Melissa Ashmore is here to help. She completed her MDiv from a distance of over 1,700 miles from her degree granting institution, Andover Newton Seminary. Along the way, she was able to interact in online classrooms from 5 different theological schools. Melissa is the lead pastor at First Community UCC Dallas. She maintains ordained standing in the North Texas Association of the UCC where she serves in leadership role. Prior to ministry, her industry was healthcare administration where she worked primarily on the technology side in clinical research, quality, reporting and data warehousing. She has experience in cooperative elementary and secondary secular education as well as Christian faith formation. She is passionate about interfaith and environmental advocacy. She is known in her community as Running Reverend from serving the running and cycling community while training for the Chicago and Boston marathons. She and her wife Lora have two children that require a completely different type of running.