Rev. Laura Baumgartner serves as pastor at Haller Lake United Methodist Church in Seattle, WA. She has been working with the Worship Team of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement to design and create worship series for the Season of Creation and Eastertide for several years. She is an Earthkeeper, serves as Co-Coordinator Caretaker of God’s Creation for the Pacific Northwest Conference of the UMC, and was a high school chemistry teacher for over 20 years. Laura has lived all over the United States, from Boston to Oakland, and many places in between. Laura is married to her husband, Eric. They have an adult daughter, Grace, and a very fluffy dog, Calvin. Laura loves to walk, read, bake, and ring handbells.

Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts at Discipleship Ministries, is a lifelong United Methodist whose passion for worship and the arts began at 3.5 years old when she started singing in church choirs. Lisa holds a Masters of Sacred Music, Masters of Theological Studies, and PhD in Religious Studies from Perkins School of Theology/Southern Methodist University. In addition to coordinating and writing worship resources, Lisa is the Project Lead for Growing in Grace, an initiative of Discipleship Ministries that seeks to equip and empower churches to form all children as anti-ableist Christians through worship by helping them learn and believe that all God’s creation is God’s good creation.

Rev. Laurie Bayen is an United Methodist elder who has served Windsor Community UMC (75 miles north of San Francisco) for almost 14 years. She is a commissioned EarthKeeper who has created a project called Sacred Ground, a climate justice and creation spirituality-focused audio guide to nearly 100 scenic parks, vistas and trails in the California-Nevada Annual Conference, which is available on the free Otocast smartphone app. In addition to her ministry projects, Laurie sings with a 5-voice women’s a cappella vocal jazz group called Vinyl Revival. She enjoys camping and sailing with her spouse, Albert. They live in a cohousing community called Frogsong (named after the tree frogs which serenade them from the pond across the street every winter).

Rev. Paul Mitchell is a second-career and second-generation pastor serving through Pioneer United Methodist in Walla Walla, WA. His first career was in architecture in the early days of “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” training and certification. His transition into ministry came in response to the convulsive cultural responses following September 11, 2001. Rev. Mitchell has focused on the “Season of Creation” in September for over a decade and is currently seeking to expand intersectional attention to environmental justice throughout the year in worship, study, and service.