About Andrea.
My name is Andrea Coli (yes, I know it's spelled like e-coli, but it's pronounced "coley") OK...now that we got that straight...here's a little about me.
I've always loved being up in front of people, and once I learned that God gifts us in the ways that He wants to use us, I knew that He would use me through speaking and teaching.
Along the way two things happened ~ one that grounded me, and one that taught me the sky's the limit.
The one that grounded me with a solid Biblical foundation was my seminary experience at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. There I felt affirmed in my call to ministry, I grew in my faith and understanding of scripture, and I met my husband Chris.
The one that stretched my limits and taught me that the unthinkable is possible, is the opportunity I had to be an Improviser on the Las Vegas Strip with The Second City. You may wonder what improvisation has to do with ministry, but you'll have to read my first book Scriptless to find out more about that. Let's just say that God has a great sense of humor and I try to follow suit.
With those two "learnings" in my bag I was ready to say Yes to God's next invitation and that's when Lead Bold was born! Through Lead Bold—a leadership community for women in ministry—I've gotten to live into my passion to equip and empower women in ministry.
Most recently I've written Embrace the Undoing: The Freedom of Grace Enough. It's a theological, interactive, conversational, reflective journey through Galatians with the goal to empower each of us to let go of compulsive spiritual performance and live into a deeper experience of God's unstoppable grace.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area ~ specifically in the East Bay in Livermore. Chris and I have 2 daughters, Quinn and Kennedy. CrossWinds Church is our church home where I serve as the Teaching Pastor.
Like many of you reading this right now, I wear a lot of hats in my day to day life. But one of the things I love the most is getting to speak God's truth into people's lives. I am continually grateful for every opportunity that comes my way.
Professional Bio:
Andrea Coli is a pastor, speaker and author who has been in ministry for over 25 years. She is passionate about affirming and activating female ministry leaders and is a founder and the Executive Director of Lead Bold, a leadership community for women in ministry. She is the Teaching Pastor at CrossWinds Church in California's Bay Area and is a member of the Teaching Team for Preacher Chicks United, an incubator for women of color to cultivate their gifts of preaching and teaching. She loves connecting with women leaders and serves as pastoral lead over the Women’s Network of Transforming the Bay with Christ.
Andrea received her masters degree from Fuller Theological Seminary then counter-balanced her Bible smarts by moving to Las Vegas where she had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Second City’s cast of an all-improvised show. She is the author of Embrace the Undoing: The Freedom of Grace Enough, a conversational and interactive journey through Galatians. With a background in improv comedy and degree in theology, she has a unique perspective that takes her audiences (and readers) on a journey from out-loud laughs to moments of tender truth.
Andrea and her husband Chris have the privilege of raising two (almost) grown daughters. In her spare time she thinks about how she wishes she had more spare time. You can find her at www.andreacolispeaks.com or connect with her on social media at @andreacolispeaks and @leadingbold.
Scriptless:
Here's what Andrea learned about God on the Las Vegas Strip!
When I started taking improv classes, it was just a way to have fun and improve my stage skills. After completing the Training Conservatory at The Second City in Detroit, I figured I was done with improv. It was a great experience and I definitely learned a lot.
But then we moved to Vegas. After living there for a few months I found out that The Second City in Vegas was casting for a new all-improvised show to run on The Strip. Long story short...I auditioned, I was cast, and I had the amazing opportunity for several years to perform in that show.
Shortly after the show began I started to see these parallels between what I was learning about improv and my own faith. In fact, I was surprised about how much improv was teaching me about my relationship with God and what it means to be part of a community. For a long time these concepts simmered in my mind. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with the ideas, but I always had this sense that I was meant to share them in some way.
It wasn't until many years later that I came to the conclusion that I was supposed to share them in the form of a book. So I just started writing. And writing. And writing. And writing. The result was Scriptless: What I Learned About God on the Las Vegas Strip. The book is filled with stories about the show, experiences that happen when you are making stuff up on stage as you go, and the spiritual truths that I learned along the way.
If you read my book, whether you are a performer or far from it, or a person of faith or far from it, I hope you will find truths that encourage you in whatever your journey happens to look like.
What does a Vegas show have to do with learning what it means to follow God? In this book, Andrea Coli talks about her experience in the sact of an improv show in the Strip and how God revealed Himself in an unlikely way. Her conversational style invites you to step onto the Las Vegas stage and discover spiritual truths hidden in the rules of improvisation. In the end, you'll agree that life, like improvisation, can be surprisingly remarkable when you're scriptless!
To order your own personal copy of Scriptless or an e-book for Kindle, click here.
For a sneak peek of my book, check out Chapter 1.