Meet our ChIME Team
ChIME faculty members and staff bring gifts and experience from a broad spectrum of traditions, disciplines, and arts. Highlighted below are some of our staff, key faculty and some of the guest instructors and speakers who teach our classes and workshops.
Rev. Lisa Steele-Maley
Executive Director/Dean
email: lisa@chimeofmaine.org
As Executive Director at ChIME and Dean of the Interfaith Ministry program, Lisa Steele-Maley delights in keeping an eye on the big picture, her hands in the details, and her heart open to possibilities.
Lisa has lived and worked in the wilderness and in cities, with infants and with elders, on the west coast and the east coast, and in many forms and places in between ~ always in pursuit of the healthy, sustainable, productive, joyful, interconnected lives we are here to live.
Ordained by ChIME in 2019, Lisa’s ministry is connection - to self, to one another, to the Earth, and to Spirit.
Rev. Craig Werth
Academic Coordinator
email: craig@chimeofmaine.org
Craig Werth, in his fourth year as Academic Coordinator with ChIME, is an interfaith minister (ChIME '17), clinically-certified chaplain, and former pastor at Nottingham Community Church (UU), NH (2017-2023). He also supports the David Krempels Brain Injury Center as a program facilitator and artist-in-residence. An internationally-touring singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Craig views music as his primary spiritual language.
He is passionate about teaching, music (guitar, banjo, ukulele, violin), writing (songs, essays, poetry), kayaking, storytelling, improv theater, photography, and nature.
He shares this challenging, wondrous and wild ride with his wife-and-best-pal, Liz, their therapeutic dogs, Sadie and Brigid, and their son Ben and his family, including granddaughter Ryland.
Kelli Wescott McCannell
Business Manager
email: kelli@chimeofmaine.org
Kelli has spent her professional life in nonprofits, trying to contribute to an expansive society where folks feel seen and resourced. She believes deeply in servant leadership and the power of community.
Kelli is excited to join the ChIME community and reconnect with her spirituality. She lives in midcoast Maine, has three sons, and loves reading and making art.
Rev. Abby Hall Luca
Community Coordinator
Rev. Abby Hall Luca (she/her) is an Ordained Interfaith Chaplain, midwife, writer, and educator whose private practice, The Hearth Chaplain, offers spiritual listening and companioning. Though Abby works with all people, she specializes in chaplaincy and spiritual care through infertility, pregnancy, birth, and parenting. Her background in healthcare and training in issues of moral injury also help her to companion healthcare workers working through burnout and compassion fatigue, and her spacious and affirming approach make her an ideal companion for the "spiritual but not religious" seeker. Abby was ordained in the ChIME class of 2022 and currently crafts classes and retreats for ChIME's Asynchronous Workshop Experience (AWE) option..
Rev. Cathy Grigsby MDiv
Instructor and Arts Minister
Cathy was ordained in 1999 by the Interfaith Theological Seminary in Tucson, Arizona. She has worked with her spiritual teacher, Dr. Beverly Lanzetta, for over 45 years and completed an M. Div. and monastic studies program with Dr. Lanzetta. She has been a member of the Community of a New Monastic Way since 2008. She is also an artist and retired public school art teacher of 29 years. She has performed many life ceremonies including, weddings, memorials and naming ceremonies. In addition, she provides spiritual direction services and was instrumental in founding the Interfaith Ministers of New England.
Beth Thompson
Director of Marketing
email: beth@chimeofmaine.org
Beth Thompson, an MDiv graduate from Lancaster Theological Seminary, she is an interfaith minister who has found her spiritual home after two decades of searching. Passionate about fostering love and understanding across diverse faiths, she believes in the transformative power of interfaith connection. With nearly 10 years of experience in marketing and media, Beth has dedicated her work to reflecting this spiritual connection and education.
At ChIME for over 2 years, Beth focuses on showcasing the community's strengths and the program's insights through social media, newsletters, and marketing. She also works to create opportunities for seekers to discover and engage with ChIME.
