Deacon Liz Colver (she/her) has been an ordained Deacon in the ELCA since 2015. She lives in the Seattle area with her spouse and 3 children (Hazel-Xe/xem is 14, Shepherd-he/him is 9, and Amos-he/him until otherwise declared is 4). Liz, Hazel, and Shep are all queer-identifying. Liz has served the church and her community in various ways including leadership formation, discernment with individuals and organizations, on the synod candidacy committee, as a community organizer and organizing trainer with the Organizing for Mission Network and IAF, and served on task forces for the ELCA. She is currently serving as a transition minister for a semi-rural RIC congregation, and is working on building a new ministry in the NWWA Synod that supports LGBTQIA+ Elementary-aged kids and their families.

Carley Houseman (she/her) was roped into the Lutheran Church as a pastor’s wife and has been joyously making her own way through connections and friendships ever since. Born in Altoona, IA, she and her wife A.J. moved to Gettysburg, PA for seminary and currently reside in Baltimore, MD where she is the Associate Director of Medical Annual Giving at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Her interests include running, singing too loudly in the car on road trips, and snuggling her dog Maci.

Ellen Taube (she/her) from Virginia, Minnesota, is a retired ELCA pastor and a member of Reconciling In Christ congregation, Gloria Dei in Duluth, Minnesota. In 2015 Ellen co-founded two LGBTQ support groups: “S.A.F.E. in Virginia MN” for adults (“Supporting Allies, Family, Friends & LGBTQ for Equality”), and “Range Together for Youth” for ages 14-20 (affiliated with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota). Married to Marlise Riffel since October 2013, her interests include divine comedy, power tools for home maintenance, gardening, and hydroponics.

Dan Michel (he/him) is the Director of Digital Product Management for the ELCA Churchwide Organization and lives in Chicago. Prior to the ELCA, he worked at Feeding America for 20 years in a variety of digital roles. He has been an active participant of the first LGBTQIA+ ELCA employee group and looks forward to its growth in the organization. He is a lifelong Lutheran and attended Gustavus Adolphus College but there have been holes to his church activity so don’t look at his attendance too closely. The one thing that has always remained is his faith in God and knowing he is being led to where he needs to do the best work.

Dan enjoys spending time at home and cooking with his husband, Cory and their appropriately-named dog, Sparky. When he is not working or at home, you can find him as part of the singing staff of Davenports Piano Bar. He does hold an MFA degree in theatre which is a skill that proves useful every day.

Jennie Strunk (she/her) was born a Southern Baptist in Manassas Park, Virginia. She lived in Virginia for 13 years, and then in Idaho for the next 13 years, where she obtained her MFA in Creative Writing. In 2011, she found her first Reconciling in Christ Congregation. There she experienced God’s fully inclusive love for all LGBTQ persons for the first time and was moved to dedicate herself to expanding ReconcilingWorks’ mission in order to create more spaces for LGBTQ Christians to worship in safety and belonging. Jennie now lives in Savage, Minnesota with her wife and two cats.

Allison Johnson (she/her) is the pastor at Journey in Faith Church in Racine, WI. She’s been ordained and with the good folks of Journey in Faith since 2019. Allison serves as a Dean for the South Conference in the Greater Milwaukee Synod and serves on their candidacy committee. She lives in Milwaukee with her wife, Wendy, and their perfect dog, Sage. When not pastoring, Allison enjoys running, rock climbing, hiking with her wife, and taking too many pictures of Sage to share on her Instagram stories.