Writer Bios

We couldn't offer The Well to our readers without the generous contributions of our writers. Read through their bios to learn from their stories and click through for links to the articles they have written. If you are interested in writing for The Well, explore our Writer's Guidelines.

Donna Barber has worked as an urban youth developer, educator, and program director for more than 25 years. During that time, she has served as a worship leader and bible teacher and helped to found schools, churches, and non-profits in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Atlanta, Georgia, and Portland, Oregon.

Donna considers herself a lifelong student of the Bible but studied formally at the New Life Bible Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Barber holds a BA in Communications from Temple University and a Master of Science in Education from Georgia State University. She has worked as a leadership trainer and coach for the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative, Portland Leadership Foundation, FCS Urban Ministries and Mission Year and as a workshop leader for the CCDA National Conference. As a licensed minister, Donna is also a preacher and small group leader. She currently works as Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Voices Project alongside her husband, Leroy Barber. Donna and Leroy live in Portland, Oregon, and together they have six children, Jessica, Joshua, Joel, Aleathea, Asha, and Jonathan.

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Carrie Bare is a wife and mother of two grown sons. Though she is permanently based in Spokane, Washington, she is currently dividing her time between Spokane and Boulder. Carrie has been with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship since 1975, currently serving as Associate Director for Spiritual Formation of Faculty. She has always loved reading, especially fiction.

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Rachel is part of the faculty at Lyman Briggs College — a science-focused residential college at Michigan State University. Rachel, who loves working with freshmen, teaches general introductory chemistry lecture and lab courses. Rachel did her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Cedarville University and her MS and PhD at the University of Michigan. An avid runner, Rachel currently lives and runs in East Lansing, Michigan.

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Beth Allison Barr

Beth Allison Barr (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is the James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she specializes in medieval history, women's history, and church history. She recently served as president of the Conference on Faith and History (2018-2021) and is an active supporter of Christians for Biblical Equality. Barr is a regular contributor to The Anxious Bench, the popular Patheos website on religious history, and has written for Christianity Today, the Washington Post, Religion News Service, The Dallas Morning News, Sojourners, and Baptist News Global. Her work has been featured by NPR and The New Yorker. She is also a Baptist pastor's wife and the mom of two great kids.

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Stephen M. Bauer

Stephen M. Bauer has been working in information technology for Citigroup for 30 years. He lives in Hazlet, New Jersey, with his wife Lindy and two teenage sons. Through a friend, he discovered Nomi Network in 2009 and began work as a volunteer.

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Katelyn Beaty (Honors BA, Communications, Calvin College) is managing editor of Christianity Today magazine, where she cofounded Her.meneutics in 2009. She has written for The Atlantic, Fare Forward, Q Ideas, and Books & Culture. Follow her on Twitter @KatelynBeaty.

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Amy Julia Becker

Amy Julia Becker is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary. She blogs regularly for Patheos at Thin Places. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, First Things, Christianity Today, The Huffington Post, and Parents.com. Amy Julia lives with her husband Peter and three children, Penny, William, and Marilee, in Lawrenceville, NJ.

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Sister Wendy Beckett

Sister Wendy (1930-2018) was a Carmelite nun, consecrated virgin and art historian who became world famous in the 1990s when she presented a series of BBC documentaries on the history of painting. She was the author of over thirty books on Christian art, including the internationally bestselling The Story of Painting. Her most recent books include The Art of Lent, The Art of Advent and Sister Wendy’s 100 Best-loved Paintings.

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Amanda W. Benckhuysen

Amanda W. Benckhuysen (PhD, University of St. Michael's College, Toronto) is Johanna K. And Martin J. Wyngaarden Senior professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary and a researcher in biblical interpretation and reception history.

