#sundaycirclegroup
Sunday’s can be a lonely place, one of missing community, of longing for fellowship, and knowing hurts both inside and out of church. In Sunday Circle Group, it is less about who sits at the head of the table or in what order. But rather, it’s about Who is sitting among us. A circle reminds us of campfires, where we don’t dress up all fancy to impress but instead bring our folding chairs to face one another, pass sticky marshmallow bags, graham crackers, and hot cocoa or coffee. We want this to be a place of relaxed faces aglow in warmth and see each other with an equal footing with Jesus.
This is a team of artisans: wordsmiths, musicians, poets, visual artists, who collectively bring us together for a Sunday post that is quietly delivered to those who are displaced from church community, feel lost in their own, or for anybody who needs a circle of faith builders in their lives with a community of dreamers. Join us?
Become part of the circle.
::photo credit- candle and table set, Artisan Contributor (below), Cindee Snider Re::
Circle Group Coordinators
Tammy Hendricksmeyer, Sunday Circle Group Founder & Content Editor, is a dreamer who imagines cutting through the competition and jockeying of social media to make beauty from our individual gifts and talents by bringing them full circle. She’s a renaissance woman who’s scattered pigeons at Notre Dame, swam the coral reefs of Okinawa, scaled fortresses in Nuremburg, and viewed the Eiffel Tower safely from the ground, but now lives on a farm where she occasionally drives an old John Deere tractor in tim-buck-two. She’s the Founder and Curator for Outside The City Gates where she’s also a Co-Conspirator with a team of other writers. Her faith journey is found on her personal blog, or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
Beth Stiff is the scheduling coordinator, who is known as Simply Beth or in the least that’s her blog name: Simply Beth. A wife to her Army Reserve husband and a mom of two boys, with her oldest son serving in the Navy, and a mother-in-law too. She a Jesus lover, a family gal who loves her friends, and reading with a hot cup of coffee. Her life is changed, even after 20 years of marriage with a love that grows stronger. But the bottom line, is in the heart. Beth loves the heart things and to speak about the Love that changed her and keeps changing her. She’s the backbone at Outside the City Gate with her superpowers as the Admin Guru. But you can also find her here, blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, and posting pictures to the Pinterest world.
Beth Hess, our newsletter coordinator, is on a mission to know God and live in the fullness of His best. And through an authentic, courageous life, she longs to spur others to embrace their own awesomeness. Even though she is in her 40 years, she’s found the definition of who she is, has changed. Having to discover who is Beth, she found things like: Student. Friend. Daughter. Sister. Writer. Roommate. Journalist. Wife. Mom. Real Estate Agent. Life Coach. Then not a Life Coach. Beauty Hunter. God Spotter. Grace Giver. Story Teller. Key Dropper. Authentic is a word she’s chewed on for several years now. Being Real. Being Me. No faking it. No pretending. Just Being Beth. Whatever that might means. She is just Beth through an Authentic, Wholehearted life. And she wants you to believe YOU were created to be JUST YOU. She invites you to join her on her Blog-Trading Good for Grace, Twitter, or Facebook.
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Artisans
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Photographers & Graphic Artists
Jennifer Upton is an excavator of the sacred, exploring the world with an open and listening heart, diving deep into the jungled areas of life to uncover the stories hidden there. She photographs as an act of faith and carries within her the spirit of a gypsy taking herself on local adventures as a training ground for her dream of traveling the world. She has learned if she can’t see and engage the world surrounded by her own zip code, she will never know how to see and engage outside of it. Her heart is to guide others into seeing beauty in the commonplaces of their lives. One of her life quotes is, “There are whispers asking us to pay attention, to hear, to receive, to see in a way that demands response. Whispers calling out from the common spaces in our lives.” To find more of her sacred beauty, catch a glimpse of it on her Website, Instagram, or Etsy site.
