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about: who we are

The Staff

Shari Thomas, Parakaleo’s founder and director, along with Tami Resch, Cristina Caires, and Maria Garriott bring over 70 years of combined church planting experience to Parakaleo. Having been in the trenches, they are passionate about equipping and supporting church planting spouses, couples and families, thus seeing Jesus’ good news spread through healthy church plants.

Shari Thomas
Shari Thomas
Founder and Director
shari@parakaleo.us

Shari Thomas

Founder and Director

shari@parakaleo.us

Shari was born and raised in the Caribbean into a church planting culture. The granddaughter, daughter, and wife of a church planter, she is not quite sure whether she has a love for the church or just can’t escape it. But she’s throwing her lot in with the church because Jesus does! In addition to founding and directing Parakaleo, she writes, speaks, and trains ministry leaders. Shari also researched and developed the Church Leader’s Spouse Inventory used in assessment and the Stress and Satisfaction levels of planting spouses.

After being involved in church plants in three countries, she and her husband, John, currently call Manhattan home, where John is the Global Director of Training for Redeemer’s City to City. Among her many loves is spending time with her three adult children, and sharing stories, and dreaming of that great day on the other side where we will gather to hear the finished narratives of our lives.

 

Tami Resch
Tami Resch
Associate Director
tami@parakaleo.us

Tami Resch

Associate Director

tami@parakaleo.us

Since 1991, Tami and her husband Steve have co-labored in three church plants and currently serve Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio. As associate director and co-founder of Parakaleo, she shares a life of gospel joy, hugs, and hope in Christ with church planting spouses and women in her community. Tami loves opening her home and mentoring women (chocolate is usually involved in both). She loves giving things away, which kept her from a career in sales, but led to the discovery of a passion for giving away hope in Christ. As crazy as it may sound, she enjoys attending her denomination’s General Assembly, going to church planting conferences, and serving at assessment centers. The daughter and sister of professional football coaches, Tami has become one herself, coaching women through life and ministry. She is a Creative Results Management Graduate Coach.

Tami is a member of Steeler Nation and additional fanaticisms include organizing closets, drawers, homes, and churches. She is a retired nurse, a retired home school mom, and the sometimes tired but never retired mother of three.

 

Cristina Caires
Cristina Caires
Director of Global Network Development
cristina@parakaleo.us

Cristina Caires

Director of Global Network Development

cristina@parakaleo.us

Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, Cristina and her husband, Darcy, moved to the US in the late 80s and have been involved in church planting longer than they have been married! They have served twelve years among Brazilian immigrants and the last nine among Americans in the most diverse corner of the world: the metropolitan New York area, where Darcy serves as executive pastor and multi-site lead pastor at Queens Presbyterian Church.

As a church-planting spouse, Cristina has experienced the power of the barrier-breaking gospel of Christ and the pain of finding herself in the desert, which gives her a true heart for women in ministry. At her local church she administrates an ESL program, co-leads a women’s fellowship, and serves on the Mercy Team which addresses various community needs. Cristina has acquired a taste for ethnic foods, coffee, dark chocolate, cultural diversity, traveling and her iPhone, which combined with her journalistic background, make her very resourceful if anyone is hungry or thirsty. As she helps in the development of global networks, Cristina meets women who are hungry and thirsty for something far more valuable: the refreshing grace that can be freely experienced, even in church planting.

 

Maria Garriott
Maria Garriott
Special Projects Director
maria@parakaleo.us

Maria Garriott

Special Projects Director

maria@parakaleo.us

Maria and her husband, Craig, moved to a distressed urban Baltimore neighborhood in 1980 to plant Faith Christian Fellowship, a multi-ethnic, socio-economically diverse church committed to ministry in Word and deed. The church presently operates a Christian day school, tutoring program, sports leagues, and other ministries. Her memoir, A Thousand Resurrections, describes what happens when a pastor's large family meets the grit of the city, weaving together stories of redemption and loss, elation and discouragement, and the ever-elusive quest to balance ministry, marriage, and motherhood.

Maria's poetry, essays, and nonfiction articles have appeared in many publications, and she enjoys speaking at retreats and conferences (especially when dark chocolate is involved). She loves cheering for church planters through her work with Parakaleo and pointing them to Jesus. Most of all, she enjoys spending time with her husband, four adult children, one awesome son-in-law, and her energetic thirteen-year-old.

 

Carrie Ott
Carrie Ott
Contracted Creative Consultant
carrie@parakaleo.us

Carrie Ott

Contracted Creative Consultant

carrie@parakaleo.us

As the daughter of a church planter, and someone who has spent her adult life in ministry, Carrie has a unique perspective of the local church and a great affection for the church planting family. As an artist, writer, and editor, she has a passion for creating and developing innovative ways to show, tell, and entice others — especially those in ministry — to the miraculous grace of Christ. She believes the gospel is good news all the time because there is always more freedom to be had.

Carrie resides in Atlanta with her husband, Russ. They live in an almost empty nest with their fabulous teenage son and an old dog named Hamlet. Their two wonderful and artistic adult daughters live close by.

 

Our Values

We value living in light of God’s redemptive story

We are caught up into the ancient epic where God invades our story and invites us to join him in bringing transformation to a broken world. We believe this best occurs when men and women partner in this task as joint image bearers.

We value living out of our identity in Christ

We, being children of God, joined to Christ, and filled with his righteousness, are a delight to our Father apart from our performance. Believing that our identity is fixed firmly in Christ and not in the success of self, spouse, or our church, we are empowered and freed to love. When we view the dynamic context of church planting through this lens, the Gospel mends and moves us to relate to God, our spouse, and others in love.

We value living in community as kingdom building partners

We believe we more fully reflect God’s image when we are connected than when we are apart. We believe in connecting as a fundamental aspect of being in the Imago Dei. Therefore, we are committed to developing community: local, national, and virtual, that brings awareness of available resources, other church planting movements, and broader kingdom work.

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Parakaleo Training Retreats: Gospel freedom!
Atlanta, GA - Spring 2011: 'It is worth every effort made to get away and go!!' - A.B.
Atlanta, GA - Spring 2011: 'It is worth every effort made to get away and go!!' - A.B.
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011: Art journaling
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011: Art journaling
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011: 'The Gospel was shared with us and their lives as well. In what other context could you get rest and tools and training and counseling and heart connections and fun!?' - L.C.
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011: 'The Gospel was shared with us and their lives as well. In what other context could you get rest and tools and training and counseling and heart connections and fun!?' - L.C.
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011: 'The training, support, rest and fun were priceless!' - A.B.
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011: 'The training, support, rest and fun were priceless!' - A.B.
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011
Lakeland, FL - Summer 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Atlanta, GA - Fall 2011
Central Florida Network
Central Florida Network