WENDI

WENDI (she/her/hers) is married to her best friend and forever love Chris, and shares with him a love of adventure, the outdoors, and the Chicago Cubs. She’s also a mom to two (big) kids and a kitty. Most weekends you can find Wendi somewhere with a camera, sketchbook, or notebook, being a track mom, hiking, cycling, or all of the above. She aspires to live at the intersection of contemplation and compassion and is passionate about the influence of diversity in thought, theology, experience, and power, within both the classroom and our wider communities. 

Wendi is forever searching for places and spaces in which she and every person is able to feel safe and supported as we all become and live as the whole beautiful human beings we were all made to be. She tries really hard to sit with the peace she feels with God and the world at the Big Red Barn, and believes that the world is a better place just because Galileo exists.

Alisha

ALISHA (she/her) is a musician, teacher, mom of two littles, and wife. She plays the viola (admittedly not as much as she used to before having kids) and is a high school orchestra director in Fort Worth. She is married to her best friend and fellow musician Tim, and together they have two beautiful girls.

Alisha’s most recent hobby has been exploring the field of open/relational theology and understanding the Bible in context (imagine that!). She also loves to cook, and at times she will pull out her crochet hook and make something small (as long as it doesn’t take too long— no long-term projects!).

Lately, Alisha has been trying to understand how to better participate in God’s vision for the human family, how to be a conduit for God’s love to the people around her, and how to raise her kids to be kind, thoughtful, compassionate humans.

Lindsay

LINDSAY (he/him/his) is a spouse, a dad to 4 kids, and a grateful grandparent. He and his spouse Jaime raise chickens and turkeys. 

Lindsay hails from Illinois, migrating to Texas 30 years ago to continue his education. He grew up in a family who attended church regularly, and as a young adult, sensed a call to prepare for a career of serving others. Through his seminary education, and in the years following, Lindsay’s spiritual and faith journey grew into an all-inclusive love for humanity, a love which has been fed by relationships he’s developed at Galileo. 

Lindsay’s profession is counseling, and he loves helping people find healing in their lives. In his day life, he’s a learning facilitator for a healthcare company. In his free time, Lindsay loves doing just about anything outdoors, and he especially loves fitness, cycling, yoga, running, and kayaking.

Cynthia

CYNTHIA (she/her/hers) is a beauty consultant, a role where she gets to spend her time loving on people. She is a wife to Jason Daniels and Mom of 3 amazing kids(one at UNT, one at UTA and a junior in high school). Cynthia graduated from Texas A&M with a major in Animal Science (she absolutely loves all furry animals, even her daughters tortoise and ball python!) and also met Jason there. When she’s not being wife and mom and working her J-O-B, Cynthia enjoys: reading, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries and crime shows, traveling, painting with her daughter, ancestry, playing with her 3 cats and dog, and fostering kittens.

After many years in the Southern Baptist denomination and non-denominational churches, Cynthia decided it was time to stop hiding who she truly was and what beliefs she really held. She spent years searching for a church that was LGBTQ+ inclusive, believed in science, was kind towards mental health, a church that recognized the equality of all genders, and where questions are always welcome. She and her family finally found Galileo Church and couldn’t be happier. Cynthia is daily learning new things about God and her faith and who God created her to be. Finally, after 48 years she feels home.

Deanne Carter

DEANNE (she/her) is attending Brite Divinity School to earn the remaining credits of a Masters of Divinity Equivalency and is pursuing her call to chaplaincy ministry. As an LGBTQ person of faith, she knows the crucial and important work the church and its people do for the LGBTQ community and the world around them. Having been on the receiving end of this work, she feels a call to take part in it. 

As her own faith has grown, shifted and developed over the years, she has grown passionate about walking alongside others as they do the hard work of sorting out their own journeys of faith. She is grateful for Galileo’s sponsorship for ordination with Disciples of Christ and proud to be a part of this community.

Glenn

GLENN (he/him) is a pastor, turned into a professor, turned into a writer, and finally turned into a full-time Poppa to his four grandchildren (and still dad to his two adult children). He is officially retired and “disabled” due to CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) but loves to ride and race his handcycle when he’s not at home giving Bernie the Basset Hound belly rubs, treats, and full-body massages. He keeps up some of his Hebrew language skills by volunteering as a translation consultant with Bible League International. Glenn’s spiritual autobiography features multiple cycles of personal and theological deconstruction and reconstruction. As a result, he sought out Galileo because, “I could not imagine any other place where I could fully belong.” These days Glenn is trying to pay attention to the seasons of life God is now calling him to live. And with along Galileo, he is still trying to grasp the meaning of God’s relentless, faithful, and boundless love.

Josh Bridges-Hickey

JOSH (he/him) is a hospital chaplain. He graduated from Brite Divinity School in May 2020, and completed his chaplain residency in August of 2022. That same month, he began the ordination process with the Disciples of Christ, with Galileo’s sponsorship. He has served on both Galileo’s Missional Logistics Team and Spiritual Care Team, and occasionally fills in as preacher. 

It was at Galileo that he learned the defining refrain of his ministry: “You are so loved.” It is a phrase he goes back to again and again in his work as he helps people reckon with some of the most difficult moments of their lives, and it grounds him as he remembers his own belovedness. He resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his husband, the Gelatinous Cube (a.k.a. Ethan) and their cat, Nebula.

Jean

JEAN (she/her) a sociable introvert, is at her happiest in a forest looking up at the treetops, by the water, with her nose in a book or discovering something new. Awe and wonder are her favorite emotions. She has been married forever to Don. They have been blessed with five children who joined their family through adoption, two foster kids and six grandchildren.  When Jean is not playing with her dogs or grandchildren or reading or camping, she is a therapist for individuals and couples. She loves the depth and intensity of the work and is deeply honored that people trust her with their stories. 

Jean grew up in San Diego, then headed north to Oregon for college. The green and the trees (and even the rain) agreed with her and Oregon became home. She gratefully attends Galileo through Inside Out, and treasures the friendships built through G-Group participation. It has taken a lifetime, but Jean has finally come to believe, not only in her head but in her core, that God loves her unconditionally. She serves on the SCT with the desire to encourage others to live in that peaceful place of compassion for others and self. Hey- let her know if you find a great book!

DAVID

DAVID (he/him) Married to my best friend Leyna with whom I have raised three boys, and now have the privilege of being grandparents to 4 wonderful young people.  I was born near Manchester in England but have lived in the Netherlands and the Middle East before arriving in the US in 2000.  I worked in the IT industry for many years, have a law degree and am currently studying at Brite Divinity School for a master’s in theological studies.  Leyna and I love to go for walks together and usually spend a few weeks of the summer back in Europe visiting family and old friends, whilst also avoiding the Texas heat!

After being raised as a child in the Anglican church, I spent most of my middle years in charismatic non-denominational church settings and was responsible for planting churches in the UK and here later in the US, serving as the team leader of those churches before mounting questions around my beliefs began to cause me to take stock.  At the same time, I began to imagine a vision for community situated around coffee, and particularly modeled on the European coffee houses of old.  This turned into reality in 2006 when we opened our first coffee house and Roasterie in Grapevine.  18-hour days meant leaving the ministry behind and ultimately fifteen years of deconstructing my faith until it became clear that Leyna and I could benefit from a new spiritual family to call home.  We found that home in Galileo Church and are grateful for the friends we have made and the opportunity to serve God in a context that matters to us.