Cindee Snider Re is a freelance photographer whose work has been a go-to for bloggers, writers, and online communities like The High Calling. She also was the photographer who contributed storytelling photos for Outside the City Gate’s ebook, Pieces of Faith. She’s a wife to an amazing husband, mom of five great kids (22-13), caretaker of two rescued cats and two Shichon pups, a reader who delights in deep, inspiring words, and a photographer whose heart seeks the wonder sewn into each moment, every heartbeat, every breath of creation. Her photography inspires each of us to be brave and aspire to the creative energy within us at her Blog-Breathe Deeply, Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Colleen Mitchell is wife to Greg and mother to five sons here on earth. She also has five precious children awaiting her in heaven: her sixth son, Bryce, who flew home to heaven in his sleep on September 1, 2009, and four little ones lost to miscarriage. In 2011, she and her husband founded St .Bryce Missions in honor of their son Bryce and now run the St. Francis Emmaus Center providing access to medical care, support and education to indigenous mothers in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Colleen works out what it means to dare to live a spacious intimacy with the Father and the love mercy, act justly and walk humbly with God at Blessed Are the Feet . Colleen invites you to adventure deep into Love with her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
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Speakers or Audiographers
Jen Sanbulte is described as genuine who’s approach reflects snippets of a working mama sharing Jesus in the real world. She’s passionate about teaching Jesus lovers how to be real; at work, and home, and at church and infusing real prayer techniques for our everyday life. Jen and her husband Tom have the joy of parenting 3 young kids and 2 adult children, and chasing Jesus in the process. Come along and join the real journey at her Blog , Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Dena Dyer loves speaking to women’s groups—it’s about the only “girl time” she gets! She’s been professionally trained by CLASS (Christian Leaders, Authors and Speakers Services) and has spoken to audiences of all sizes for over fifteen years. Her favorite job as mom is writing and teaching English and creative writing classes to K-12 homeschool students. Dena’s publishing credits (and favorite speaking topics) include the books Wounded Women of the Bible: Finding Help When Life Hurts, Let the Crows’ Feet and Laugh Lines Come, Mothers of the Bible, and Grace for the Race: Meditations for Busy Moms. Her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Woman’s World, Home Life and many other magazines, and her tips have been published in Working Mother, Thriving Family, Redbook, Family Circle, Parenting, Nick Jr. and Scholastic Parent. She currently serves as contributing editor with The High Calling.
Diane Bailey is a Life Coach and co-founder of The Consilium, a group for women finding purpose in their second phase of life. She is the author of String of Pearls and 30 Days To A Better Stepfamily . She lives in the Deep South with her husband and enjoys overindulging their three grandchildren. As a stepfamily they have successfully raised four children to adulthood, though she admits there were times the definition of “success” needed to be redefined. Her favorite things are fried okra, gumbo, and any day at the beach with family. Join her at The Consilium, her Blog, Facebook, or Twitter.
Jolene Underwood is a window washer worshipper seeking to live for Him with faith eyes. Though a number of trials she has been challenged to step forward with confidence in the faith she professed to have. God’s grace & mercies continually draw her into a life freed from fear & failure. She invites you to journey with her in this place where struggles are real and faith meets the Father at her blog under name, Jolene Underwood. Connect on, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Meredith Bernard is a perfectly imperfect Daughter of the King, wife to her Cattle Man and “Mama” to two cowpokes ages 3 and 6. After running from God and past sins for two decades too long, she was rescued, redeemed and baptized while 9 months pregnant with her son. (That was interesting.) After giving up her “stay-on-the-road” job for her “stay-on-the-farm” dream, she now uses the passion God has given her to encourage others through her Lens and her Pen. She tries not to take herself or anyone else too seriously and enjoys time on the farm playing with her kids and in her kitchen cooking (but mostly she enjoys eating. a lot.) Meredith would love for you to follow along with her kitchen mishaps and days raking hay and chasing God-sized dreams on her Photography and Writing blog , Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
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Musicians
Dana Butler is a writer, songwriter, and worship leader, who relishes being married to her husband of 7 years, Stan. Both musicians and people-loving introverts, Stan and Dana live in Littleton, CO. Dana frolics full time with their 2 littles (one biological, one adopted), and carves out moments in the margins of her days to craft authentic sentences and songs. On her blog, you can find her pressing in to respond to God’s tenderness in the midst of the mundane, the messy, and the questions without answers. She also invites you to connect with her on Facebook. Website, Instagram, and Twitter.
Along with guests and videos.
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Poets
Elizabeth Marshall is an introverted extrovert, a curious noticer who lives by the sea in a small Southern shrimping village. She and her husband recently bought and are lovingly renovating a historic house built in 1904. Because of Elizabeth’s love for all things french and as a hat tip to her gratitude for her new old home, she calls her home Mersea. Visit her at her writing home, Elizabeth W. Marshall, wynnegraceappears dot com where she sees the world through a lens of grace. She is honored to have had her work appear at Tweetspeak Poetry where she is a Guest Writer and Social Media Associate. Her poetry has appeared at Burnside Writers’ Collective and elsewhere. Married for 26 years, she is the momma of three growing up children. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.
