative Retreats (2000); Embracing the World: Praying for Justice and Peace (2003), winner of the Colorado Book Award; and A Praying Congregation: The Art of Teaching Spiritual Practice (2005). Jane lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband Jim.

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BETTY F. VOIGT is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  A graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (M.Div.), she has served four congregations in the Washington, PA area.  Betty has received certification in Spiritual Guidance from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, and she is an associate of Green Bough House of Prayer, in Adrian, Georgia.  She also established and directs HOLY GROUND, an ecumenical Christian ministry whose goal is to support persons desiring to deepen their relationship with God through quiet, solitude and prayer.  

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