About Us

Marlena is the Assistant Professor of Spiritual Formation at Northeastern Seminary on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, NY. She has written five books, two of which were award-winning, and over two hundred articles found in a variety of venues like Christianity Today, Relevant, Sojourners, the Christian Century and more. In addition, she has had pastoral positions at several churches, including a church plant. And she has worked for many non-profits in solidarity with the poor, migrant farm workers, immigrants from South America, and local community members and leaders who sought to address police brutality in the Toledo, Ohio, area and lead paint poisoning of children. Marlena has been on the board of several organizations including Evangelicals 4 Justice and The Red Bud Writers Guild. She is married to her husband Shawn, a philosophy professor, and has three wonderful, beautiful, brilliant, and growing girls. She wants people to know God delights in them. She has been dubbed, and sees herself as, a missionary to the American Church. She loves to laugh, be out in nature, and be with family and friends and good folk. She hopes to leave a little bit of shalom in her wake.

Marlena's most recent books include Bearing God: Living a Christ-formed Life in Uncharted Waters, The Way Up is Down: Becoming Yourself by Forgetting Yourself, and co-edited with her husband, Dr. Shawn Graves The Gospel of Peace in a Violent World: Christian Nonviolence for Communal Flourishing.  

Michelle is a child of the Jesus Movement whose deeply rooted faith in Christ, secular Jewish heritage, spiritual hunger, and storyteller’s sensibilities inform her creative, carefully crafted writing. Her work is characterized by a desire to cultivate both deeper roots and greater fruitfulness in the lives of others. She's been married for 45 years, and is a mother and grandmother. Michelle has earned a graduate certiicate from Northern Seminary, and has served in a variety of ministry roles. She's been writing for publication for many decades, but maintains a learner's posture even as she's mentored other writers. She believes writing is meant to be a conversation.  

Her writing credits include stage plays, curriculum, and numerous articles in publications including Christianity Today, Plough, and In Touch. Her latest book entitled Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism's Nonessentials is slated for release in Fall, 2025. Some of her other published books include Translating Your Past: Finding Meaning in Family Ancestry, Genetic Clues, and Generational Trauma , Becoming Sage: Cultivating Meaning, Purpose, and Spirituality in Midlife, and Born to Wander: Recovering the Value of our Pilgrim Identity.