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Church Well Co exists to create spaces of brave relationship for churches, pastors, and leaders to cultivate people and cultures of bravery. We do this in four primary ways:
Pastoral Care Groups (also called SLOW Communities). These are groups of 6-8 shared-space leaders who meet monthly on a virtual platform to form relationship, provide support for one another, and engage together with the 4 core practices of Church Well Co: Survey, Lament, Own, and Welcome. Find a group for yourself here.
Training and Coaching. Church Well Co provides workshops, multi-day trainings, and staff retreats to help churches and teams develop shared language and practices within the context of local relationship and community to deepen relationship, shape relational culture, and develop communal safety. Virtual and in-person training opportunities are available.
Church Well Co also offers individual support in the form of coaching and consultation for leaders to identify and overcome obstacles to relational connection in leadership and community. Learn more here.
The Deeper Well. This is our soul care center for individuals. Our trained practitioners are available to provide Spiritual Direction and Therapeutic Pastoral Guidance for those in need of a confidential space and companion to heal from pain, develop attentiveness to the move of God in their lives, and find the keys to unlock the doors in front of them. Explore the Deeper Well here.
Church Well Collective. Church Well Co is committed to creating space of brave relationship for pastors and church leaders. To this end, Church Well Co invests in the development and formation of community for helping professionals who share this heart. The CWCollective is a community of likeminded helping professionals (counselors, spiritual directors, coaches, etc.) who have pastoral backgrounds and are committed to using their gifts and skills to serve the Church. The members of the CWCollective also serve as Guides for the SLOW Groups that Church Well Co facilitates.
Join the CWCollective here.
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There are three specific groups toward which support is offered through Church Well Co:
Ministry leaders. The wellbeing and sustainability of ministry matters. A great deal.
All those who contribute to care for the Church face challenges, weariness, and isolation and are deserving of space held specifically for them. Ministry experiences all too often lead to additional life tensions, mental health challenges, and burnout. Sustainability and wellbeing do not always come easily. Sometimes it necessitates individual support and at other times benefits for a caring community. Because of this Church Well Co provides both individual care (coaching) and supportive community (Pastoral Care/SLOW Groups).
Church Well Co serves:
ministers at all levels (lead, assistant, NextGen, worship, etc.)
ministers in all contexts (missionaries, chaplains, Christian helping professionals, etc.).
Leadership teams and congregations. By providing both topic-specific workshops as well as team intensives, Church Well Co works to deepen connection and bring insight enhance the cultural and communal wellbeing of churches and leadership teams.
Professionals who serve pastors and churches (therapists, coaches, spiritual directors, pastoral counselors, etc.). Church Well Co provides relational and learning spaces to foster community and strengthen capacity for Christian clinicians across the helping disciplines working to bring healing and wholeness in the Church.
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Church Well Co is simply that. A company seeking wellness for the church. The work of truly becoming well individually and collectively is complicated enough. No need for a complicated name.
Our Team
Nicholas Feyma
Guide, Spiritual Director, Pastor
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Nicholas Feyma is a licensed pastor and spiritual director. He lives in San Luis Obispo California where he co-pastors a church with his wife. They call it High Street Church SLO. He has pastored churches in Washington and California.
Through years of transition and disappointment Nicholas came to a place where common spiritual practices were not as helpful as they once were. He needed more and was led to Spiritual Direction. The experience of receiving spiritual direction was wonderful and refreshing.
Nicholas describes his education as always in process. He has a bachelor's degree from Biola University, many seminary courses, a two year certificate in Spiritual Direction from Sustainable Faith and an additional one year certificate in Ignatian Spirituality.
Lindsay Garrison
Guide, Therapist (LMFT), Pastor
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Lindsay Garrison is an ordained pastor and licensed marriage and family therapist.
She co-leads Springs of Life Church in Cedar Rapids, IA where she serves in areas of pastoral counseling and leader care.
Lindsay co-founded, Odyssey Haven Coaching and Counseling, with the vision of offering refuge, support, and healing space to ministry leaders and their families.
Lindsay provides therapy services in a private practice setting and telehealth services in Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Information on her therapy work can be found at withouthatingit.com.
Craig Hinca
Guide, Spiritual Director, Pastor
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Craig is a curator of space and relationship—that is what drew him to serve in the local church to provide space for others to gather and find relationship with Jesus and each other. He has over 25 years serving as a pastor and was able to do so in a full-time capacity.
His role as executive pastor allowed him to lead several departments and work with multiple leaders and process through countless transitions. He is ordained pastor and spiritual director (upon upcoming certification) whose focus to come alongside leaders, churches and organizations currently as a consultant.
Craig’s heart is to provide safe spaces for all leaders, but he holds a particular care for the leaders who are experiencing transitions, whether that is between roles or at the conclusion of a season of ministry and leadership.
James Knight
Director of The Deeper Well, Pastoral Counselor, Pastor
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James Knight is an ordained pastor and a trained spiritual director. In both spaces, James seeks to be present with people in ways that fosters growing attentiveness and responsiveness to Jesus.
It was during a difficult season of unanticipated transition and confusion that James heard the Spirit say, “I did not call you to the tasks of ministry, I called to you myself!” While the roles in James’ life did not change, that invitation caused a deep heart shift in James as he began the journey of living into his identity as the Beloved of God. It is a life that desires to be lived out of God’s love, not one of striving for it. The gift of receiving spiritual direction has been a central component of this journey. It is a gift that James now delights in offering to others, especially fellow ministry leaders.
