Our Team
Living Stones Associates is a network of independent consultants/coaches guided by a common vision, who work together to help churches become healthier and increase ministry effectiveness.
Eddy Hall, Senior Consultant/Coach
With ministry experience that includes directing an inner city ministry,
youth ministry, extensive writing and editing, denominational staff ministry,
and more than 25 years in small group ministry, Eddy began working with
Ray Bowman in 1986, collaborating with Ray on all his articles and books.
In 1996, Eddy joined the consulting team and now devotes full-time to consulting
with churches.
In addition to coauthoring When Not to Build, Eddy has also coauthored When There's No Burning Bush and other books. His articles have appeared in about 120 periodicals including Leadership, Guideposts, Campus Life, and Focus on the Family Magazine.
Eddy leads the team in carrying on Ray's pioneering work in facility utilization and planning. Drawing on his training (a degree in Christian education) and 30 years of varied ministry leadership experience, Eddy has greatly expanded the services the team offers in strategic ministry planning, enhancing church health, and coaching professional and lay leaders. He lives in Wichita, Kansas, where he is part of the leadership team of Hilltop Urban Church.
Skipp Machmer, Senior Consultant/Coach
Skipp has spent the last 14 years working in two churches first as a Creative Arts Pastor and
now as Executive Pastor of Programming and Strategic Development at Riverside Church in Big Lake, MN.
He brings a wide range of experience to Living Stones including expertise in building teams, both
staff and volunteer; planning, producing, and leading worship services and special events;
and evangelistically fruitful community outreach efforts. He is experienced in leading
churches through directional changes related to worship and technology, in helping churches
transition from being inwardly focused to being outwardly focused, and helping churches navigate
conflict in life-giving ways.
Skipp and his wife Cherise live in the Twin Cities area with their three daughters.
Gary Diehl, Consultant/Coach
Assuming various lay leadership responsibilities in his home church over the last thirty years has given Gary
a hands-on perspective of many ministry functions within the church. Gary is a frequent speaker for area churches,
business gatherings, leadership retreats, men's groups, and civic organizations.
Gary's introduction to the practical principles of When Not to Build came when he served as his church's coordinator for a Living Stones Integrated Planning Consultation in 1998. While maintaining his full-time career as a product manager for a metals company, Gary joined the Living Stones team in 2001 and began consulting with churches out of a growing conviction that many churches need comprehensive, biblical counsel to become healthy and effective in our rapidly changing world. Gary now serves as Church Health and Resource Specialist for The Brethren Church in the United States. He also works with the denomination's global partners to help congregations and pastors discover what is and what could be in their life and ministry together. He and his wife Nancy live in Alliance, Ohio, and have four grown children and four energetic grandchildren.
Greg Peterson, Consultant/Facility Specialist
Greg Peterson has been a registered architect for 30 years, currently serving
as principal and owner of Intelligent Design Group LLC, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He has also served as principal and owner with SCHQA in Boise, Idaho; The
Hillier Group in Princeton, New Jersey; and Baker & Associates in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. He is licensed in fifteen states and certified by the National
Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
Greg has served as a lay leader and council member in his home church, helping to guide it in accommodating growth while maintaining spiritual health and a ministry focus. He uses his expertise in planning, programming, and design to guide churches in the wise use of resources to achieve their mission. He joined Living Stones Associate in 2001.
Mike Hare, Ph.D., Consultant/Coach/Conflict Specialist
Mike served in pastoral ministry from 1980 to 2012, leading congregations in New
York, Vermont, Oklahoma, Colorado, and California. He has specialized in guiding
declining and plateaued churches through a turnaround process. He also has served
as a Doctor of Ministry instructor at the Talbot School of Theology as well as
an adjunct faculty member in several universities and colleges teaching Bible,
ethics, and conflict resolution courses. Mike and his wife Colleen live in
Colorado Springs where Mike is serving as a conflict resolution trainer with
an international nonprofit working in 24 countries. Mike earned his Ph.D. in
Conflict Analysis and Resolution with a primary focus in organizational
conflict resolution. He joined the Living Stones team in 2003 to extend his
ministry through assisting congregations as a conflict resolution specialist.
Peggy Heid, Consultant/Coach
Peggy's passion for the church has made her a long-time student of church health. She has lived out her
calling by providing leadership in many aspects of church life over the past 27 years. She and her husband,
Brent, served as core team members for two church plants. Peggy has developed strategies for welcoming
and connecting newcomers into the life of the church, given leadership to outreach and communications,
and served in worship and children's ministries. Through handling the financial affairs of the family
corporation, Peggy gained the expertise to serve as church treasurer and chair the Stewardship Team in
her local church. She also drew on her expertise in facility design and construction to serve as the
general contractor for her church's building program.