She walks along this crazy journey with her wife, their three children, and the ruler of them all a 9lb. Shih Tzu named Yoshi.
Our Guest Facilitators
Andrea Parker is a healer, an intuitive empowerment facilitator, a master teacher, and an experiential business coach on a mission to help people shine their brightest light and have fun doing it.
Rev. Angie Arndt, M.S., graduated from ChIME in 2007 and served as Dean for several years and continues as a Faculty member. In addition to teaching a number of classes for ChIME, she has also facilitates the ChIME Alumni Support Group; offers Spiritual Direction to staff and support to Spiritual Companions. Angie is also a student at Chi in the Spiritual Direction Certificate program and looks forward to offering companionship to individuals and groups in the future. She enjoys performing ceremonies in community and is a guest speaker at Islands Community Church and First Universalist Church in Yarmouth.
Aram lives with his wife Emma in the Boston area in a home that is shaded by a great big oak tree. He has a coaching practice that supports people to slow down and get clear on what they want, then take playful and purposeful steps toward living out their vision for a thriving life. He writes and teaches regularly about spiritual formation. And he serves part-time as the pastor of Edgecomb Community Church in Maine.
Aram is also a wilderness guide, taking people to places where encounters with wildness and experiences of formation flow together. He guides in the backcountry, in forests and canyons, along coasts and rivers. And he guides people to the metaphorical confluence of wildness and formation in houses of worship, classrooms, board rooms, and living rooms.
Aram is a Registered Maine Guide and Wilderness First Responder. He has a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary. And he is a student of ontological coaching with the Academy for Coaching Excellence.
Circe Moss MacDonald is an Eco Chaplain, Water Priestess, and ceremonial artist based in Portland, Maine. Ordained as both a Transdenominational Minister (StarHouse, 2002) and Interfaith Chaplain (ChIME, 2019), she founded Ritual Lab: Ceremonies for People and Planet, primarily serving the “SBNR”—spiritual but not religious. She specializes in celebrations of life, memorial services, weddings, as well as other rites of passage. She serves on the board and facilitates seasonal ceremonies at The Portland New Church. In addition, she offers somatic ritual practices for grief work and intuitive counseling.
She is a licensed massage therapist, practicing since 1998, and works at Arcana. You can see her clown performances and puppet shows at Mayo Street Arts, combining mythic storytelling with shadow puppetry and song. Circe is grateful to her mentors, and honors the sacredness of water.
Dana is a spiritual entrepreneur who seamlessly blends spirituality, creativity, and business know-how. A follower of Universal Sufism for over 15 years, she shares her personal understanding of Inayatiyya Sufism and experiences on this interfaith and/or no-faith mystical path with fellow seekers.
Ordained by ChIME in 2024, Dana honed her ability to listen deeply and offer a safe, trusted presence — skills she finds invaluable in all areas of life. Her diverse background includes founding and growing two solopreneur businesses, as well as working for others in copywriting, marketing, and office management. This rich tapestry of experiences culminated in her new initiative, The Spirited Purpose Project (www.thespiritedpurposeproject.com).
Deborah Pfeffer is certified by the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work and has a B.A. in Philosophy. She offers dream work for individuals, groups, workshops, courses, and retreats. In her course, Storytelling From the Dreamtime she uses active dreaming, poetry, and ritual to help people access their mythological voices and tell their sacred stories.
Deborah is an award-winning poet and essayist whose writing is inspired by travel to remote and inaccessible places. Currently, she is finishing Mates, a story of a four-year journey aboard her sailboat Piper.
After a 32-year career as an elementary school counselor, Rev. Grigsby entered ChIME (Chaplaincy Institute of Maine) and was ordained in 2019. He is passionate about Forgiveness as a value and spiritual practice. He brings to ChIME an inspirational curriculum he developed based on “The Book of Forgiving” by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu.
