Author

Lia McIntosh is the Director of KC Rising, a Kansas City regional economic development initiative, and a member of the Civic Council’s senior management team. She recently led the Kauffman Education Fellowship on educational issues. She is a life coach endorsed by the United Methodist Church, and she formerly served as a pastor of four congregations as well as Associate Director of Congregational Excellence for the Missouri United Methodist Annual Conference. She recently wrote Church School Community: Forging Partnerships to Change the World (Abingdon, 2021), available on Abingdon Press, Cokesbury, and Amazon.

Jasmine Smothers serves as lead pastor for the historic Atlanta First United Methodist Church. Previously, she served as Associate Director for Congregational Vitality through the Office of Connectional Ministries in the North Georgia Conference. She is co-author of Not Safe for Church: Ten Commandments for Reaching New Generations (Abingdon Press, 2015). Her book with coauthors Lia McIntosh and Rodney Smothers, Blank Slate: Write Your Own Rules for a 22nd-Century Church Movement (Abingdon Press, 2019), is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.

Dr. Rodney Thomas Smothers serves as a leadership coach and consultant in the areas of new church development and congregational revitalization. He recently coauthored Cry from the Pew: A Call to Action for The United Methodist Church (Market Square Publishing, 2022) available at Amazon. His book with coauthors Lia McIntosh and Jasmine Smothers, Blank Slate: Write Your Own Rules for a 22nd-Century Church Movement (Abingdon Press, 2019), is available at Cokesbury and Amazon. The three coauthors also founded the The Smothers Group. He previously served as lead pastor for Grace United Methodist Church in Fort Washington, Maryland, and the director of leadership and congregational development on the UMC Baltimore-Washington Conference Executive Leadership Team.