The Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola (Appointed Conference Minister) is the Conference Minister of the Maine Conference. She previously served as ACM in Penn Central. Marisa has a passion for helping small churches discover and celebrate their vital role in God’s 21st century. While a pastor in Vermont, she helped two congregations come together as one – a United Methodist congregation and a United Church of Christ congregation. She enabled them to discover their shared ministry of mission to their community and eventually join together as one congregation, where they have become a focal point of mission to their community. Also in Vermont, she served as a speaker for church vitality, and as a vitality coach for churches who wish to grow their ministry.
Marisa holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Music History from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky, and a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. She taught music at the college level in the 1980’s before transitioning to a career in clinical psychology. Prior to her ordination to ministry in 2009, she was a licensed psychologist in clinical practice for over 20 years. She is published in the areas of recovery from the sequelae of childhood abuse and neglect, and also on the topic of small church vitality. She and her spouse Carol live in Augusta. They have two grown children.