Hilary North-Ellasante (they/them) is the founder and lead consultant at Water's Edge Consulting LLC, located on unceded Wabanaki land in Portland, Maine. Water's Edge supports anti-oppressive change work in nonprofit and educational communities through consulting, facilitation, coaching, and training. Hilary is committed to liberatory practices that center relational values and open up pathways for healing and transformation. Their background and expertise represent an alchemy of both lived and formal learning experiences, all of which have involved developing skills and strengths to survive mainstream systems as a biracial descendant of formerly-enslaved African American and Irish settler ancestors. Hilary lives at the ever-shifting intersections of parenting, partnering, and learning to thrive as a queer, nonbinary, transracially adopted person committed to getting free.
Rev. Jacquie Robb, BCCC is an ordained interfaith minister from The Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, CA and is certified nationally as a clinical chaplain and spiritual care practitioner and counselor. Previously, she worked as a nonprofit administrator in health care and education and owned an independent bookstore for 10 years. She began a daily spiritual practice in her early 20s and spent three years on staff at an international meditation retreat site. She retired as chaplain for a 450 resident continuing care retirement community and currently volunteers as a hospice volunteer and worship leader at congregations in the midcoast area.
Jan King is a 2022 Chime graduate and considers herself a hearth and neighborhood chaplain, encountering friends, family and new acquaintances with compassion, calm presence, and deep listening. She has offered Spiritual Conversation Circles at OLLI lifetime learning institute at USM and at her West End Neighborhood Association in Portland. As a consultant with Spiritual Care Services of Maine, she facilitated a contemplative lake walk at the 2023 Summit and served as a chaplain in Lewiston in the week following last year's tragic shooting.
Her own spiritual practice is rooted in Universal Sufism and Nature. She co-facilitates the second-year classes on Sufism at Chime and serves as a spiritual companion to a second year student.
Jay Sherwin is a nationally recognized consultant now pursuing an “encore career” as a Life Review Adviser. In a diverse career as a foundation grantmaker, lawyer and hospital chaplain, Jay says "I've been deeply inspired by people’s stories and grateful for the opportunity to help tell those stories." As a Life Review Adviser, Jay uses the skills he's developed as a listener, facilitator and writer to help his students and clients explore the meaning and purpose of their lives and to craft legacy documents that transmit their values and life lessons to children, grandchildren and future generations. Read more at www.jaysherwin.com.
An acupuncturist, an Interfaith street minister, and a Shakespearean actor walk into a bar. How many characters are in this scene? Actually, only one, the Rev. Jeffery Logan (ChIME 2015).
“ChIME trains people for weird kinds of ministries,” Jeff says with characteristic humor. “Because ChIME’s training is not for a settled ministry, it’s a good match for a world that's fluid, too. In ChIME you take the Internal journey first. It tears your heart open, and then you go out into the world with that ripped open heart and see what happens.”
For three years now Rev. Logan has been known as “Pastor Jeff” to hundreds of people who are homeless in Portland. Actually, Jeff says, the streets, the shelters and the soup kitchens are home to this ever-changing community of women and men, and he is their guest.
Rev. Jody Breton was ordained by ChIME in 2011 and has supported ChIME students as a Spiritual Companion for 8 years. Her ministry is centered around bringing as much light and love into the world as possible. Jody has a full practice officiating all life events, is a frequent service leader at the Islands Community Church on Bailey Island and serves on their Worship Committee. Jody is a Shamanic Practitioner and Teacher and enjoys mentoring those that are seekers and mystics.
Abbess of Vajra Dakini Nunnery, Khenmo Konchog Nyima Drolma has studied with the foremost spiritual teachers of our time including H.H. Dalai Lama, H.H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche (the head of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage), and Ani Pema Chödrön.
Khenmo began life as a sculptor and Professor of Art at MECA. She left teaching for ordination as a Buddhist nun and has been ordained for 27 years. In 2004, she was installed as a Khenmo (Abbot) in the Tibetan Drikung lineage, becoming the first woman and first westerner in her lineage to officially hold this responsibility. She teaches the Dharma internationally, in person and online.
