Meet our Design Team
Design Lead
Joey Ager (he, him) is a Scottish transplant to the Pacific Northwest via Washington, DC and San Diego. He has extensive experience in accompanying leaders of all kinds to work collaboratively for peace through his work as a faith-rooted community organizer. Joey studied Theology at Oxford University, was trained as an organizer with Spanish-speaking Catholic communities in San Diego, and now works as Bishop’s Associate with the Southwestern Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Joey writes about the relationship between faith and social change. He lives in Tacoma with his wife, Emily and their two boys.
Sojourners | Research + Academia | Book | Street Psalms | Southwest Washington Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA)
Ecumenical Community Organizer
Vicar Anna Czarnik-Neimeyer (she,her) came to love the Church by way of outdoor ministry in her home state of Wisconsin. Daughter of a camp director, Anna grew up living and working at camps for 22 years before becoming the national programs coordinator at Holden Village, until 2013. Anna holds a B.A. in Communications and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies synthesizing religion and social justice. Her first career was in higher education, helping to found an academic diversity center at a Catholic college. She is the founder of Bridgebuilder Consulting, for DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging), and has published with Sojourners, Religion News Service, Teaching Tolerance, Ms. Magazine, and Parker Palmer’s Center for Courage & Renewal. Anna is in her final year at Luther Seminary, in formation towards ordination as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Anna is a proud member of Proclaim, a collective of over 400 LGBTQ+ Lutheran ministers & seminarians, through Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries | Holden Audio Archive |
Accompaniment Lead
The Rev. Shalom Agtarap (she, her) is Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Tacoma. Her roots are in the church but they are watered by many streams as she intentionally cultivates connection across racial and ethnic lines, religious traditions, and socioeconomic backgrounds for the common good. She is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC and her formation as a follower of Christ was shaped by the Upper Room’s Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation. Shalom has offered pastoral leadership to several churches in both central and western Washington and enjoys facilitating retreats. Shalom intentionally partners with community healers and peace/place-makers to transform the church building into a community-responsive space. She assembled neighbors and church members to form Common Good Tacoma in 2023.
Common Good Tacoma | First United Methodist Church, Tacoma | Pacific Northwest Conference, United Methodist Church
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Communications Lead
Zoe Forbes (she, her) has proudly called the South Sound home since she was eight, with Tacoma as her current home base. Zoe earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Social Work in 2021.
With three years of experience working in adult and elementary education, Zoe is passionate about creative pedagogy that meets people where they are. Her work also extends to supporting unhoused neighbors in Pierce County and collaborating with faith leaders to increase funding for affordable housing in the region. Zoe is particularly interested in people’s relationships with the places and communities they call home. These days, she finds home among people of all faiths who are committed to facing the world’s pressures head-on.​​
Meet our Advisory Team
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Grace Duddy Pomroy
​Grace Duddy Pomroy is the Director of the Stewardship Leaders Program at Luther Seminary. She’s a lay, millennial stewardship leader, speaker, and financial educator based in Allyn, WA. She is the co-author of the stewardship book, Embracing Stewardship: How to Put Stewardship at the Heart of Your Congregation’s Life, as well as author of the free 2013 ELCA stewardship resource, “Stewards of God’s Love.” Her latest book, Funding Forward: A Pathway to More Sustainable Models for Ministry, was released September 2024. Grace is also a consultant with Relèven, a charitable organization that lovingly preserves, restores, and repurposes under-utilized churches into community hubs and affordable housing.
Sarah Augustine
Sarah Augustine is the Executive Director of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of
Discovery, a national coalition with global reach. From 2017-2022, she directed a Dispute
Resolution Center in Central Washington. She has served on the faculty at Heritage
University, Central Washington University and Yakima Valley College, and has served as
Adjunct faculty at Goshen College.
Sarah received a BA in Sociology and Psychology (1996) and an MA in Whole Systems
Design with an emphasis in group conflict transformation (2006). She has represented the
interests of Indigenous community partners to their own governments, the Inter-American
development bank, the United Nations, the Organization of American States Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights, The World Council of Churches, the World Health
Organization, and a host of other international actors including corporate interests.
Sarah lives with her daughter in Tacoma, Washington.
Juan Carlos La Puente Tapia ThM, M.Soc.Sci, MBA.
Originally from Perú, Juan Carlos works with individuals, groups, and organizations internationally to enable their actions in favor of justice and peace, and to discern the wisdom that makes it possible to sustain hope. He focuses on cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary leadership development through contemplative, discerning, and dialogical practices in the form of mutual accompaniment. He has over 30 years of experience in inter-religious environments, consulting, advocacy, and senior leadership positions in international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Peace Brigades International, and Oxfam Great Britain. He holds a Master’s in Theology, Social Science, and a Master’s in Business Administration.
Ben Robinson
Ben Robinson (he/him) works in Philanthropy for Medical Teams International, a global humanitarian aid organization serving refugees and displaced people. Prior to full-time development work, Ben was the pastor of a progressive faith community in Pierce County that used its historic building as a community center for more than 20 organizations.
Ben has worked with a variety of Lilly Foundation-funded programs, and his work to restore a historic church to better serve the community was featured in Lilly’s 2018 Annual Report. He brings expertise in fundraising, nonprofit leadership, congregational ministry, and the creative stewardship of church property.
In addition to his work with Design for Peace, Ben serves on the board of Marginalised Refugee Empowerment Programme Africa and coaches congregations exploring how to use their buildings to meet community needs.
Peter Hasegawa​
(coming soon)
Pastor Lina Thompson
(coming soon)