Maria Wilson brings to Gracebridge Alliance over 30 years’ experience in Christian ministry and leadership. She has served as a lay counselor for 15 years and has trained other leaders in church and parachurch and non-profit organizations.

Drawing from her own most challenging ministry experiences, she now considers it a great privilege to journey with other vocational ministry leaders into their stories of redemption, healing and wholeness. 

Her passion for serving has taken her beyond the borders of the United States to Tajikistan, India and Guatemala, where she focused on providing spiritual refreshment to missionaries, non-profits, churches and those they serve.

Along the way, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with a Masters of Arts in Counseling Ministries and has furthered her training by attending the Allender Center Lay Counseling Certificate Program and the Gottman Institute Marriage Seminar. 

Maria has been a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors since 2002 and is a trained Spiritual Director through The Christos Center for Spiritual Formation. She and her husband, Don, who helped develop the vision for Gracebridge Alliance, have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren.

Maria sees clients in our Brookfield, WI offices as well as remotely.

With over three decades in parachurch and pastoral ministry, Mark Werner knows first hand the challenges leaders face cultivating their own souls amid the pressures and demands of ministry. Mark believes that those in vocational ministry must rediscover the oft-forgotten disciplines of the interior spiritual life in order to sustained fruitful ministry for a lifetime! 

Mark did graduate work studying for M.Div. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and has held positions at all levels of church ministry, from youth ministry to adult spiritual formation, as well as Directing Operations and Management. 

Mark has completed his training in Spiritual Direction at The Mercy Center in Colorado Springs.  Central to his own growth and development has been his participation with the Transforming Center with author Dr. Ruth Haley Barton – having participated in both the  “Transforming Community” and “Leading a Transforming Church."   Mark experienced his own “dark night of the soul” crisis during his journey in ministry in his mid 40’s. Now, he loves nothing more than helping others to have vitality and faithfulness through caring, compassionate soul care.

Mark and his wife Valerie have been married for 36 years and have four children and 7 grandchildren. He loves to cook pizza in his hand-built brick oven and unleashes his inner angler on the many local lakes and rivers.

Mark sees clients in our Brookfield, WI offices as well as remotely.

Joe has been in leadership for over four decades in church and parachurch ministry and has a knack for hosting the kind of spaces and places where you can air out your soul with ease. Having a guide who has navigated the troubled waters of being a ministry leader is a rare gift, and this is what Joe is known for among his friends and peers. His favorite quote that informs how to approach opening up our inner life to another person in soul care comes from Parker J. Palmer - Let Your Life Speak.  

The soul is like a wild animal-tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wildness we seek.

Joe has a degree in East Asian Studies from UW Madison, but his real pedigree comes from being in the trenches of ministry ranging from gritty urban missions to global church networks. He’s most comfortable at a table or around a fire, but has professionally led teams of 5 to 50 and understands that it takes intentional work to nurture the spiritual and relational health of leaders. His latest season has been marked by guiding senior leaders and their teams in becoming a healthy spiritual community together.

Joe has completed his training in Spiritual Direction with the Franciscan Spiritual Center in Portland, OR. He had the pleasure of being trained in spiritual formation with the Transforming Center hosted by author Dr. Ruth Haley Barton in a “Transforming Community”. Joe recently made a life pivot from all of his previous ministry roles to become a spiritual director and joined the Gracebridge Team.

Joe and his wife Angie have been married for 39 years and have five children and 7 grandchildren. He loves to swim the local lakes, hike in the forest, cross country ski and host parties. He’s also a singer-songwriter who has written a bunch of midlife-man songs and some meditative prayers that he shares with a very limited audience.

Joe sees clients in our Brookfield, WI offices as well as remotely.

Chris Klausen brings over 20 years of experience in church and parachurch ministry as well as in learning and development across the lifespan. She has served on church staff and in church leadership and has extensive experience leading adult spiritual formation classes and book clubs. In addition, Chris enjoys creating personal retreat guides and spiritual formation resources.  

Chris completed a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology: Learning and Development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a two-year training program in Spiritual Direction through The Christos Center for Spiritual Formation.

Chris’ personal journey towards spiritual direction was about a decade in the making. In her early thirties, she experienced her own “dark night of the soul” which lasted for over a year. Through this experience, God gave her a passion for helping others better understand their own spiritual formation, spiritual disciplines, and the care of their souls.

Chris and her husband, Espen, have been married for 25 years and have one teenage daughter. Chris loves to be outside in nature, doing leather work and anything creative, and reading - especially anything sci-fi/fantasy or related to spiritual growth and development.

Chris sees clients in our Brookfield and Fond du Lac, WI offices as well as remotely.