My Story
Welcome! My name is Valerie. I am a worship leader and a pastor. I live in the Pacific Northwest, on Whidbey Island (you have to take a ferry to get here!), near Seattle, Washington with my husband and 4 children. We have a small farm with 41 chickens and 4 horses, and 1 dog. Here, I invite you to grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. I want to invite you to a conversation about all generations worshiping together.
My background: I have a doctorate in the theology of worship from the Robert Webber Institute of Worship. Prior, I served as a trained musician and worship leader in the church, with a Master’s in Performance (Piano). I am a pianist, vocalist, choir director, and music/piano teacher. I also have an MDiv from Seattle Pacific Seminary. I am passionate about worship renewal in the church. I have served as a worship pastor in various denominations and locations, leading worship in a variety of musical and liturgical styles, in both large and small churches. I enjoy researching and writing about intergenerational and intercultural worship. I also serve as Chair of an organization called InterGenerate, whose mission is to bring the generations of the church together.
My mission: I believe that all generations should be worshiping together - not just existing in the same room, but truly worshiping together. We find this model of worship in Scripture and in the mission and outpouring love of the triune God. Unfortunately, “all age worship” is not the norm in many faith communities. Instead, we see age segregation, or worship centered on one generation, while excluding others. This is why I believe I am called to facilitate conversations, helping faith communities discover God’s design for all ages worshiping together.
My current work:
Intergenerational Networking: Currently, I am the Chair of the InterGenerate Team, a global community of academics and practitioners, representing diverse contexts and denominations, passionate about bringing the generations of the church together. I love God’s Church! So, I tend to have one foot in the ministry, and the other in research. My favorite thing is when research and ministry merge together. One of my spiritual gifts is that of connecting, so if you do have an area regarding intergenerational ministry or research that you need to brainstorm regarding, or need to find more experts or resources in that area, please reach out. I would love to connect with you, and hopefully connect you to people and research that helps in your ministry and work.
Intergenerational Worship: With over twenty-five years of experience as a worship leader and minister, in diverse denominations and perspectives, I find I am a helpful resource for people seeking to plan and facilitate intergenerational worship. I lead workshops and am constantly researching on how we might plan and facilitate intergenerational worship in diverse settings and contexts. I also enjoy helping people design intergenerational Scripture presentations for worship, integrating story sharing in worship, and designing intergenerational multi-sensory stations for worship. Because I believe worship is a spiritual practice, I also write and research a lot on spiritual practices, particularly intergenerational Christian practice, where faith communities empower all ages to participate in spiritual practices of worship together. The book I edited called All Ages Becoming: Intergenerational Christian Practice in the Formation of God’s People focuses on intergenerational Christian practice. Additionally, I am on the Advisory Board for Imagining Worship with Kids, a Lilly Grant through Fuller Institute that re-imagines worship centered in nine spiritual practices, and am writing intergenerational perspectives and practices currently for this series. Currently, I have also planned modules of workshops on Planning and Facilitating Intergenerational Worship that I lead in many denominations and settings, and am working to make this a module for Fuller Institute’s Certificate Program (forthcoming in 2027!).
Mutuality, Youth, and Intergenerational Story Sharing: I worked as the Project Manager for a new Project called the IYS Youth Story Project, a grant through Tenx10 and InterGenerate. Here, we designed a new tool called the Mutual Interview, and interviewed youth around the globea. The Mutual Interview addresses power dynamics which make it hard for young people to share and participate authentically with adults in our faith communities. I am continuing to mine many learnings from this project around mutuality and intergenerational ministry, and will be publishing more findings and future tools from this soon.
LWCY/Lament with Children & Youth in Worship & Daily Life Project: See more about my project on this website. I did not plan to write and research on this topic, but as I continue to present and curate, I am realizing a huge need for this in our faith communities. This project is about curating the experiences and expertise of experts from diverse contexts, while offering curated multi-sensory, multi-modal, embodied practices of lament that enable our young people to lament WITH us in worship.
So, will you join me in the conversation, the mission—to bring all generations of the church together?
