Renovare

Faculty

The Renovaré Institute faculty is made up of leading authors, teachers and pastors deeply committed to Jesus and with a heart to guide others into the Jesus Way.

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Carolyn Arends

Institute Faculty, Ministry Team, Staff

Carolyn Arends oversees the Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation as well as several other Renovaré initiatives, including the Book Club. She is also a recording artist, speaker, author, and college instructor. She lives near Vancouver, BC, with her husband Mark and their two children.

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Jonathan Bailey

Board of Directors, Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Jonathan Bailey is an advocate for a Christian spirituality that is rooted in the Christian tradition but also intensely practical for people living in our technological world. He is Co-founder at Dwell, an app that helps people reclaim the ancient practice of listening to Scripture. Jonathan also is the author of The Eternal Journey, a book­let of thir­ty dai­ly med­i­ta­tions that explore the com­mon expe­ri­ences we encounter along the Threefold Way. He also is the creator of The Inward Odyssey newsletter, which is sent out each week to people who long to deepen their life with God. He lives in North Dal­las with his wife Kori, son Gray, and daugh­ters Abi­gail and Liv.

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Lacy Finn Borgo

Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Lacy Finn Borgo, DMin, is a member of the Renovaré Ministry Team. She teaches, provides spiritual direction and is the Student Care Coordinator for the Renovaré Institute for Spiritual Formation. Lacy also teaches courses on Children’s Spirituality and Spiritual Direction through the CompanioningCenter.org. She has a spiritual direction ministry for adults, and provides spiritual direction for children at Haven House, a transitional facility for families without housing. Her recent books are Faith Like a Child: Embracing Our Lives as Children of God, Spiritual Conversations with Children: Listening to God Together and the children’s picture book All Will Be Well. Lacy lives on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains and worships with a local Quaker Meeting. You can find her at www.GoodDirtMinistries.org.

Diane Browder Boswell

Diane Browder-Boswell

Institute Faculty

Dr. Diane Browder-Boswell is Professor Emeritus from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She taught undergraduate, master’s and doctoral coursework for over 40 years in higher education and currently adjuncts for East Carolina University. Her expertise is creating accessible educational resources for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism. She is a graduate of the Renovaré Boston cohort and current academic grader. She also completed the UMC School of the Spirit and leads online book discussions for this institute. Diane has been active in the United Methodist Church her entire life and is a member of Forest Hills UMC where she participates in its prayer ministry. 

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James Catford

Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

During a career in commercial publishing, James worked with many of the authors most closely associated with Renovaré and he now chairs SPCK, the largest Christian publisher in the UK. After fourteen years leading the British Bible Society James also works with American Bible Society to support Christians in leadership around the world. He lives with his wife Sue in London. 

Read his full bio.

Zane Creamer

Zane Creamer

Institute Faculty

Retiring after 13 years from church staff ministry in 2016 created time for Zane to pursue a raft of other interests from quilting to RVing to offering spiritual direction for Renovaré Institute. A 2013 RI graduate, she was certified by Richmont in spiritual direction in 2015. She’s been married to Jack for 35 years and enjoys three grown sons, a new daughter-in-love and a grandson on the way. Travel fills in any gaps open between ministry projects.

Mimi Dixon

Miriam Dixon

Board of Directors, Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Miriam (Mimi) Dixon began her ministry in 1979 serving as an associate pastor at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington. From April of 1985 to May of 2019 she served as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Golden, Colorado. She earned both her MDiv and DMin degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary. Mimi is on the Renovaré Board of Directors and teaches for the Renovaré Institute. She is faculty for Next Frontiers, a ministry to pastors in transition, and actively promotes Christian Spiritual Formation, crediting Richard Foster and Dallas Willard for their influence in her life and ministry. Mimi has authored Worth Celebrating: a biography of Richard J Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, available through Barclay Press.

