Amy Mears was educated at Furman University, ordained among the Baptists of South Carolina, and completed her MDiv and PhD in Louisville, KY. After a 10-year stint as a hospital chaplain in Georgia, she was a pastor for Glendale Baptist Church in Nashville for 20 years. She is completing her career as one of the directors of Ring Lake Ranch, an ecumenical retreat center in Dubois, Wyoming; during the off-season, she lives in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Amy hikes and rides and fly-fishes, knits and weaves and spins yarn, cooks and walks on beaches and laughs an awful lot. Her four kids would be insulted if she didn’t tell you how spectacular they are.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Washington, D.C., Rev. Mignon Jones-Spann is the proud daughter of Joyce M. Robinson and the late Ronald E. Jones. She graduated with honors from the University of the District of Columbia with a B.S. in Early Childhood Education, earned a Master’s in Adult and Continuing Education from Kansas State University, and went on to complete her Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary. She holds the historic honor of being the first woman ordained by the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas under the leadership of Rev. Kenneth R. Kemp, MD. Her clergy experience includes both congregational ministry and hospital chaplaincy. An advocate for reducing the stigma of mental illness, particularly, in the African-american community, Rev. Mignon speaks openly and boldly,often  reminding others, “You can have Jesus and a therapist—one does not cancel out the other.”

Rev. Mignon shares life and ministry with her husband, Reverend Willie and is the bonus mom of one son and “Mimi” to two beautiful grandchildren. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Whether in the pulpit, at the bedside, in the classroom, or in the community, Rev. Mignon leads with love and compassion, striving always to walk by faith and serve with purpose.