“It’s an exciting time to be serving at a great school like Evangelical! I love teaching, helping students to know God more and more deeply, with both their heads and their hearts. Evangelical is a place where students not only learn ministry, therapy, leadership, or spiritual direction skills, but where they also learn to love one another deeply (1 Pet 1:22, 4:8).”

Laurie has been helping others deepen their relationships with God for many years. She’s served as a professor at Evangelical since 2003, teaching courses in spiritual formation, spiritual direction, and Christian theology. She also teaches spiritual direction at the Kairos School of Spiritual Formation. She served as the Dean of Academic Programs from 2011 to 2016. She’s currently working on an article about the spirituality of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and is engaged in training as a supervisor of spiritual directors. She offers retreats and workshops, has published papers in scholarly journals, and has presented her work at academic conferences.

Before coming to Evangelical, Laurie taught piano to private students, and served several congregations in worship ministry. She earned a Ph.D. in Christian spirituality from The Catholic University of America, and is an active member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association, the Mennonite Spiritual Directors Network, and Spiritual Directors International. She did her spiritual direction training in several different places, including Oasis Ministries, Catholic University, and Kairos School of Spiritual Formation. She also has some pastoral experience, and is licensed for ministry by Lancaster Mennonite Conference.

Laurie is a lifelong resident of Lancaster County, and loves cooking, creating prayer shawls, and binge-watching The West Wing.