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Tina Dyer

Board of Directors, Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Tina L. Dyer is the founder and principal of Grafted Together Consulting, which exists to support leaders, individuals, and teams in cultivating spaces where truth and authenticity are welcomed, creativity and innovation are unleashed, and equitable and inclusive practices are normalized to create a sense of belonging where all people can thrive.

Tina holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of California at Davis, and a Master of Arts in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership from Friends University, Wichita, KS. She is an alumna of the Renovaré Institute and serves on the Renovaré Board as Treasurer. Tina is a joyful Mom to two young adult children.

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Nathan Foster

Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Nathan Foster is an author and host of Life With God, a Renovaré Podcast. Formerly, he was an Associate Professor of social work and served as the Andrews Chair in Spiritual Formation at Spring Arbor University. He was also a licensed clinical social worker and certified addictions counselor. Nathan has published two books, including The Making of an Ordinary Saint: My Journey from Frustration to Joy with the Spiritual Disciplines.

Chris Hall

Christopher A. Hall

Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Christopher A. Hall served as president of Renovaré from 2015 – 2022. Previously Chris was Director of Academic Spiritual Formation and Distinguished Professor of Theology at Eastern University. Chris is the author of a number of books, including The Mystery of God (with Steven D. Boyer; Baker Academic), The Trinity (with Roger Olson; Eerdmans), and Living Wisely with the Church Fathers (Intervarsity Press). His most recent book is A Different Way (HarperOne). Chris and his wife Debbie reside in Philadelphia. They have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Ted Harro

Ted Harro

Board of Directors, Institute Faculty, Ministry Team, Staff

Ted Harro serves as President of Renovaré. He is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute and the founder of Noonday Ventures, a strategy and leadership development firm. Ted has studied and taught inside-out transformation for more than 20 years. He uses humor and creativity to make spiritual change accessible to people in a wide variety of marketplace and ministry contexts. He and his wife Gretchen have been married since 1988 and have been partners in marriage ministry for over 25 years. They have invested in hundreds of couples as mentors, teachers, retreat leaders, writers, and co-founders of a ministry for newlyweds.

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Trevor Hudson

Institute Faculty

Trevor Hudson has been part of the Methodist movement for over 40 years. Serving primarily around Johannesburg, he is deeply committed to the work of spiritual formation within local congregational contexts. A significant part of his weekly work presently consists of leading people through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and offering spiritual direction. Trevor also travels widely, preaching and teaching. He lectures at Fuller Seminary, the Renovaré Institute, the Dallas Willard Center for Christian Spiritual Formation, and the Jesuit Institute in South Africa. He is the author of 24 books including Discovering Your Spiritual Identity, Beyond Loneliness (Upper Room), Seeking God-Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard (NavPress), and In Search of God’s Will (NavPress).

Kurtley Knight

Rev. Dr. Kurtley E. Knight

Institute Faculty

The Rev. Dr. Kurtley E. Knight (DMin. Portland Seminary) is an Assistant Professor of Spiritual Formation at Portland Seminary of George Fox University. An ordained priest in the Anglican Church of North America, he also serves as the Assisting Priest at Church of the Vine, in Newberg, OR. A pastor at heart, he has served multiple congregations in various roles throughout California, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Selene Lau

Selene Lau

Institute Faculty

Selene has been on staff, serving in various roles, with Power to Change Ministries in Canada for the past 21 years. In recent years, she has served on Staff Development and Spiritual Formation Teams and is currently a member of Staff Care. She loves teaching, leading small groups, and journeying with people and helping them discover the with-God life.

Selene is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute for Christian Formation and has a Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation from Portland Seminary. She is currently working on getting certified as a spiritual director. She lives in Montreal with her husband, Jeremy, and their three boys – Isaac (12), Levi (10), Zachary (7). Their family is a unique blend of languages (French, English, and Cantonese) and cultures (Chinese, Canadian, Quebecois, and American). Together, they enjoy biking, swimming, going on nature walks, and reading.

Dan Mac Intosh

Dan MacIntosh

Institute Faculty

Dan MacIntosh is a recently-retired family physician, certified spiritual director and author of Listen to Your Life – a year of poetic pondering. His blog can be found at https://www.coraclespiritualdirection.com.

