Meet Our Team

Rebekah, Faculty and Staff

Rebekah Simon-Peter

Chief Visionary

Rebekah is passionate about reconnecting spiritual leaders with their God-given powers to co-create miracles with the divine.  Her award-winning group coaching program, Creating a Culture of Renewal® has energized church leaders across the country to reclaim their calling and to grow their ministries.  Known for teaching leaders how to bring out the best in the people who frustrate them the most, her work transforms church leaders and the congregations they serve.

Rebekah is the author of Forging a New Path: Moving the Church Forward in a Post-Pandemic World (Market Square Publishers, 2022), Dream Like Jesus®, The Jew Named Jesus, Green Church, Green Church Leader Guide, and 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church.

A dynamic speaker, Rebekah has engaged and challenged audiences around the country. 

Rebekah is an avid hiker, dog mom, wife to Jerry, lover of coffee, and a gratitude junkie.

For more information about Rebekah Simon-Peter, call (307) 333-5990, email office@rebekahsimonpeter.com or visit www.rebekahsimonpeter.com.

Our Faculty

Bonnie Marden

Bonnie Marden

Senior Faculty

By empowering church leaders and congregations, Bonnie joyfully fulfills her call to support bold leadership, courageous missions, wise discernment and strategic stewardship.  She lives in Massachusetts with her partner Lee and has launched three children into adulthood. Her spiritual disciplines include reading, writing and swimming.  Bonnie is the author of “Church Finances for Missional Leaders: Best Practices for Financial Stewardship” – a vision fulfilled through Creating A Culture of Renewal.

Steve Trout

Steve Trout

Senior Faculty

Rev. Dr. Stephen Trout is recently retired after 40 years of service as an Elder in the New Mexico Annual Conference of the UMC. He’s been married to his wife Elaine for 46 years and they have 2 grown children and 3 grandchildren. Steve is a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do, and an avid outdoorsman.

So, he can kick … and pray for you at the same time.

Shannon Davis

Shannon Davis

Faculty

Shannon Davis is the pastor of Moore (OK) First United Methodist Church and an ordained elder with over 25 years of experience serving churches.

He is an avid Oklahoma State Cowboys fan and plays the violin.

His wife, Jan, and their three sons (one married) are very musical.   They let him play fiddle but ask him not to sing.

They have two cats, parakeets, fish and bunnies.

 

Elisabeth Smith

Elisabeth Smith

Apprentice Faculty

Elisabeth Smith grew up in South Carolina and attended Agnes Scott College, graduating in 1983 with a BA in History and Bible.  She attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY and graduated in 1986 with her MDiv. Elisabeth was ordained in 1984 and served United Methodist Churches in South Carolina from 1987 to 2002.  She moved to the New England Annual Conference in 2002, serving churches in Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.  She is currently pastor of the Lake Sunapee UMC, Grantham UMC, and UM Church of the Good Shepherd in Newport, NH.

Charlotte Pridgen-Randolph

Charlotte Pridgen-Randolph

Apprentice Faculty

The Rev. Dr. Charlotte Pridgen-Randolph is a newly retired Elder who served 35 years in the New England Annual Conference of the UMC. Her life’s calling is a practitioner of healing, a bridge builder, and a reconciler. A passionate disciple of Jesus, she weaves together cultures, spirituality, worship, and preaching. She delights in sharing the witness of the Black Church as she teaches and sings from its tradition of metered hymns, spirituals, and gospel music.

Charlotte is married to LaVergne, her husband of 34 years. They have four adult children (two married).

Faryn Greer

Faryn Greer

Apprentice Faculty

Faryn Greer is the associate pastor at Smoky Hill United Methodist Church in Centennial, Colorado. She is also the co-facilitator of Fearless Future, a holistic self-defense group especially for the trans and gender expansive community. Faryn is passionate about cultivating community where all the “misfits” really fit.

Faryn and her fiancee Terra will be getting married this October. They are the proud fur-parents of Selah, who is objectively the cutest 10-year-old dog on the planet.

Our Staff

Ann Miller

Ann Miller

Special Projects Coordinator

Ann’s background includes founding and managing non-profit organizations, community organizing, freelance writing, and marketing.  With a life-long passion for peace and justice work, Ann has marched the streets from coast to coast, and spearheaded two projects bringing war-injured Iraqi children to the United States with No More Victims.

She and husband Cole, are currently the world’s most doting grandparents to grandson Sumter, and willing servants to four-legged family, Scooby, Blaze, and Big Boy.

Steve Pudinski

Steve Pudinski

Mentoring Coordinator

Rev. Steve Pudinski, an Associate Member of the California-Nevada Annual Conference, came out of retirement again bringing his 51 years of experience in public service and church leadership to his position as Mentoring Coordinator. A retired military warrant officer, law enforcement manager, and pastor, Steve is passionate about working with others to help them reach their full potential. He still serves on a District Committee on Ordained Ministry and does pulpit supply. Steve lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with his wife, Kelley, and two fur-babies, Newton and Sasha.  They have six grown children and six grandchildren.

Austin Peavler

Austin Peavler

Executive Assistant and Office Manager

Austin was born and raised in Wyoming with a huge respect for nature and conservation. A weekend reading a book, hiking in the mountains, or just simply enjoying the company of friends and his feline fur-babies, Billy and Diana, is always a weekend well spent for Austin. He also has a love of baking delicious treats and being of service to his community in a multitude of ways; constantly looking for opportunities to spiritually support and build up his fellows in this very human experience.

More About Rebekah Simon-Peter

More From Our Faculty