Dave and Tara’s Bios

I coauthored Redeeming Church Conflicts with my friend and elder, David V. Edling. We met while serving as Certified Christian Conciliators with The Institute for Christian Conciliation. Dave is officially retired from serving as a Christian mediator, but I still accept occasional Christian conciliation cases as an independent contractor.

David V. Edling

Dave Edling is an experienced Christian conciliator who has worked with many conflicted churches. During his decade of service as a Certified Christian Conciliator with the Institute for Christian Conciliation, Dave participated in over 200 mediation and arbitration cases and worked with nearly twenty thousand Christians engaged in conflicts affecting churches of almost every denomination.

Dave holds several graduate degrees in addition to his Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University. They are: Master of Arts in Human Behavior, United States International University (now Alliant International University); Juris Doctor, California Western School of Law; Master of Arts in Religion, Westminster Seminary California; and Master of Arts in Biblical Conflict Resolution, Birmingham Theological Seminary. Dave has served as a trustee on the Board of Directors for Covenant College and Westminster Seminary California and has taught in the Doctor of Ministry programs for Reformed Theological Seminary, Mid-Western Baptist Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. In addition, Dave has been a lecturer in practical theology for several other Christian colleges and seminaries.

Dave has been married for over forty years to his wife Pat and they have two adult children and six grandchildren. They live near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Dave continues to minister in the private practice of Christian conciliation by writing and serving through his church-based ministries.

Tara Klena Barthel

As a Christian mediator and attorney for nearly twenty-five years, I have focused my practice primarily in the area of high net worth (charitable) estate planning and Christian ADR. I have also had the privilege of teaching the Bible internationally for over two decades; I have published two books (Peacemaking Women—Biblical Hope for Resolving Conflict and Redeeming Church Conflicts); two video series (Living the Gospel in Relationships and the ASL-translated video series Becoming Who You Already Are); and I teach Philosophy of Theology and Epistemology (with an emphasis on Worldview and Apologetics) to local high school students.

I am a sexual assault survivor (2014), which brought up all sorts of retraumatizing memories from my 9/10 on the ACES scale childhood. (ACES = Adverse Childhood Experiences)

Happily, I am married these 25 years to the finest man I have ever known and I enjoy greatly being a homemaker to our little family—but I still can’t cook. Please visit me on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/tarabarthel/