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Stephanie Bent is a PhD candidate in the Higher Education, Student Affairs and International Education Policy program with a concentration in student affairs at the University of Maryland. She holds a EdM in Anthropology and Education from Teachers College - Columbia University, a MS in Higher Education-Student Affairs from Florida State University, and a BS in Applied Mathematics from Georgia Tech. She has worked in student affairs in the United States with experiences in various functional areas: residential life, leadership development, first year programs, sophomore programs, living-learning communities, student conduct, and academic advising. In her research, she considers questions about student affairs practice in the Caribbean, identity and leadership development of Caribbean tertiary students living in and outside the Caribbean, Caribbean tertiary education contributions to national development, decolonizing research methods, and decolonizing higher education.

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Beth Birmingham

Beth Birmingham is an NGO leadership and organizational consultant, development researcher, trainer, and former tenured professor (Eastern University). She is cofounder of BE Development Partners, a consulting firm that trains organizations to develop belonging cultures. Beth holds a PhD in leadership and change and an MBA in economic development, and she currently serves as a member of Wheaton’s Consortium on Gender, Development, and Christianity.

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Jennifer Bonina-Noseworthy

Jennifer Bonina-Noseworthy is a PhD candidate at the University of New Hampshire in the Department of Biological Sciences. She is studying the variability in carotenoid content and profiles in winter squash and sweet potato cultigens and plans to graduate in 2010. Jennifer holds an MS in horticultural sciences from the University of Florida and her BS in Biology from Gordon College. In her spare time, she is an avid gardener and cook, making a wonderful roasted winter squash and ginger soup from her garden produce. She and her husband Joshua have two dogs and two cats.

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Sylvia is a mother of five grown daughters and a church administrator in Madison, Wisconsin. As she adjusts to life without her husband Bob and without at-home children, she’s found that a small flock of city chickens helps to fill the empty nest. Her best therapy is hard work — especially outdoor chores like gardening, home maintenance, and small carpentry projects such as converting an old entertainment center into a henhouse.

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Dorothy Boorse received her doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and joined the Gordon College Biology Faculty in January of 1999. Her primary research and teaching interests are in aquatic community ecology and invasive species. She spends a great deal of time connecting science to non-scientists and looking at ways science and faith integrate, particularly in the area of environmental ethics. Dorothy is the co-author on an environmental science textbook. She also was lead author on "Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment,” a report on poverty and climate change published by the National Association of Evangelicals (2011). Dorothy is married to Gary Wernsing, and they have two sons.

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Nancy Boote is a graduate of Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and is currently serving as a Pastor of Congregational Care in Jenison, Michigan. She resides in Ada, Michigan with her husband Evan and is a mother of two adult sons.

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Alicia Bosscher

Alicia lives in Madison with her husband and three young kids. She works part-time as a Registered Dietitian while also coordinating communications at Geneva Campus Church and managing a floral event business that she and a friend started in 2018. Despite busy days, she does her best to make time for yoga, biking, and eating good food with her family.

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Marcia Bosscher

Marcia Bosscher is the former editor of The Well and now an associate with InterVarsity's Faculty Ministry. Having been married to a professor and sharing life with grad students and faculty in a campus church, she has a deep interest and care for those in the academy. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with a golden-retriever mix and a diverse array of lodgers and travelers.

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Audrey Bowden is a professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on light-based technologies for medical imaging. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, watching movies, and spending time with her family.

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Bethany Bowen-Wefuan

A PhD student at the Carolina-Duke German Studies Program, Bethany can usually be found in a coffee shop, writing her dissertation on the intersection of religion, family, and visual art in nineteenth-century German literature. As much as she loves thinking and writing about literature, she’s always grateful for opportunities to spend time with her church family and explore Wilmington with her husband Dieter.

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Ann is the Women Scholars and Professionals Podcast host and the interim editor for The Well. She has worked for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship since 1997, exploring her interests in community, spiritual formation, and writing. Ann has a BM in Music Education from Northwestern University and lives in Chicago, Illinois with one husband, two spunky teenage daughters, and three snuggly cats. You’ll often find Ann baking sweet treats in the kitchen while listening to a podcast or audiobook.

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