Dawn Bird is a professional coach, facilitator and educator with 9 years of experience in non-profit, business, and healthcare settings. Dawn has an M.A. in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Counseling.

Dawn has been involved in Faithwalking for 11 years, first as a participant and then as a coach and facilitator.  Through Faithwalking, she was introduced to Bowen Family Systems theory which has been particularly helpful in her own journey of transformation and in her work with others as well.  Dawn has done extensive Family of Origin work and enjoys leading others through that process as individuals and in groups. She also has training in Internal Family Systems. 

Dawn lives with her husband, Bill Bird, in northwest Illinois. They have 3 adult children. Dawn enjoys reading, learning, live theatre, and working out on her Peloton.

Mac McCarthy has been in Christian ministry for over 15 years.  As a pastor, practitioner, and coach, he is passionate about equipping leaders by integrating missional theology, spiritual formation, family systems, and adaptive leadership to navigate congregational change. 

Having served in a variety of roles, Mac is currently the Lead Pastor at Crosspoint Community

Church in the western suburbs of Milwaukee where he has been since 2008.  He received his B.A. from Bethel University, his M.Div from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and is ordained with the Christian & Missionary Alliance. 

In addition to being a frequent guest on The Leader’s Journey Podcast, he is also the co-host of Praxis, a podcast and blog devoted to exploring how to embody the way of Jesus in everyday life.

Mac is married to Josie and together they have three boys, plus an Australian Labradoodle named Beacon. 

In his free time, Mac enjoys reading, lively discussion, backpacking, CrossFit, and BBQing on his PK360.

Elissa Lappenga is a professional educator, trainer, and coach with over 20 years of experience in education, non-profit, corporate, and community settings.

Elissa earned her Master of Education (M.Ed.) from UCLA with a concentration in counseling and was one of the first facilitators of the university’s Intergroup Dialogue program. She also maintains a SHRM-CP certification with the Society for Human Resources Management and is a PROSCI certified change management practitioner.

Since moving back to her hometown of Holland, Michigan, Elissa has worked with numerous community groups, churches, and schools to facilitate communication workshops that help participants work through interpersonal conflict and form stronger relationships with the people who are important to them. 

She especially enjoys helping groups from different backgrounds or perspectives learn to understand one another better, and helping organizational teams improve the way they work together.

Elissa and her husband have two sons and one very grumpy house rabbit. In her spare time, Elissa enjoys reading, live theatre, travel, and serving on the board of the Family Hope Foundation.

Deborah Pulis is passionate about creating “safe & challenging” contexts where transformation can occur. For the past 10 years she has been companioning people on their transformation journeys – both professionally in the nonprofit world, and personally in the context of her everyday relationships. In 2018, Deborah received her Associate Coaching Certification from the International Coaching Federation. To her coaching she brings a calm presence, gentle guidance, and creative curiosity.

Deborah and her husband Joel live with their son Theo and several roommates in a community house, which is a context for ministry and formation on a daily basis. She and Joel also have two adult daughters, Kalia and Grace.

Deborah enjoys reading, writing, and intentional conversation. You can see Deborah’s substack here. 

Nate Pyle is a pastor, author, and coach. He has over 25 years in Christian ministry, and during that time Nate began learning and practicing skills related to adaptive leadership, congregational revitalization, family systems, emotional maturity, and spiritual formation. 

Because of the personal transformation he experienced, he has a passion to help others continue their own learning and transformation as they navigate adaptive challenges.

In addition to being a pastor and coach, Nate is an author. His first book, Man Enough: How Jesus Redefines Manhood, was released in 2015. He also contributed to Learning Change: Congregational Transformation Fueled by Personal Renewal. Nate’s second book, More Than You Can Handle: When Life’s Overwhelming Pain Meets God’s Overcoming Grace, released in March of 2019.

Nate pastors Christ’s Community Church in Fishers, Indiana. He is ordained in the Reformed Church in America and currently serves on the denomination’s Commission on Race and Ethnicity. He has an M.Div from Western Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Hope College.

Nate is married to Sarah, and they have three children. In his free time, Nate enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, and generally wandering in the woods.

Victor Chiao is a licensed professional counselor who offers his skills and experience as a coach through The Leader’s Journey and as a lay counselor to members of his local church. 

Prior to joining The Leader’s Journey Team, Victor worked in information technology, and then subsequently transitioned into the mental health field and worked for a social service agency, a psychiatric hospital, and in private practice. 

Having personally experienced the benefits from life coaching, psychotherapy and such spiritual formation ministries as Faithwalking, Victor is committed to journeying along those who similarly seek to effect meaningful change in their lives. 

Outside of his professional work, Victor serves in various ministries at his home church, volunteers at a local public school, practices kickboxing and spoils his large and lazy Staffordshire terrier. He lives in Houston with his wife and their two children.

Jim Herrington has been a pastor for 45 years. He has served as a denominational executive and pastor to pastors since 1989, when he first began coaching leaders. He has worked with hundreds of congregations from various traditions around personal and congregational transformation challenges.

In 1998, he became the founding Executive Director of Mission Houston, a ministry that worked to build unity in the body of Christ across lines that would normally divide it. In 2007, he co-founded Faithwalking, a spiritual formation ministry that equips people and congregations to live missionally. Today, Faithwalking is an active ministry in the U.S., Canada, and Central America.