James holds a bachelor’s from Northpoint Bible College, an M.Div. from Ashland Theological Seminary, and a two-year certificate in Spiritual Direction from The PAX Center for Spiritual Formation. He lives in Millbury, MA and co-pastors a church with his wife in the nearby town of Uxbridge. Together with their two boys they love hiking, traveling all over New England (and beyond) and connecting with their friends, family, and community.
Lisa Machen
Organizational Administrator, Guide, Pastoral Counselor, Pastor
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Lisa Machen is an ordained pastor and Certified Pastoral Counselor.
She has served in a variety of ministry rolls for the past 27 years, one of those as the Director of Inside Out Christian Counseling Clinton. Currently, Lisa co leads a church in Iowa with her husband, Jim.
Lisa is a passionate encourager of Women in Ministry and loves supporting them in their journey to emotional health and spiritual maturity as they navigate the highs and lows of ministry.
BrianJames McMahon
Founder of Church Well Co, Therapist (LMFT), Pastor
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BrianJames McMahon is a pastor, licensed marriage and family therapist, consultant, and coach.
He is the founder of Church Well Co providing coaching, consulting, and trainings for pastors, leaders, and organizations to develop cultures and environments that are emotionally and relationally safe(r) for their people.
BrianJames owns and operates a private practice, BrianJames Therapy, working with pastors, therapists, and entrepreneurs to find healing from pain, overcome barriers to connection, unlock potential, and grow into who they are becoming. Learn more about his therapy work at www.brianjamestherapy.com.
Michelle McMahon
Guide, Counselor (PLPC), Pastor
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Michelle is an ordained pastor and provisionally licensed professional counselor. In the past 15 years of pastoral ministry she has served as a youth pastor, senior pastor, and church planter.
She works as a counselor in Kansas City to come alongside women and men to find and walk in freedom. Learn more about her work as a counselor here.
Stephanie Moore
Guide, Social Worker (LCSW), Pastor
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Stephanie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and ordained minister who operates a counseling practice in Cary NC. Her life statement is "I am an advocate for connection that brings hope and healing," and she strives to provide safe spaces for people to connect deeply with themselves, other people, and their faith.
Stephanie's commitment to working with church leaders, fellow therapists, chaplains, and other first responders is a result of several professional experiences that allowed her to see both the joy and weight of ministry within, and outside of, the local church outside of the local church. She has completed an internship with a crisis response team partnering with law enforcement; worked as an advocate for residents in a large prison; and loved her two years as a chaplain (CPE) at a large trauma center and local womens' shelter. Stephanie recognizes the need for a confidential arena in which to share these experiences and their impact on the self, family and ministry.
On a personal note, Stephanie has been married to Bill for 30 years and they have two young adult daughters. In her free time, she loves to read, watch college basketball, try new restaurants and spend time with friends.
Cammie Wilson
Guide, Spiritual Director, Pastor
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Cammie Wilson is an ordained pastor and pastor’s wife, as well as a certified and trained spiritual director, spiritual formation coach, and enneagram coach. She is the founder and operator of Cammie Wilson Coaching and Spiritual Direction, in North Carolina, where she has the privilege of living out her deep love and appreciation of partnering with others on their own unique journey to live an authentic and purposeful life of greater emotional and spiritual health, wholeness, and joy.
The greatest call on Cammie’s life is that of being a beloved child of God, wife, mother, “Lola”, and friend. She has been married and serving with her husband, Stan for 39+ years. A former “relationship avoider,” she now loves to listen, learn, encourage, and participate in great conversations, as she believes true connection is truly being in God’s presence. Her website is: www.cammiewilson.com.
Church Well Co Advisory Board
Noah Lau-Branson, PsyD
Founder of Mixed Roots Therapy
Lindsay Garrison, LMFT
CWCollective Representitive
Craig Hinca, Spiritual Director
CWCollective Representative
Paul Kuzma
Director of Center for Spiritual Renewal East
Tracy Matthews
Founder of Attune
Justin Washington, EdS
Founder of JLWashington Consulting
From the Founder
Hi! I am the founder of Church Well Co and dream of a Church that is brave, that can enter into pain and suffering in a way that embodies the incarnation of Jesus. And I dream of communities led by leaders who are thriving. In recognition of the great need pastors and church leaders have for relationships and spaces to in which form friendship and process the challenges of ministry, I founded Church Well Co to provide support beyond the therapy context. Through Church Well Co, my team and I are able to provide supportive communities, trainings, and individual coaching for pastors, leaders, and organizations and provide trainings for churches looking to cultivate cultures of bravery.
In the work that I do I provide space and support for leaders to find healing from pain, overcome barriers to connection, unlock potential, and grow into who they are becoming. In doing so I invest in and develop relationships, homes, organizational cultures, and environments that are emotional and relational safe(r) for people.
Over the years this work has taken me in many directions and has taken on on many different forms. After time spent living in New York, China, Seattle, and Los Angeles, I am happy to call Kansas City home for myself and my family. Through the years I have pastored, church planted, developed a counseling center to launch other therapists into private practice, and provided care in a variety of capacities to individuals, families, and organizations. As a licensed marriage and family therapist I currently own and operate a private practice, BrianJames Therapy where I work specifically with pastors, therapists, and organizational leaders.
Educationally I have earned degrees from Seattle Pacific University (BA Holistic Education) and Fuller Theological Seminary (MS Marriage and Family Therapy).
It continues to be an honor for work with pastors, leaders, and our team of Guides to hold story, build community, develop safe(r) spaces, and come alongside others rediscovering, fighting for, and pursuing their longing for wholeness and community.
- BrianJames McMahon
