ABOUT
Rolling Ridge Retreat and Conference Center in North Andover, MA is a safe and sacred space of natural beauty, gracious hospitality, and spiritually transforming programs, connecting all people, God, and creation.
At Rolling Ridge, we believe people are like seeds with tremendous potential for growth into their authentic uniqueness as God designs all humans to become. We believe this idea of "becoming" leads into a fullness of Life, a life awake to inner Divine Presence, receptive to living as whole persons, interconnected to all living beings, open and responsive to God's transforming invitations, and expressive of Love's unique expressions within community relationships. Rooted in contemplative Christian tradition, we believe individuals are like seeds ready to be cultivated and companioned into Life. "Listening Spaces" nourish this journey.
Wherever you find yourself on the spiritual journey, "Listening Spaces" offer personal experiences and resources for pausing, connecting, and awakening more fully into Life. The world is waiting.
OUR TEAM
LAWRENCE JAY
Rolling Ridge Executive Director
As the Executive Director of Rolling Ridge, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Jay works in partnership with the staff to ensure that the guest experience at the Ridge is top quality. He also partners with retreat leaders to provide excellent programming at the Ridge, and is available to speak about the ongoing ministry and historic mission of Rolling Ridge as a place of rest, retreat, and transformation. A trained spiritual director and ordained American Baptist pastor, Larry (as he is known by friends) is a graduate of UCLA, Golden Gate Seminary, Franciscan School of Theology, American Baptist Seminary of the West, and the Gateways to God Missional Spiritual Direction Program. Eco-spirituality is his passion (and was his doctoral dissertation), encouraging everyone to live into the fullness of our connection with nature, God, and all people.
JOHN KIEMELE
Rolling Ridge Program Director
Way of the Heart Director &
Lead Facilitator
Rev. Dr. John Kiemele is a wellbeing educator and spiritual director who currently companions individuals, teaches various seminars and lifestyle classes, leads contemplative retreats, and also serves as Program Director at Rolling Ridge Retreat Center. With a focus on contemplative soul care, John gratefully walks alongside individuals, small groups, classrooms and congregations. Recognizing how intentional pausing and listening unlocks life, John strives to engage the whole person – body, mind, soul – in the lifelong process of living well. John received his PhD in education/spirituality, with post-doctoral emphases in Spiritual Direction, Mindful Self-Compassion, the Enneagram Spectrum, and Wellness Coaching.
BETH GARNAAS-HOLMES
Gateways to God Director
Rev. Beth Garnaas-Holmes is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church. She has served congregations in Montana, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, with a focus on deepening people's connection to God, themselves and the world through spiritual practice, small group ministry and outreach into communities. She has also offered spiritual direction to individuals for 30 years, and was trained through the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda, Maryland. She has worked in program ministry at Rolling Ridge for 20 years, and is currently the program director and a small group supervisor with the Gateways to God program. She lives in Wells, Maine with her husband and the many trees and animals that surround their home. Together they have a wonderful family of sons and daughters by marriage, grandchildren and grand-pets.
HEIDI MILLER
Gateways to God &
Deep Listening in Neighborhood
Lead Faculty
With more than 20 years in academic and non-profit settings, Heidi A Miller, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Spirituality and Christian Ministry at Mercer University in Atlanta. Her areas of teaching, research, and writing focus on transformative leadership, spirituality, transition and trauma, justice, and worship. Heidi designs and facilitates curriculum in spiritual direction and soul tending in one-on-one, small group, community, congregational, and organizational contexts.
JACKIE TROTTER DOVE
Deep Listening in the Neighborhood Director
Rev. Jackie is founder and president of Paraclete Place, a nonprofit that provides spiritual companionship, emotional and meditative sacred space, education awareness, and short-term residency to Breast Cancer and other cancer survivors and their families as they journey through treatment and recovery. As retired clergy from the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church, Jackie received her training as a Spiritual Director/Companion from Gateways at Rolling Ridge and Boston University and is a member of Spiritual Directors International. Jackie attended Howard University, Boston University, Hood Theological Seminary (MDiv) and is a current Doctoral Candidate with a dissertation on providing spiritual support to Millennials who were raised in the church but are no longer associated with a community of faith. Currently residing at Paraclete Place on beautiful Lake Gaston in North Carolina, she is committed to the New England Conference and the Rolling Ridge Retreat Center ministry.
GAYLE KERR
Deep Listening &
Spiritual Direction Supervision Facilitator
Gayle Kerr has been involved in Spiritual Direction and Retreat Ministry since 1990. She is a graduate of Trenton (NJ) State College and Chestnut Hill College (PA) and holds degrees in education and Holistic Spirituality and Certificates in Spiritual Direction and the Supervision of Spiritual Directors. She has worked as a teacher, a Director of Christian Education and as a Spiritual Director at theMiddleton Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, PA. From 2000-2007 she worked at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ with a team of Spiritual Directors who were invited to help create a program for Spiritual Formation at the Seminary. Gayle and her husband moved to Cape Cod, MA in 2007 where she continues to provide individual and group Spiritual Direction as well as Retreat Leadership from her home on the Cape. She also serves as a small group supervisor in the Gateways to God Program, and supervises Peer Supervision Groups at Rolling Ridge.