Indianapolis

Ashley Ivy is the senior director of finance for the Center for Congregations. Ashley performs all financial and accounting processes, necessary for the efficient operations of the Center. Ashley has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Ball State University and an MBA-Accounting Specialization from Indiana Wesleyan University. Ashley brings more than 12 years of accounting and management experience; specializing in not-for-profit accounting, strategic planning, and operations. She also has 5+ years of experience in human resources, managing compensation and benefits packages, as well as fostering positive work environments. Ashley also serves as an independent small business consultant and is experienced in teaching college level accounting courses and training others to utilize various Microsoft Office applications.

Ashley is a member of Repairing the Breach Ministries in Muncie, Indiana, where she serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors. She is very active in her community; serving on the Thrive Credit Union supervisory committee, the Whitely Community Council education committee, and is a member of other various service organizations. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their children.

Noemi Cifuentes hails from Guatemala City as the youngest of nine children.  She became a resident of New York in early 2001, however, shortly after 9/11 Noemi relocated to Indianapolis, IN.

Since being in the great city of Indianapolis, Noemi has served the Christian community in multiple capacities both personally and professionally.  For nine years, she served as the Director of Hispanic Ministry at Old Bethel UMC. She later became a Case Manager at Wheeler Mission Ministry as the Family Coordinator and the Office Manager for SENDCDC. After working with the Center for Congregations as a Contract Resource Consultant for several years, Noemi joined the team full-time as an Associate for Resource Consulting.

Noemi enjoys interacting with people and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her passion for teaching the Bible to beginners is unparalleled.  She is married to the love of her life, Temo, is the mother of three children and a proud Grandmother. In her free time, Noemi loves to drive and listen to music, paint, and sew and has been noted for having quite the sense of humor.

A Baptist minister, McKenzie Scott Lewis’ faith experience ranges from Methodist, Church of God in Christ, Charismatic to Baptist. He has taught at IUPUI, served as corporate diversity director at Wellpoint Inc, coordinated diversity and inclusion efforts at Clarian Health Partners and served as CEO and chief cultural strategist for The MSL Group. He brings energy and experience to engage listeners from all walks of life.

A graduate of DePauw University, McKenzie has written extensively in his area of expertise, including the articles “Building Boardroom Trust” from the July 2009 Leadership Ventures Newsletter; “Editorial on Diversity” in the November 2008 Indiana Business Journal (IBJ); “Clarian Health Partners: United We Thrive” in the April 2007 issue of DiversityInc, Magazine; and “Helping Diversity to Grow Up” in New York Voice/Harlem USA October 1997 edition.

Formerly the director of the Center’s Northwest office in Crown Point, McKenzie Scott Lewis is the director of a new Center for Congregations project: Congregations with Communities.

Susan Weber coordinates the evaluation processes for Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Religion Division. She spent several years as the Indianapolis Center for Congregation’s director of evaluation and congregational learning, as well as a resource consultant to congregations.

Susan is a Roman Catholic lay woman. Prior to her work at the Center, she served the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as coordinator of boards of education, office of Catholic education from 1976-1985. For almost 20 years thereafter, she was an independent consultant and group facilitator for dioceses, churches, religious communities, and schools nationwide. Sue has degrees from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and Indiana University, Bloomington and is professionally certificated as a group facilitator through Indiana University.

Tim Shapiro is the Indianapolis Center’s president. He began serving the Center in 2003 after 18 years in pastoral ministry. For 14 years, Tim served Westminster Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio. Prior to his pastorate at Westminster, he was pastor of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Logansport, Indiana. He holds degrees from Purdue University and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Tim’s interest in how congregations learn to do new things is represented in his book How Your Congregation Learns. After his extensive work on the Center’s Sacred Space initiative, Tim co-authored the book Holy Places: Matching Sacred Space with Mission and Message. He has also authored several articles, including Applying Positive Deviance and The Congregation of Theological Coherence.

Kelly Minas designs and directs evaluation processes for grants, resource consulting, and educational programs at the Center for Congregations. Kelly received an undergraduate degree in American culture from Vassar College, where she was active in interfaith work on campus, and a master’s degree in contemporary sociology from the University of Leicester in England.

Ben McKibben is the senior web developer for the Center for Congregations. His primary responsibility is the development, enhancement and maintenance of the Congregational Resource Guide (CRG). The CRG is provided by the Center as a service for anyone seeking to find the right resources for their congregation.  Ben has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi and an MBA from Indiana University. He has more than 20 years of experience developing internet applications. Ben lived in Malaysia for ten years while serving as an associate director for a cooperative program between Indiana University and a Malaysian university.

Catharine Green develops and maintains the Center’s database system. This system is an essential tool in the Center’s mission of identifying the right resources for congregational needs, and learning how congregations make effective use of specific kinds of resources.

Kara Faris is the Center’s Executive Program Director. Over her time at the Center, she has also served as the director of resource grants and resource consulting and the education director.

Before working at the Center, Kara served First Friends Meeting of Indianapolis as associate pastor. With a degree in marketing from Butler University’s College of Business Administration and a master of divinity degree from Christian Theological Seminary, Kara brings a blend of pragmatism, intuition and passion for lifelong learning to the Center. Kara has authored Including Laity in Education Events Empowers Congregations and co-authored the book Divergent Church.