He is a life-long Christian who experienced a faith crisis in 2015 and credits the Renovaré Institute (and the Holy Spirit) with providing the tools, teachings and practices to deepen and realign his walk with God, as well as his relationship with self and others. He was part of the Seattle Cohort in 2017 – 19. He went on to obtain a MASF from Portland Seminary in May 2021 and he completed his Certification in Spiritual Direction in May 2022

He lives in Summerland, BC, Canada with his wife Marguerite and their dog Beau. He loves running, cycling, kayaking, building fires and playing his guitar. He has 7 kids (5 biological and 2 in-law kids) and 3 grandchildren, all scattered around the globe.

Dan’s sense of calling is to companion and help Christians grow from their heads to their hearts in their relationship with their Lord. He does this through his writings, spiritual direction, facilitating retreats and seminars and through his involvement with Renovaré.

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Gary Moon

Institute Faculty

Gary W. Moon, M.Div. Ph.D. served as the founding Executive Director of the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Center for Christian Spiritual Formation at Westmont College and continues to direct their resource development initiatives through serving as the director of Conversatio Divina: A Center for Spiritual Formation.

Regina Moon

Regina Moon

Institute Faculty

Regina Moon currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Her career has primarily been spent at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia as Director of Counseling, Director of Service Learning and Vice President for Student Life. She also served as adjunct faculty in Old Testament and Spiritual Formation and spent a large portion of her time journeying with students, faculty and staff as they walked with God.

Jamie Morrison

Jamie Morrison

Institute Faculty

Jamie Morrison is an engaged and excited follower of Christ learning new things and growing in love by God’s grace. I have served as a pastor for over 25 years and spent time as a businessman and high school teacher as well. My ministry heart is to see people living authentic and creative lives in pursuit of ongoing adventure and variety of life with Christ. I love being active and serving, but I am also a big fan of quietly reading and listening to the hearts of others.

I have a wonderful family and loving wife of over 25 years. We have four grown children who bring variety and shape to our household. Complementing this roster is a rambunctious rescue puppy” named Pippa (who is actually 7). Finally, I love all sports, but I am especially delighted to play golf (which I believe is part of my deep spiritual practices with rich connection to God).

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Chris Murphy

Institute Faculty

The Reverend Christopher Murphy is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Newberg, Oregon. Chris is passionate about spiritual formation and mission and loves listening to the spiritual journeys of people of all ages. He received a B.A. in History from Whitworth University in 1994, his Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2002, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction on from Fuller. Chris received a certificate in Spiritual Direction on in 2005 from Christian Formation and Direction Ministries (CFDM) and teaches as guest faculty member for CFDM Seattle and the Renovaré Institute. Chris has extensive experience in church, college, seminary, and urban ministry. Prior to coming to First Presbyterian in February of 2018, he served as the Associate Pastor for Youth and Young Adults at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland and as the Director of Presbyterian Ministries at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He is blessed to be married to Karen, who teaches church history and theology at Fuller Seminary and George Fox University. They are the proud parents of two daughters, Cate and Chiara. Chris’s interests include spending time with his family, reading, movies, running, golf, cheering for the Seahawks, singing, guitar, and wine tasting.

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Kai Nilsen

Institute Faculty, Ministry Team

Kai is Senior Pastor of Incarnation Lutheran in Shoreview, Minnesota. Previously he served as lead pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, after having joined the staff in 1993. Beyond his pastoral work, Kai is on the Renovaré Ministry Team and teaches in the Renovaré Institute for Spiritual Formation. In 2009, Kai completed his Doctor of Ministry degree through Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California. Kai’s book Renew Your Life: Discovering the Wellspring of God’s Energy was published in the fall of 2015. Kai and his wife Patty are parents of four children — Anders, Annika, Leif and Siri.

Download the Renovaré Institute Program Overview

Includes course outlines, program structure, and breakdown of time commitment.