Finding Rest for Our Souls: Stories of Soul Survivors

Amanda Hines is a graduate of George W. Truett Theological Seminary where she earned her M.Div. and earned her certification as a spiritual director.I’ll be writing about my own journey with mental/emotional health and how it affected my relationship with Christianity and the Church. I hope to tie-in encountering my mental/emotional health through time spent in spiritual direction while looking at Psalm 13 & 42.

Andre G Brown is a performer, educator and director who has been creating original theatre, music and media for over 15 years. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and is a devoted theatre teaching artist and public-school teacher. His mission has been to bring quality arts educational programs and professional opportunities to under-served communities of color. As a professional actor, Andre has performed in national tours (in the US and abroad), regional commercials and major motion pictures. To date, he’s written, produced & performed three (3) solo one act plays for public performance. Andre also holds graduate degrees from New York University & University of Washington in Acting Performance and Theatre Education. Andre is currently based in Los Angeles, CA and is producing his first documentary film, A Soul Cleansing. @asoulcleansingFor this project, Andre will be writing on Psalm 27, “From Fear to Faith: Finding Home Again.”

Ngakpa Dawa Norbu (Rev. Chris Lee-Thompson) was an ordained Lutheran pastor for 36 years. He now serves the Joyful Path Meditation and Healing Center as a teacher-in-training. His mentor is the 9th Domo Geshe Rinpoche. In addition, he is a certified yoga teacher through Alignment Yoga and, with his wife, Sylvia, has published a children’s book, A Day of Lovingkindness.For this project, he will be writing on his transition from being in Lutheran ministry to joining a Buddhist community whose first vow focuses on refuge. His wisdom invites a new look at Psalm 46.

Dr. Angela Patterson is a media psychologist, writer and communicator who currently serves as the head writer and editor at Springtide Research Institute. Using her communications background, she also teaches organizational behavior and culture in the master’s program for Organization Development and Leadership at Fielding Graduate University. Angela earned a doctorate in media psychology from Fielding, where she studied how media and technology affect cultural institutions. Specifically, her research focuses on how digital media affects the religious and spiritual development of adolescents and young adults. Angela also holds a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University Bloomington and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi. Angela lives in downtown Dallas, Texas and is a proud plant mom of two.

Rev. Courtney Armento is driven to inspire the power of community to create systemic change, in that vein she co-authored resolution GA-1928, A Call to See and Respond to the Crisis of Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence, adopted at General Assembly 2019. Courtney is intentionally Un*Unsilencing Domestic Violence with her training curriculum. Courtney graduated from Claremont School of Theology in 2019, with her Master of Divinity, and earned a 40-hour certificate in Domestic Violence Crisis Intervention, in 2018. She was ordained in the CC (DOC) in 2020. She earned a STAR I certificate (Strategies for Trauma and Resilience) in 2021. She is also a Midwife Pastor for theBLEND Church Family in Lancaster, California. She leads a group of impassioned pastors, called WHOLE Disciples, who collaborate on ways to bring the wider church into conversation and action around Abuse Awareness and align with GA-1928. Prior to seminary, she garnered over 20 years-experience in hospitality management, accounting management and specialized in key organizational innovation strategies for performance enhancement and risk reduction.For this project, Courtney will be using Psalm 139 to explore God’s presence.

Michael Esterheld is a writer, a semi-nomadic wanderer and troubadour with many years of experience in church music and music ministry, across traditions and denominations. He has, at one time or another, been an actor and a theatre teacher, a bartender and a gas station attendant, a photographer and a blogger, a secretary and a sailor. But through it all he has been a musician.After earning his undergraduate degree in the Great Books liberal arts program at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, he later completed an M.A. in Eastern Classics at the St. John’s College Graduate Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where his studies focused on the foundational religious, literary, and philosophical texts of India, China, and Japan.He believes wholeheartedly in the power of songs and stories to inspire and bind us together, to bring down the walls that all too often separate and isolate us, to build stronger communities, and to keep us mindful of the fact that “the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).Some of his occasional musings and “dispatches from the here and now” can be found on his website, UselessOldTree.com.