Coaches - Unbinding the Gospel Project

Pamela Dolan

Pamela Dolan grew up in Hawaii and the western Pacific. She holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School and a B.A. in English from U.C. Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors). She also studied medieval literature and religion at New York University and attended the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Pamela has spent the last several years working in Episcopal parishes in the areas of Family Ministries and children's faith formation. She has experience as a teacher, consultant, storyteller, and retreat leader. Her prayer life is deeply shaped by the Eucharist and regular corporate worship in community. Pamela and her husband John are raising two young daughters in St. Louis, MO, where she is the Director of Formation for Children and Families at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

Nancy Lee Gauche

Nancy Lee Gauche is an empowering pastor, leader, life coach, and teacher, dedicated to preparing leaders for transformational ministry in daily life, in ministry or the marketplace. She holds an MDiv Degree from Luther Seminary, is a certified Life Coach through Coachnet Ministry and a Life Purpose Coach/Facilitator through Pathway to Purpose. With a wide range of experience from pastoral care to leadership development, Nancy Lee has served a congregation of 30 members and also served for 10 years as one of 4 ordained pastors at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Burnsville, MN (with 10,000 members). She is currently a program associate for the Children, Youth & Family Masters & MDiv Program at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN where she coaches and mentors people preparing for public ministry. Her passion is deep and transformational change for people who want to connect their hearts to God's purpose and grow as disciples of Christ. Nancy is married to Pastor Paul Gauche and they are the parents of two adult children.

Jeff Gill

Jeff Gill is a pastor, researcher, consultant, writer and professional mediator. He has served churches in Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana, and now teaches and provides oversight for the regional commissioned ministry academy, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Ohio. Jeff's current consulting work is with United Methodist, American Baptist, Presbyterian, Disciple, United Church of Christ and Church of the Brethren congregations. He specializes in the transformation of small and medium sized churches, facilitating and resolving congregational conflict, and helping churches plan for vitality and evangelism. Gill is also an adjunct lecturer at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio and Ashland Theological Seminary. In addition to numerous published articles on congregational life and Christian education, Jeff writes a weekly "Faith Works" column in his local daily paper. Jeff, his wife Joyce Meredith (in administration at Denison University and one of the musicians who contributed to Unbinding Your Church) and their son Christopher live in Granville, Ohio.

Paul Nickerson

Paul Nickerson is a full-time coach with a deep passion to work for the vitality of long-standing and new church starts. He is president of Nickerson Coaching and Senior Associate with Griffith Coaching, and also serves as Associate Conference Minister with the Massachusetts Conference, UCC. Paul brings to his coaching life experience as a bank officer with Harvard Trust Company prior to seminary and a wealth of training through Easum Bandy Associates, Alban Institute, and Griffith Coaching. He works with individual congregations as well as judicatories, setting up indigenous systems of growth and mission development. Nickerson holds an Mdiv degree from Andover-Newton Theological School, was a local church pastor for 20 years and also served as a Growth Consultant for the UCC Massachusetts Conference for 7 years during that time. Paul is a published author and is married to Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt, an interim Minister. They live in Beverly, Massachusetts and have two grown sons.

Martha Grace Reese

Martha Grace Reese is an ordained pastor who serves as President of GraceNet, Inc. She has just finished directing the Mainline Evangelism Project, a national, four-year study of evangelism funded by the Lilly Endowment. Reese is author of the best-selling books that grew from this study: Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism (Chalice Press, January, 2007) and Real Life Evangelism Series (January 2008). She will serve as director of the newest Lilly Endowment study of congregational transformation, the Unbinding the Gospel Project (2008-11). In addition to her initiation and leadership in five Lilly Endowment research projects, Reese's work is grounded in seven years as senior pastor of a revitalizing congregation, middle judicatory ministry, and 5 years practice as a corporate attorney. She attended Indiana University School of Law (JD), Christian Theological Seminary (MDiv), DePauw University (BA, Phi Beta Kappa) and the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Madrid. She is married to Cyrus N. White. They have two daughters in college.

Cathy Townley

The Reverend Cathy Townley is a coach and seminar leader for churches and denominational groups in the area of worship, evangelism and church planting. She is a former worship director in both established and new church starts, and the author of Designing Worship Teams. For 6 years she served as director of New Church Development at Hosanna! Lutheran Church in Lakeville, MN. She is a senior associate of Griffith Coaching Network. Cathy earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and her MA from Luther Seminary. She is ordained in the Minnesota Conference of the United Methodist Church as a deacon. Cathy has also written and published a number of worship songs, all through Abingdon Press. She has written for Net Results, Next Wave, and Strategies for Today's Leaders magazines. Cathy and her husband Terry, parents of two grown sons, reside in the Minneapolis area.

Ed White

Edward White has served as an Alban consultant since 1989. In his long and distinguished career he has served as general presbyter for the National Capital Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) and was at various times chair of the Alban Institute's board of trustees, president of the Council of Churches of Greater Washington, president of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, and president of the Society for Advancement of Continuing Education for Ministry (SACEM). In the 1960s, Ed was active in the civil rights movement as a Freedom Rider and a coordinator for the Poor People's Campaign initiated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Council. These experiences influenced Ed's outlook and commitment to congregations, as did his early years in parish ministry for an inner-city Manhattan congregation that found renewal by embracing the wider community.

Ed's consulting and teaching experience include leading the Alban Institute's Bishop and Church Executive Leadership Institute, training new presbytery and synod executives in the PCUSA and other denominations, and training and coaching clergy entering their first parish or moving to a new call. Ed has led interfaith team-building workshops and retreats for clergy, laity, and judicatory and congregational staff. He has also taught special courses at Union (Virginia), and Princeton, Pittsburgh, and Sewanee Theological Seminaries; written and read Doctor of Ministry examinations for Virginia Theological Seminary; and authored numerous articles.

Nancy Wood

Nancy Wood engages in ministry as the founding pastor of Rock Dove, an emerging church combining music, song, dance, history, storytelling and scripture, and as the Chaplain of Cheshire Medical Center, both in Keene, NH. Nancy has co-authored, with Heather Kirk-Davidoff, two books, Dare to Dive In: Strategies and Resources for Involving Your Whole Church in Worship (Abingdon Press, 2006) and Talking Faith: An Eight-Part Study on Growing and Sharing Your Faith (Chalice Press, 2004), as well as several articles and numerous worship resources. She has led retreats and workshops in both local and national settings. She is a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Divinity School, and was ordained in the United Church of Christ.