Group Spiritual Direction Circles

Rev. Eileen Gebbie's professional experience includes university-level teaching, serving as staff at a community organizing alliance, running a non-profit housing organization, and serving all that is holy as the first female and first queer senior pastor at two congregations in the United Church of Christ (a non-creedal Christian denomination pushing the boundaries of radical inclusion).

"So I have spent a lot of time with people in crisis, people who are being actively oppressed, people who are curious, people who are fearful, people who are being born, people who are dying. And I have confronted a great deal of sexism and homophobia in myself and in response to my self," she writes.

Through Wisdom & Wilderness, Gebbie now works as a spiritual director, a forest therapy guide, an educator, and a contemplative practitioner at an intensive outpatient program for youth and young adults with mental health crises.

Rev. Daniel Wolpert, a healer and student of the spiritual life, worked as a research scientist, psychologist, spiritual director, farmer, teacher, and construction worker before earning his Masters of Divinity degree at San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS). Over the past thirty years he has taught in the fields of psychology and spiritual formation, led retreats, and delivered talks in such settings as the Art of Spiritual Direction Program at SFTS, the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, Luther Seminary, and the 5-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation.

In addition to having full-time and interim pastoral positions over the past two decades, he also pursues his spiritual direction and healing work in private practice. Daniel is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Minnesota Institute of Contemplation and Healing. He is the author of Leading a Life with God: the Practice of Spiritual Leadership (Upper Room 2006) and Creating a Life with God: the Call of Ancient Prayer Practices (Upper Room 2003); and co-author of Meeting God in Virtual Reality (Abingdon 2004) and The Collapse of the Three Story Universe: Christianity in an Age of Science (MICAH 2013). His newest book, Creation’s Wisdom: Spiritual Practice and Climate Change (Orbis) was published in 2020.

Justin Ferko is a Spiritual Companion, Certified Relational Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, and professional chaplain. He is a 2022 New Contemplative with Spiritual Directors International, and a graduate and board member of Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development. He celebrates the giftedness of the LGBTQIA+ community and facilitates soul friendship with Mother Earth. He honors and facilitates companionees' embodied relationship with Earth and with each person's beautiful embodiment including gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation. These practices of love and intimacy with soul and spirit can be healing balm as we experience Climate Anxiety and Eco-Grief. Justin's practice of spiritual companioning is contemplative and interspiritual, drawing on Earth-honoring traditions (Celtic, Slavic), Tibetan Buddhism, and the Divine Feminine from Christianity. He and his spouse Craig live on the banks of the Susquehanna River with their beloved rescue dogs Yeshe and Benny. 

Rev. Dr. Stephanie Perdew is an ordained UCC minister, spiritual guide, and director of the Damascus Project online theological education initiative of the Minnesota and Wisconsin Conferences, United Church of Christ. She teaches history as an affiliate faculty member at Garrett Seminary, where she co-chairs the Indigenous Study Committee. She is a tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an educator and consultant in Native history, cultures, and land acknowledgements. Stephanie trains other spiritual guides through the Spiritual Guidance Training Program of the Siena Center of the Racine Dominicans, Racine, Wisconsin. She brings the gifts of rooted presence and intuitive listening to those who desire to explore their spiritual landscapes for the purpose of personal and interpersonal wellness and transformation. She looks forward to holding space for those seeking group spiritual direction in a time of climate anxiety and ecological grief.

Rev. Ash Temin is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as the Communications Manager at The BTS Center. She also offers spiritual direction through her independent practice in Portland, Maine.

Ash is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA), the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin (MPhil) and Harvard Divinity School (MDiv). Her time at both the ISE and HDS sparked a passion for ecological theology and prompted her to begin delving more deeply into the experience of ecological grief. Prior to moving to Portland, she served as an Acting Associate Pastor at Hope Central Church, a UCC/DOC congregation in Boston. Before answering the call to ordination, Ash worked in various administrative roles at Harvard University. She also has worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain, an adjunct professor, and a freelance editor.

After time spent living in Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Ireland, and Massachusetts, Ash is grateful to make her home in Maine, where she spends part of most days walking on the shores of Casco Bay. When not absorbed in work, she can be found cooking with friends, laying in her garden hammock, hiking in the woods, playing in the ocean, or attempting to learn the Irish language with a cat on her lap.

Rev. Dr. Wanda Stahl is a spiritual guide, retreat leader, educator, and consultant who has worked in a variety of congregational, denominational, and academic settings. Most recently, she served on the faculty and as Director of Contextual Education at Boston University School of Theology where her favorite moments were engaging with students exploring questions of meaning, purpose, and vocation. Over the past two decades, Wanda has completed programs in Individual Spiritual Guidance, Contemplative Prayer Group and Retreat Leadership, and Group Spiritual Direction through the Shalem Institute in Washington DC. In 2021, she completed the year-long Seminary of the Wild EcoSpirituality Certificate, an experience which deepened her already strong connection to the Earth as a source of wisdom, guidance, and healing for navigating these challenging times. Wanda has been a follower of Jesus since she was a teenager, grounded especially in contemplative and Wesleyan streams of Christianity. While ordained in the Methodist tradition, she has guided and mentored people from a variety of faith traditions and spiritual expressions. Wanda is the mother of two young-adult daughters who are among her best teachers. She lives in Southern Maine where she is nurtured by time near the water and walks in the woods. Wanda also enjoys reading, cooking, solving puzzles of various kinds, and sitting on her deck watching the birds.