Jim regularly speaks at conferences on spiritual formation, adaptive leadership, family systems, emotional maturity, and missional theology. He graduated from the University of Arkansas, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Houston Graduate School of Theology with a Doctor of Ministry in spiritual formation and spiritual direction. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Houston Graduate School of Theology with a Doctor of Ministry in spiritual formation and spiritual direction. 

He is the co-author of three books: Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide to the Transformational Journey, The Leader’s Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation, and Learning Change: Congregational Transformation Fueled by Personal Renewal. 

Jim lives in Houston and has been married to his best friend, Betty, for 51 years. They have five children and six grandchildren.

Mike is a pastor, community leader, workshop facilitator, and coach.  He is passionate about growing his own spiritual, emotional, and relational maturity, while helping others explore ways to do the same. Mike is invested in serving organizations that desire to foster spiritual, emotional, and relational maturity for their members.

In addition to planting a church and revitalizing an established congregation, Mike has served as the chaplain in a local county jail where he had a front-row seat to the hard work of deep change.  Mike also designed and led a leadership development process for jail chaplains across the state of Michigan. Mike is currently serving a congregation on St. Croix of the United States Virgin Islands.  He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary with a focus on the history and practice of Christian spirituality.

Mike’s work is particularly focused on growing maturity by applying the insights of living systems theory.  He has studied Bowen Family Systems Theory at a postgraduate level, taught and written about it, and has used Bowen Family Systems Theory as a lens for his own marriage, parenting, pastoral leadership and coaching for over 15 years.

Married to Tammy and the father of three grown children, Mike enjoys any activity associated with water – especially swimming, sailing, and scuba diving.

Trisha Taylor helps leaders, congregations, and couples work toward emotional and spiritual health and maturity so that they can live with joy in loving relationships and can meet the adaptive challenges of our rapidly changing world.

She holds a state license in counseling and is an ordained minister. She has been a co-founder of Faithwalking and Churches Learning Change.

With Jim Herrington and others, she is an author of The Leader’s Journey: Answering the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation as well as Learning Change: Congregational Transformational Fueled by Personal Renewal.

She has been happily married to Craig, a pastor, for 38 years. They have two adult children, Andrew and Rebecca.

At an early age, Aundrea developed a passion for understanding human behavior. Initially, she focused this attention on understanding herself and her family. Born and raised in southwest Louisiana, she never felt like she quite fit in with her family and her social groups. As a result of her desire to understand, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Louisiana State University. 

Upon graduating, she worked as a social worker at a state institution that housed mentally and developmentally disabled people.

As newlyweds, Aundrea and her husband moved to the Houston area. Within a couple of years of the move, Aundrea became a member of the staff of her church. She found the engagement in church leadership foundationally added to her quest for understanding human behavior. She now had a focus of understanding it from the point of view of the intersection between God and humans. Eventually, she became the church administrator, and her husband became the youth pastor. As the church administrator, leadership training of the staff and volunteers was part of her responsibilities. While administrator, she graduated from LeTourneau University with a Master of Business Administration.

These experiences enlarged her passion from simply understanding human behavior to helping individuals’ growth in their God-given potential and purpose. In 2006, she and her husband decided to utilize all the knowledge and experience they had gained by planting a church in Pearland, Texas. As she was assisting her husband in leading this church, Aundrea enrolled in Houston Graduate School of Theology (HGST) where she obtained a Master of Divinity degree.

Besides theological, biblical, and ecclesiological studies, she garnered knowledge of spiritual formation and spiritual direction. These subjects inspired her to believe that transformation of the individual is possible with intention and community assistance. She co-pastored this church with her husband for nearly ten years. In addition, she and her husband founded and ran a non-profit youth organization focusing on at-risk teenagers.

After more than twenty years in church leadership, Aundrea shifted directions. This shift, in part, came after she participated in Faithwalking. Faithwalking deepened her understanding of spiritual formation as well as helped her understand herself better. In Faithwalking, she was introduced to Family Systems Theory which gave her insight into the functioning of her family as well as into the organizations she had been a part of. 

After Faithwalking, she decided to continue her exploration of these topics by once again enrolling in HGST to pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree with a specialization in spiritual formation/spiritual direction. She graduated in 2021.

Aundrea and her husband currently live in Pearland, TX with their four children.

Ryan is a seasoned leader with a rich tapestry of experiences over 15+ years. His journey began as a member and co-leader of the Harbor Church Community, a network of house churches near downtown Houston, where he cultivated relationships with people in recovery.

Ryan’s commitment extends globally through his non-profit work, including coordinating relief efforts and training for schools in Guatemala City. Locally, he has worked with schools and prisons in the Houston area, aiming to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and make a positive impact on communities.

A dedicated student of Bowen Family Systems Theory for over 15 years, Ryan’s understanding goes beyond theory—he has immersed himself in practicum work at The Center for the Study of Natural Systems and the Family. His pursuit of knowledge is not just academic; he actively applies coaching principles in his family, relationships, and the organizations he engages with.

Ryan has studied religion, holds certifications as a yoga instructor, and passionately pursues activities like hunting, baseball, and surfing. A native Californian who has called Texas home for the last 25 years, he currently resides in Austin, TX, with his partner, Kate.

At The Leader’s Journey, Ryan brings his experience in leadership and natural systems to empower individuals and groups on their journey to live into their purpose and goals with integrity and increasing emotional maturity.