Trainers
The leadership of Shaping the Parish is made up of trainers who are all congregational and/or organization development practitioners.
We are all committed to:
- Providing a quality program.
- Implementing in our own life and parishes what we teach others. We are doing what we are assisting others to do.
- Coming to the program with the necessary training and experience. That includes completing a required course of training and interning as well as developing speciality areas of competence.
Trainers
Michelle Heyne brings empathy, humor, and a solid grounding in ecclesiology and effective organizational dynamics to her work as a trainer. She is committed to helping parish leaders bring about effective change by developing the skills they need to make the most of the gifts they already have. She has worked as a financial services executive for over 25 years and served as a parish lay leader for 15. Michelle lives in Seattle.
Robert Gallagher brings 40 years of experience in leadership training and parish development. Bob offers exceptional skills in facilitating shifts and changes in people and organizations. He provides practical methods and vision for a transformed parish. He’s served on an industrial mission staff, as a parish priest and a diocesan staff person. He is the founder of the Church Development Institute. Bob has a masters degree in Organization Development from Goddard College. Bob lives in Seattle.
Joey Rick brings twenty years of organization development experience and a deep personal spirituality to her work. With background in corporate and human interaction consulting, she now helps congregations cultivate their gifts. Joey is committed to inspiring leadership courage and enabling clients to nurture their potential. Her balance of candor and grace has earned her the label of “Congregation Whisperer” from clients. Joey lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her family. Joey has an M.S in Organization Development from American University. She is interning with the program in the Diocese of Washington,
Susan Burns is the rector of The Church of the Redeemer, Bethesda, Maryland. Susan brings an ability to bring people of different backgrounds together around shared values. She combines a hopeful and optimistic spirit with an ability to get things done. She has led her congregation through a period of rebuilding, revitalization and significant growth. Susan is from the Diocese of Washington.
Susan Adam is a professional artist having been trained in fine arts at Colorado College, San Francisco Art Institute and the Massachusetts College of Art. She brings an individualistic, insightful perspective to the program. Susan is empathic, easygoing and inclusive. Susan is part of the congregational development consultant network in the Diocese of Maine. Susan lives in Maine.
Doug Wigner is a priest who has served parishes in Connecticut and Southwest Virginia.He’s been involved with the Church Development Institute since the mid 1980’s when he went through that program twice as he served different parishes. Doug founded and trained in the CDI in the Diocese of Southwest Virginia.
Susan Latimer brings keen intuition, strong analytical skills, and advanced work in emotional intelligence to her work as a trainer. She has served 18 years as a parish priest in congregations of various sizes, and as a congregational consultant in the Diocese of Maine. Passionate about healthy congregations and healthy leaders, she enjoys creating a safe space in which people may be enabled to make needed changes. Susan is from the Diocese of West Virginia.
Richard Downing served as the rector of St. James, Capital Hill in DC for many years. He brings experience as a spiritual guide and diocesan leader. He founded and later conducted the Church Development Institute in the Diocese of Washington.
Dickie lives in Wilmington, DE
Liz Tunney brings 29 years of corporate experience in process improvement, facilitation, and organization development. Liz provides methods and tools for bringing the people in organizations together to manage and improve their life and mission. She is committed to empowering people through competence in group process. She has done consulting and training in parishes in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts and is a trainer in CDI and LTI. She is now a senior at General Seminary.
Patricia Downing brings 15 years of experience as a parish priest, a firm grasp of the dynamics of congregational life and a wicked sense of humor to her work as a trainer. She is passionate about offering to parish leaders the opportunity to gain the skills and techniques necessary to assist them in living out the Gospel in their particular parish settings. Patty is from the Diocese of Delaware.
Anne-Marie Jeffery brings insightfulness and the ability to develop a clear vision to her work as a trainer. She is fascinated by congregational dynamics and is committed to helping parishes discover how they can be healthy. She has been ordained for six years and has served a variety of congregations both large and very small. Previously, she worked for the US Government as a physicist and brings this analytic ability to her work in the church. She is interning with the program in the Diocese of Washington, Anne-Marie is from the Diocese of Washington.
Michele Hagans is a priest in the Diocese of Washington, serving as an associate at the Church of the Holy Comforter. She’s the President of Fort Lincoln Realty Company, a property management company. Michele is interning in the Diocese of Washington program.
Tom Purdy is the rector of St. Peter’s, Poolesville, Maryland. Tom brings an enjoyment of leading and facilitating change through a cooperative and responsive style. His experience in the professional world and the church have provided him with a breadth of experience that inform his ministry today. Tom enjoys the creative challenge of helping revitalize a faith community, especially fostering spiritual growth and personal ministry. He also enjoys laughter. Tom is interning with the program in the Diocese of Washington,
Catherine Tran brings an insightful and discerning spirit to the Shaping the Parish program. She enjoys contributing a creative, thoughtful, and energetic element to the workshop and its practical application to parish life. Her experience includes thirty years of management, leadership, and training and development in both secular corporate and parish settings, most recently as a rector in the Diocese of Colorado. Articles about her work have been published in Alban Institute’s Congregations magazine and The Christian Century. She is interning in the national program in Seattle. Catherine is from the Diocese of Colorado.
Paul Rider has been at St. John’s in Mankato, MN for almost eight years and in parish ministry for over twenty. His current work continues to be the ongoing development of strong, committed lay leadership in the parish, with an emphasis on empowering ministry “beyond the walls” of the church. Celtic spirituality grounds Paul in the here and now and gives him an appreciation for the ordinariness that is often at the center of parish life and a deep empathy for where people are in their spiritual journey. Paul is an intern with Shaping the Parish.
Marie Gambetta brings enthusiasm, humor, and energy to her work as an intern trainer. She enjoys working cooperatively and interactively with others to help people reach their fullest potential. Helping people move through the process of strengthening themselves and their parishes gives her a thrill. She has worked in education and healthcare for twenty years. She is from the Diocese of Northern Indiana. Marie is an intern with Shaping the Parish.
Qualities for we are seeking in potential trainers
1. Willing and able to apply the program’s approach, projects and such to their own parish.
2. Has a passion for developing healthy parish churches
3. Openness to learn, to try new ways learned in the program, to receive feedback on behavior.
4. Demonstrated interest in fields of spiritual practices, emotional and social intelligence, and change theory and practice.
5. Healthy relationship with authority. Is interdependent with those in authority. Able to be in an authority position with flexibility (able to adjust leadership style to fit the situation).
6. Able and willing to get additional training in human intercation, conflict management, group development, educational design, and organization development.
7. Interested in taking on an educational/training role.
8. Has the time and energy to fulfill the role.
There are no promises made on either side. The potential trainer may decide “this isn’t for me.” The program leaders may decide “we don’t think there’s a good fit with the needs of the program.”