Peggy joined the Living Stones team in 2008. She and Brent live in Harrisonville, Missouri. They have four sons - one married, one in college, and two teenagers at home.
Ken Dean, Consultant/Coach/Facility Specialist
Ken Dean is the Executive Pastor of All Saints Church in Dallas, Texas.
He previously served as Executive Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church
in Little Rock, Arkansas.
He draws on a wide range of experience in his consulting
with churches. He has served as a managing principal for a company specializing
in church
construction, as the superintendent of a Christian school, as a loan underwriter
for church projects, and as chair of his church's deacon board. He has
hosted
a Church Communications Network (CCN) broadcast on church facilities development
as part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series. His writing has
appeared
in Outreach Magazine, The Church Report, Church Executive, and Church Business.
Ken earned a BA from Texas Tech University and a Masters of Education from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Laurie Morris, Consultant/Conflict and Restoration Specialist
For 25 years Laurie has been connecting people to God for emotional and spiritual
healing. She sees people full-time for healing and support counsel in areas
including sexual abuse, crisis marriage counseling, and dissociation. She founded
and for five years led HEAL, a prayer/counseling ministry at Manna Church in
Fayetteville, North Carolina. Laurie travels internationally training healing
teams in churches and ministry organizations. Her work with churches includes
guiding church leadership teams in spiritual discernment, facilitating healing
in seasons of conflict, and assisting church leaders and their spouses with
healing. She has a particular passion for partnering with churches working to
restore leaders who have experienced moral failure. An ordained minister, Laurie
graduated from Christ for the Nations in Dallas and has been trained in a variety
of counseling models. Her writings include the book
Shattered, and Then.
Her latest CD,
Restore
Me, is a compilation of original psalms for healing. Laurie has been
widowed since 2002 after being married for 21 years to the late David Morris,
a nationally known worship leader, author, and teacher. They pastored together
throughout their marriage. Living now in Kansas City, Laurie is the proud mother
of four and "nina" to six grandchildren.
Dennis Hesselbarth, Consultant/Coach/Urban & Crosscultural Ministry Specialist
Dennis is the founding pastor of Hilltop Urban Church in Wichita, Kansas, a multi-ethnic
oral-culture church, where he has pastored for 23 years. Under his leadership, Hilltop
planted a Hispanic church that shared Hilltop's building for several years before moving
to their own location. Dennis has served on denominational agencies for urban and
crosscultural ministries. He joined the Living Stones team in 2009.
Tom Gibson, Consultant/Facility Specialist
Tom joined the Living Stones team in 1999 after working for 14 years with
a Fortune 100 corporation. As the national director of remodels, managing
the design and construction departments, Tom specialized in bringing the
corporation's visions to a reality. He is also a licensed contractor.
In 2004 he became a project manager for Cogun, Inc., one of the leading church building and expansion specialists in the eastern United States. In his work with both Cogun and Living Stones, Tom draws on his years of professional experience to guide churches toward creative, cost-effective facility solutions. He lives in Parker, Pennsylvania, with is wife Laura and three children.
Marguerite (Marz) Garcia, Administrative Assistant
Marz joined the Living Stones team in January of 2011. She provides administrative
support to our consultants and to the churches Living Stones serves, and manages
our online bookstore. She also serves on the staff of her church, Hilltop Urban
Church in Wichita, Kansas.
Ray Bowman, Founder
After thirty years as an architect, designing various kinds of buildings
including church buildings, Ray Bowman left his architectural firm in 1980
to begin a ministry of consulting with churches. (Read the story in
chapter 1 of When
Not to Build.) Over the next few years, Ray used his
architectural expertise to help churches avoid unnecessary building.
Learning from each church he worked with, within a few years Ray had learned
how to help most churches make their buildings work well for a congregation
two to three times the size for which it had been originally designed.
By applying Ray's approach, growing churches were able to get out of debt
and stay out of debt, even through major building programs.
His articles have appeared in more than 40 periodicals including Leadership, Your Church, Ministries Today, and Clergy Journal. He is coauthor with Eddy Hall of When Not to Build.
Now retired, Ray continues to mentor the other members of the consulting team he founded and to collaborate with them on consultations from his studio in Olathe, Kansas.