Full bio can be read here:https://vajradakininunnery.org/about/our-teachers/
Mary Anne was ordained as an interfaith minister by ChIME in 2019. Prior to her ordination, Mary Anne was a board-certified geriatrician and practiced geriatric medicine at Senior Health Primary Care in Manchester, NH. She completed 2 units of Clinical Pastoral Education in 2021. Mary Anne utilizes her chaplaining skills in Concord, NH at Havenwood-Heritage Heights (HHH) which is a Continuing Care Retirement Community. She assists the Spiritual Care Department in workshops on spirituality for the residents at HHH, and prepares Sunday worship services.
Mary Anne is a Spiritual Literacy Facilitator by Spirituality and Practice, Claremont, CA. She also is a Soul Collage Facilitator. Mary Anne has made presentations to national organizations for elder care spirituality. Her passion is Long Term Care (LTC) and advocates for chaplains in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
A Zen Buddhist priest and teacher, Peter Wohl is the guiding teacher for the Wild Fox Sangha, an internet-based Zen practice group. Peter believes that above all else, Zen must directly address the very pressing and often existential issues that are facing us in these times. In that vein, he also feels strongly that Zen must be as accessible as possible. He aspires to offer clear, straightforward teachings to help us remain spiritually grounded in these challenging times. He is the author of Wild Mind, Wild Heart: Discover your true self in nature.
Sarah McEvoy is an Ordained Interfaith Chaplain who specializes in the care of elders. Sarah has completed four units of clinical pastoral education and is working toward board certification as a healthcare chaplain. She works on-call at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, and as the co-convener of the Elder Care Research Network for Transforming Chaplaincy, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois. Transforming chaplaincy is a think tank with a mission to promote research literacy in chaplaincy to improve patient outcomes. Her current research explores the use of music for older adults living with dementia, the development of a spiritual care assessment for older adults who live in a nursing home setting, and staff moral injury when residents chose voluntary stopping of eating and drinking in the nursing home setting. Sarah offers Interprofessional Spiritual Care Generalist Education for allied health professionals that work in nursing homes. Sarah was ordained in the ChIME class of 2022.
Sarah Shepley is a full time artist, educator and Interfaith minister. Ordained from the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine in 2011, Sarah has practiced her ministry through officiating weddings, funerals, offering sermons and practicing community ministry in western Maine. In 2016 she founded the Ecuadorian Arts Initiative; a project which serves the creative needs of children In Ecuador through teaching art in orphanages, schools , after school programs and in communities.
In 2020 Sarah completed a 3 year training in Family Constellation Approach . Most recently she has participated in grief ritual training in the mountains of North Carolina as well as trauma and rites of passage work. Since losing her husband in 2020, Sarah has maintained a steady apprenticeship with grief and seeks to bring the fruits of this initiation to people and communities through holding and tending grief, especially through ritual. For more information about Sarah and her work, visit www.sarahshepley.com
Susannah Crolius, M. Div. (she/hers) is a spiritual director, artist, writer, and retreat leader. She is the founder of the art + soul community which is currently expanding into The Center for Spiritual Imagination. She is a member of Spiritual Directors International, the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association, and is completing an 18-month certification as a Spiritual Literacy Facilitator through Spirituality & Practice.
Valerie Jones is an associate clinical professor in the School of Social Work in the College of Health Professions at the University of New England. Throughout her career, she has worked with populations across the lifespan with a particular focus in the areas of aging, grief and loss, children and families. Valerie has been an adjunct faculty member for ChIME for over ten years teaching the areas of ethics and circle leadership.
Ambassador Zeke Crofton-MacDonald
Osihkiyol (Zeke) Crofton-Macdonald is the Tribal Ambassador for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. Ambassador Zeke is a Wolastoqey person from the Houlton Band of Maliseets in Maine (Metaksonikewiyik) and the Oromocto First Nation (Welamukotuk) in New Brunswick Canada. He serves on the Board of the Wabanaki Alliance and is a Commissioner on the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission.
