Get to know Pastor Paula's family!

We look forward to welcoming Paula and Dan into our community in May. But we're already making room for them in our hearts and minds.

Paula's husband, Dan, is in his 27th year of teaching New Testament studies at Bethany Theological Seminary. He completed his M.Div. from Bethany in 1985, and his Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA, in 1997. He sometimes teaches courses in Spanish for the Brethren Academy; and he also co-teaches Bethany courses with Nigerian professors in real time with classrooms in Bethany and in Jos, Nigeria. Dan and Paula met at Bridgewater College (VA), and have been married 39 years.

Rachel, age 30, is a 2015 Manchester University graduate and a 2021 Bethany graduate with a Master of Arts with a peace studies emphasis. She works in Richmond, IN, in the Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College. Following college, Rachel spent several years volunteering, first in Brethren Volunteer Service in Roanoke, Virginia, and then at Jubilee Partners, an intentional Christian community that helps to resettle refugees, in Georgia. She also spent a college semester in Dakar, Senegal.

Genna (pronounced like "Jenna"), age 33, is a 2013 Manchester University graduate, and lives in Portland, Maine. They work as a metal fabricator for a small company in South Portland, Maine. Genna coordinates adult education and a mid-week worship group within the Portland-area Quaker community. Genna identifies as gender queer (aka non-binary) and uses they/them pronouns.

Genna's partner, Hannah Colbert, age 33, grew up in western Connecticut. She teaches high school English within an alternative education program 45 minutes from Portland. Hannah and Genna met one another as students at Philipps University (Brethren Colleges Abroad) in Marburg, Germany in 2010, and have been married 3.5 years.

Pastor Paula enjoys many things, including singing, exploring farmer's markets, visiting art museums and kayaking with Dan, personal spiritual retreats, trying new recipes, and the spiritual and environmental practice of hanging clothes on the clothes line. She is a 1983 graduate of Bridgewater College, and a 2008 graduate of Bethany. Paula has served in ministry as the pastor of Nettle Creek Church of the Brethren in Hagerstown, IN; as staff pastor at Brethren Retirement Community in Greenville, OH; and as associate pastor at Oakland Church of the Brethren in Bradford, OH. Dan and Paula currently live in Greenville, OH, but will be moving to Fort Wayne soon.