Karin Fendick is a handmaiden of the Lord, saved by His grace, a worshipper, a poet, a broken heart, a lover of words, hungry for truth, amazed by love, on the Potter’s wheel, His work in progress. She is a sold out disciple of Jesus Christ learning more each day what it means to abide in Him desiring to walk in radical obedience to His voice praying that her life brings glory to The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Karin and her husband Rick are learning and serving in Malawi living and loving for His glory. You can watch their adventures unfold on her Blog- His Firefly, Facebook, or Twitter.
Tammy Hendricksmeyer, Sunday Circle Group Founder, is a dreamer who imagines cutting through the competition and jockeying of social media to make beauty from our individual gifts and talents by bringing them full circle. She has discovered writing is the rawest, scariest, frustratingly glorious, rewarding, and essential way to process life. She’s a renaissance woman who’s scattered pigeons at Notre Dame, swam the coral reefs of Okinawa, scaled fortresses in Nuremburg, and viewed the Eiffel Tower safely from the ground, but now lives on a farm where she occasionally drives an old John Deere tractor in tim-buck-two. She’s the Founder and Curator for Outside The City Gates where she’s also a Co-Conspirator with a team of other writers. Her faith journey is found on her personal blog, or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
Joy is a grace-dweller who weaves words out of the fabric of her days, penning poetry and prose in her PJs as she seeks the poetic in the prosaic and the eternal in the temporal. As an M.E and chronic illness sufferer (who is also recovering from a painful past), she writes with a heart for the hurting and to support and encourage others who are struggling with life and faith issues. You can connect with her at her blogs, ‘Words of Joy’ or ‘Poetry Joy’.
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Visual Canvas Artists
Anna K. Pasquale is a self-taught artist who delights in connecting with God and others through creativity. She writes about faith, family, and art at Anna K. Originals and is the coordinator of the Made 2014 eCourse where Creatives around the world are exploring their faith through God-centered creativity. When she isn’t immersed in artsy pursuits, she is laughing with her Hubby, chasing after their two boys, and blatantly ignoring the laundry pile. You don’t to miss her creative impulses as you find her at Anna K Originals, or Shop her designs, or talk with her on Instagram or Facebook.
Christine Hiester wears the hats of classical musician, writer, and artist in the midst of a fulfilling and busy life with her family. Her main pastimes are loving on her husband and four children, homeschooling, creating, and engaging with women about the depth and height and breadth of God’s love. On her journey of faith she has experienced both the profound joy and deep pain of living in community, and after a crisis of faith and five years struggling with depression and anxiety, she found again the truth, companionship, and power of the Holy Spirit through artistic exploration. Christine leads Spiritual Art Journaling classes and retreats locally, and recently taught in the Made 2014 ecourse. Most importantly, the question Christine wants to guide her life, her words, and her art is this: How can I further open myself up to the grace of Jesus so that I live and love through Him alone? You can find her wrestling out the ever-changing answer to this question, through words and art, on her blog and her favorite social media space, Instagram, Bare Branch Blooming, Twitter, or Facebook.
Anna Meade is an idealist turned cynic turned hopeful. She is learning to thrive amid the perpetual in-betweens. A seasoned listener and observer, she found her voice through art journaling and painting. Anna is the founder of Healing He[art]s, a social entrepreneurship with the goal of bringing creative practice to the hurting and struggling. She firmly believes that Jesus set the example for us to speak in stories, and encourages others to share their own narratives in whatever manner fits their design. Anna was born into organic fellowship, and continues to embrace that [non] tradition in her present days. She prefers the company of the messes and the questions to the fellowship of the neat and tidy. She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband and son. Her life dreams are to break boundaries, build bridges and roam free. Website, or Shop her designs, or socialize on Facebook or Instagram.
