Pastor Tim Brown has been a parish pastor and fundraiser for over a decade now serving parishes in Chicago and Raleigh, NC where he currently lives with his family. Tim currently serves as the director for congregational stewardship support for the ELCA and leads trainings, webinars, and logjam sessions with congregations across the ELCA in stewardship matters.

Bishop Laurie Larson Caesar (she/her) was raised in the mountains of NW Montana in a small logging town and still believes in the power of rivers, basketball and banjos to heal the soul. Her faith was formed by the love the Lutherans have given her, the questions Stanford University has given her, the courage Harvard Divinity School has given her, the perspective El Salvador has given her and the spiritual practices the Benedictine sisters of Beech Grove, Indiana have given her. She is unashamedly curious about American history, meditation, travel, orcas, trillium, human biology and systems theory. These days she finds meaning in music, mindfulness meditation and meandering the neighborhood.

Rev. Chris Dela Cruz is the associate pastor of youth, young adults, and community engagement at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. He is involved with multiple organizing coalitions supported by the ELCA, including Leaven Land and Housing Coalition, IMIrJ (Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice) and Together Lab. He is also an adjunct professor with Warner Pacific University and a member of the BIPOC Faith Leaders Council for Black Lives.

David returned to his home state of Oregon in 2011 and has served as pastor of Community of ChristChurch in Hillsboro and Washington County for the past twelve years. Since 2019, he has served as a board member for the Westside Queer Resource Center. He is passionate about the full inclusion, affirmation, and celebration of all God’s children in the church. He lives in Hillsboro with his partner, Rhonda, and two obnoxious dogs.

Christie serves the Oregon Synod part-time as director of candidacy and coordinator of the synod authorized lay ministry (SALM) program, while also working as a hospice licensed massage therapist. She used to teach social work at Concordia University - Portland, but is now a student once again in Stillpoint's spiritual direction formation program. Christie finds joy and perspective in the garden and alongside the Willamette River.

LaVeta is a co-director and lead organizer at Leaven Community in Portland. She holds a MS in Special Education from PSU.

Karen Kretschmann is a member of the ELCA Congregation and Synod Support Team. As coordinator for storytelling engagement, Karen connects across our synods, congregations, and ELCA programs to gather stories, share stories, engage folks into stories, and support others to find their voice in their own stories. She recently retired from the Delaware-Maryland Synod where she was on staff for six years as director for evangelical mission working on ministry vitality and generosity.

Juan Carlos La Puente Tapia works with individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions internationally to enable their actions in favor of justice and peace. Rooted in work with individuals and groups who are non-violently making cracks in and breaking collusion with various forms of oppression that bear down on themselves and others, he partners to discern wisdom that makes it possible to sustain hope, in communion with the ancestors. He develops practices and methodologies for spiritual and theological mutual accompaniment. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and works at the Oregon Synod, ELCA as DEM and bishop’s associate for intercultural and inter-religious mission.

Sarah Loose is the descendent of German Lutherans and the child of a teacher and a preacher, who was raised in small-town Minnesota. A yearning to discover her vocation and learn about the practices of liberation theology and popular education led her to El Salvador. The people and stories she encountered raised for her an entirely new set of questions about the world and her place in it, questions she continue to live into today. In 2004, she moved to Portland, where she currently lives with partner Stephen, and their two children, AJ & Tovik, and beloved housemates, Plutarca, Guadalupe, Laura & Odie. For the past two decades, she has lived the both/and of heartbreak and heart-strength, organizing for justice with immigrants, rural and small-town Oregonians, and faith communities across the state.

Rev. John Maas has served most of his career in small towns/rural parishes. Since retirement he has been busy serving as an interim pastor, accompanying different congregations as they live into their mission, including addressing internal conflict, and living into a decision to close after 100+ years as a congregation. He has specialized training in Critical Incident Stress Management which supports First Responders in processing traumatic events (training he was able to apply in Biloxi, MS post- Hurricane Katrina ). Serving both highly traumatized individuals and congregations in difficult transition have equipped him to help people process difficult times in life.

Henry Martinez and his family have been in the Oregon synod for a little over two years, so they are still relative newcomers getting to know this part of creation. Previously he and his spouse, Kim Crawford, served as the country coordinators of the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program in Australia. He currently serves as pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran in Beaverton.

Jemae McCanna serves as the synod administrator for the Oregon Synod Bishop's Office. In this role, she acts as the hub of operations for the office, supporting staff, ministers, and congregations, managing records and the Oregon Synod roster, event planning, project management and essential office and administrative activity. Her core work philosophy is to assume positive intentions and to set people up for success . She has a B.A. in Human Ecology and an MBA in Sustainable Business.

Rachel Miller has worked on issues of inclusion and participation of LGBTQIA+ people in churches and religious settings by organizing events and trainings at her home congregation (Spirit of Grace Beaverton), as a former board member of ReconcilingWorks NW, and as a member of the organizing team for Queer Grace, a monthly event centered on LGBTQIA+ storytellers hosted by Spirit of Grace. She loves to see churches not just welcome but celebrate their LGBTQIA+ members.

Rev. Dr. Ben Nickodemus is the associate pastor at Central Lutheran Church in Eugene. Ben holds a PhD in Biblical Studies with a New Testament focus and a specialty in the Pauline Epistles and is a former instructor at Concordia University-Portland. Ben has a particular passion for making the theology of Paul relevant and applicable in a 21st century context that gets beyond the tired debate between the New Perspective on Paul with traditional readings.

Mary Peterson began her work as a hospice chaplain in March 2006 with Willamette Falls Hospice in Oregon City. She continued in that role with Providence Hospice until July 2022. Mary continues to do end of life care with churches. She is committed to the practice of Holy Listening. Mary is also a spiritual director, integral coach, and courage and renewal facilitator. She will celebrate her 28th ordination anniversary this coming September as a Lutheran (ELCA) pastor. Mary is currently serving as pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Tillamook. She is grateful for meaningful work and to be alive in the world. Mary loves to connect with people, share good food and drink, travel, and watch sports. Her work in hospice and end of life care has deepened her appreciation for the meaning of life and death. She values authenticity and vulnerability.

Melissa was born in Goettingen, Germany while her parents studied theology. She was raised throughout the New England Synod, the daughter of two Lutheran pastors, where she learned the power of community to nurture active, curious, relentless faith in an incarnate, relational God. This faith would agitate her at Boston College (BA in English), through work in a Lutheran Community Services group home, and at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA (MDiv, 2008). She currently serves as DEM and bishop's associate for vital leadership and sacramental organizing with the Oregon Synod.

Chaune Schafer (she/they) is the organizer and facilitator of Queer Enough. She lives in Portland, OR with her spouse, Ely (he/they) and their two kittens. Chaune studied Health Science at Whitworth University and has worked in various roles over the last decade providing preventive care by walking alongside individuals and communities in an effort to provide space for connection, meaning making, healing, and celebration. She recently earned her Master of Theological Studies at ILIFF School of Theology examining how inclusive communities can support individuals on their journey of integrating spirituality and sexuality.