About
A pastor who still keeps a Sunday
Elena Marsh has pastored for nineteen years and coached leaders for nine. She still preaches most Sundays at her home church, and she spends the rest of the week with the pastors, founders and boards who book time with her. She does not sell a system. She asks good questions, tells the truth and stays until the plan is done.
Elena Marsh grew up in a church of sixty people where her father kept the books and her mother ran the kitchen. She learned early that leadership is mostly showing up, and that the people who show up get tired.
She served as a youth pastor, then an executive pastor, then the lead pastor of a church that had just lost its founder. Those nine years taught her more about teams, boards and grief than any classroom did. She finished a doctorate in organizational leadership while leading that church, and the research became the backbone of the cohort she now runs twice a year.
In 2017 a younger pastor asked if they could meet once a month to talk through his first year. That one conversation became a practice. Today Elena coaches a small number of leaders at a time, leads two cohorts a year and spends a handful of weekends on site with executive teams and elder boards.
She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two teenagers and a garden she describes as a work in progress. She still preaches most Sundays at Ridgeway Community Church, and she keeps Fridays empty on purpose.
A leader does not need more answers. A leader needs one honest question, asked at the right time.
Home church
Ridgeway Community Church
415 Orchard Street, Atlanta, GA 30312
Sundays 9:00 AM · 10:45 AM
Elena serves as a teaching pastor at Ridgeway and preaches most Sundays. If you are in town, come and say hello after the service.
Free guide
Seven questions before your next big decision
A short field guide I give every new client. Print it, answer it slowly, and bring it to our first call.
One short letter a month after that. Unsubscribe any time.