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Wordsmiths
Krista Burdine works as a freelance writer, including as a regular contributor for World Religion News. After a decade of church ministry across three states and three years of homeschooling children, she has more recently been revisiting the foundations of a conventional faith and rebuilding it a brick at a time through intention, exploration, and trembling. Along the way she has discovered a passion for examining social justice issues through the eyes of Jesus. Krista and her family enjoy horses, chickens and a handful of cats on a wooded Texas acreage they call Hopewell Ranch. Krista blogs casually about life on the ranch at Free Range Chronicles and Facebook. Even though she avoids Twitter, you can call her out on it. She also maintains a few other corners around the web, but they are not quite ready for visitors.
Meredith Bernard is a perfectly imperfect Daughter of the King, wife to her Cattle Man and “Mama” to two cowpokes ages 3 and 6. After running from God and past sins for two decades too long, she was rescued, redeemed and baptized while 9 months pregnant with her son. (That was interesting.) After giving up her “stay-on-the-road” job for her “stay-on-the-farm” dream, she now uses the passion God has given her to encourage others through her Lens and her Pen. She tries not to take herself or anyone else too seriously and enjoys time on the farm playing with her kids and in her kitchen cooking (but mostly she enjoys eating. a lot.) Meredith would love for you to follow along with her kitchen mishaps and days raking hay and chasing God-sized dreams on her Photography and Writing blog , Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Jessica Boylard is a writer and speaker with a passion for connecting the hearts of women with the heart of the God who adores them. Through her own relationship with the Lord, she has come to appreciate the subtle ways He lovingly draws us into intimacy with Himself in the most otherwise ordinary moments of life. Jessica lives with her husband and daughter in Georgia, and on the ideal Saturday afternoon, she can be found curled up with a blanket, an iced coffee, a good book, and her ferociously purring cat website. She’s also on Facebook and Twitter.
Jolene Underwood is a window washer worshipper seeking to live for Him with faith eyes. Though a number of trials she has been challenged to step forward with confidence in the faith she professed to have. God’s grace & mercies continually draw her into a life freed from fear & failure. She invites you to journey with her in this place where struggles are real and faith meets the Father at her blog under name, Jolene Underwood. Connect on, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Osheta Moore is an Anabaptist, stay-at-home mom right in the thick of moving her family from Boston to Los Angeles . She’s passionate about racial reconciliation, peacemaking, and community development in the urban core. At the top of her bucket list is to dance in a flash mob—all the better if it’s to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” or Pharrell’s “Happy.” Catch up with Osheta on her blog, Shalom in the City.
Ashley Tolins Larkin is a story collector, easy laugher and deep relater, wife to Michael and mother to three daughters (ages 13, 9 and 6). She longs to be a place of welcome and seeks hard after the hope and beauty found in broken things. For the past several years, Ashley has written at ashleymlarkin.com about drawing near to God and the messy glory of everyday moments, including her walk through motherhood, anxiety, depression and learning to trust in Jesus’ love. Her words have been featured nationally in MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) magazine and can be found sprinkled across the internet. Ashley recently has embraced God’s call to speak to groups of women, as well, and delights in sharing face to face about our beloved-ness and completeness in Christ. She mentors, leads others through healing ministry and serves at her daughters’ school and in their Portland, Oregon community. She is passionate about justice, nature, living wonder-struck, the wisdom and creativity of children and sisterhood. Connect with her on her blog here or on Twitter here.
Dawn Boyer gets a chance to speak, every now and then, in to the hearts of others, either through the written word or in person, and share this love of grace He has put in her heart. She is a homeschooling Mama and bee-haver, as opposed to a bee-keeper, because she believes that God made them to do exactly what they are meant to do all w/o her help as she watches them work a few hives. She wrestles with the hard questions, reasons and rejoices in God’s grace and mercy, and prays in heart and in tandem with her community as they move forward on a journey to grace. Her desire is to be transparent enough that you can see straight through her words right to the One whose Word has altered her life for eternity. You can find her on Journey’s in Grace.
Maria Davidson lives, writes, and loves in the northern heart of Texas. She is all about writing, pondering, creating, dreaming, walking, and lie-smashing through the rockity-bumpity journey of life. She is drawn to encouraging, supporting, and equipping others. Marvia’s mission is to live an authentic life through Christ. She enjoys sharing words that inspire and draw others to deeper relationship and connection with God. You can find her sipping tea, drinking coffee, splattered with sugary flour dust while baking with family, laughing, snorting loudly, or dancing ridiculously just because. Join her on at marviadavidson.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Serena Woods (bio coming soon)
Videographers
There’s room to grow here.
outside the city gate 
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