Current Position
Diana is Pastor of ArtSpirit, a United Methodist ministry to the arts community of Dallas, TX and beyond.

"ArtSpirit engages, explores and interprets the mysteries of God and spirituality through the arts. ArtSpirit embraces spiritual seekers and challenges them to use their creative talents in alternative and traditional forms of worship, scholarship, and service to the world."

Diana's duties include "typical pastoral work" such as "pastoral care, mission projects (teaching dance and feeding the homeless, working in memory loss units at the rest home), budgets, stewardship of time and money, trawling for new members, worship planning, fund raisers." Her work also includes "very atypical" activities such as "meeting from 5 to 6:45 Sunday evenings instead of in the morning, helping others plan and lead worship as they want, having an online ministry, offering Salon Evenings in which we attend an arts event and have a discussion later, holding a weekly Dance Your Prayers class, offering a book discussion series, holding an annual Advent production."

Diana has held this position for almost three years. "In July of 1999 I asked my immediate boss if I could start an 'artists' church.' He agreed and began looking for ways to fund it. Because our mission board in NYC had a windfall in the stock market, we were able to finance 3 years of my salary to do this mission work. I designed my own job description and they used it to interview me for the job! In February 2000 I said good- bye to my suburban church where I was pastor-in-charge, and began this cutting edge ministry which had no prototypes. At the end of this February, my tiny church will pick up the bill for my salary and benefits. These people are on fire!"

Career Path
Diana holds two graduate degrees: Master of Music (1971) and Master of Divinity (1993), both from Southern Methodist University.

"After graduating from Grinnell, while I was working on my MM, I started a music program and an after-school dance program for a private elementary school. Three years later, when my husband took a job as an associate pastor in Louisiana, I began conducting children's and youth choirs, which I continued up until seminary. Also during that time I was a vocal soloist, and I developed dance ministries and led in conferences and in large-church workshop-through-dance all over the country. It was in the dance ministry that one of the dancers said, 'Hey, Diana, you need to go to seminary. You talk so easily and with such conviction about the theological aspects of dance. Go for it' And so I did. Life finally made sense, and even more so now that it's all combined in the arts ministry.

"After graduation from seminary I served 4 British Methodist churches for a year, returned home and was appointed to the suburban parish mentioned above where they called me their 'singing dancing pastor.' After 3 1/2 years I knew it was time to move on to more radical ministry, especially one in which people weren't afraid to change or challenge, and in which people might have been burned or bored by church yet who used the arts to access the divine."

Grinnell Experience
Diana majored in music at Grinnell and includes the following Grinnell activities as helpful in her career:

"Singing in the choir every Sunday in mandatory worship. Singing the wonderful choral music of the church through the ages. Being involved in many theater productions. I had the tap dancing and singing lead in my senior year when Grinnell produced The Boyfriend.

"By far the most influential elements was the atmosphere at Grinnell of critical thinking. As a Christian I often felts a bit isolated and judged, but I think it made me stronger. It was at Grinnell that I met my first avowed atheists. I needed a lot of that same kind of courage later on when I had to face the people who did not want me to 1) dance in church or 2) be a clergywoman. I need it now when I face people who absolutely hate the Church, and yet who are dying for want of a spiritual community."

How She Can Help
"I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have an intern for as long as you can send me one or two or three! This ministry is just fantastic and cutting edge and would be tailor-made for a Grinnellian who wants to do things differently than the mainstream. Our current intern is halfway through seminary and is such a help. She's learned tons about herself: how to start a church, how to deal with artists, how to articulate her believes to Christians and non-Christians (there are both in our gatherings). The door is open and ready for you!"

She is also available to come to campus to talk.

Contact the Career Development Office if you wish to get in touch with her.