Leadership
Knox does not practice a hierarchical or top-down leadership model. We purposefully invite all members of the Knox family to participate in shared ministry, as we seek to serve our community and follow the ways of Jesus. We share in preaching, teaching, worship facilitation, hospitality, and administration. However God has gifted and wired you, there is a place for you within the shared leadership of our church.
Clerk of Session
Ashlea Monaco
Ashlea is a Spokane native who graduated from Whitworth University where she studied Communication. She has interned at two local non-profits, including Christ Kitchen as a grant writer. While at Christ Kitchen, she rediscovered her passion for servitude and continues to support their mission. Ashlea currently works at Mathnasium of Spokane where she works with students of all ages and abilities in sharpening their math skills. In 2024, she was ordained as an elder at Knox and elected Clerk of Session. Ashlea values balance, authenticity and peace and finds Knox to be a reflective community of these values.
Session / Board of Elders
The Session is a democratically-elected board of individuals that oversees the church’s governing decisions.
Camille Troxel
Carole Stuart
Nick Robertson
Karen Colvin
Sam Weber
Vacant
Ministry teams
Our shared ministry model is broken down into these four key teams. Within each team, there are various roles and space for extended diversity.
Administration, Facilities & Finance
Deacons/Pastoral Care
Worship
Missions & Discipleship
Staff
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Rev. Drew Peterson
Pastor
(509) 496-2916
After graduating with a degree in theology from Whitworth University, Drew worked in homeless housing services in Los Angeles, where he gained a grounding in social justice and a passion for racial reconciliation. He moved on to Fuller Theological Seminary and received a Masters of Divinity, before returning to Spokane and being called to Knox. Since 2022, Drew has also worked in developing affordable housing in Spokane, with a special emphasis on transforming faith property for community impact. He is passionate about seeing the image of God in all people, regardless of our differences.
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Rev. Dr. Taylor Telford
Associate Pastor for Imaginative Worship
An Idaho native, Taylor attended Whitworth University where she studied Theology. After serving as a youth intern at a local PCUSA church, she moved to the east coast where she received her M.Div. from Princeton Seminary and served at a New Worshiping Community in Philadelphia as an ordained Teaching Elder and pastor of worship and music. From there she moved to Scotland where she earned her PhD in theology, specifically regarding the intersection of Christology (Jesus), anthropology (humanity), and identity. She is passionate about the Gospel and its expression in reconciliation, inclusion, justice, witness, and creativity.
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Dr. Thomas Tiffany
Parish Associate
Parish Associate CRE, Dr. Tom Tiffany has a PhD in Biochemistry/Biophysics and was board certified in Clinical Chemistry from 1972 to 2010. He served in the healthcare clinical laboratory field for more than forty years. Tom is a long-time member of Knox Presbyterian Church receiving his church membership under Rev. Bill Tatum in 1963. He is a graduate of EWSC, now EWU, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 and Oregon State University in 1969 with a doctorate in philosophy degree. He has served as Ruling Elder and Deacon at Knox. He has served for many years as chair of the Pastoral Care-Deacons Knox Shared Ministry team. He also served on the Committee (Commission) on Ministry (COM) for the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest and was chair of COM in 2014. He completed all requirements for Credentialed Ruling Elder (CRE) and was commissioned as Parrish Associate CRE for Knox in March 2023. He has provided pulpit supply and worship leadership for several churches. He has sat on several advisory boards and three board of directorships recently retiring from the Easter Washington University Foundation board in June 2023 as well as an 85 member Lake Shore Homes HOA board in July 2023 to dedicate more time to Knox. Tom has recently been appointed to the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest (PIN) board of trustees.
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Mike Helland
Treasurer
After toying with the idea of being a professional college student, I decided I needed a job in the real world. So, I left the natural sciences (BS Biology UW & MS Oceanography UW) and enrolled at Harvard Business School. I left with an MBA and massive student loans, even though I had financed some of my indebtedness by fighting forest fires for six summers, including two on a hot shot crew.
Unfortunately, I graduated at the height of the Arab oil embargo, inflation was raging, and most companies weren’t hiring. I landed an economic evaluations job in oil & gas exploration with the Midwest’s largest oil company, Amoco, headquartered in Chicago. I did well there and was promoted after nine months to Houston and a seat on the regional exploration committee. My soon-to-become ex-wife stayed behind in Chicago, in part because she had just talked her way into a legal secretary position with one of the top tax lawyers in the city. I eventually moved to the international side of the business in Houston supervising a staff of MBAs evaluating oil & gas spending opportunities offered by foreign governments. Finally, back in Chicago, I did big picture evaluation of the price implications of the deregulation of the US natural gas industry. Then I found myself in a classic mid-life crisis. Taking inventory, I disagreed with my company’s strategy to abandon the US natural gas business; long-term medical issues made work difficult; blues & jazz clubs weren’t as entertaining; I had an on-again/off-again love/hate relationship that had run its’ course after several years; my mother in Spokane was aging without family; and I was spiritually empty. On a visit with Mom in Spokane (where I was raised) I found a place that fit me like a glove on a wooded, weedy lake north of town & made a contingent offer. The week I returned to Chicago, Amoco announced an early retirement program, and I accepted at the age of 46.
On my return to Spokane, I resumed attending Knox Presbyterian Church where I grew up and my mother was an elder. Some childhood friends and their parents were still there and they, along with new-found friends at Knox, have been instrumental in re-establishing my Christian faith. I sang in the Knox choir for more than 20 years until my lungs started giving out. I’ve been Knox’s treasurer since the mid-1990s. Their precarious financial condition over that period has made the job more stressful. I volunteered with Knox’s high school youth group & led several outings to Horseshoe Lake. I also volunteered as an overnight host with Interfaith Hospitality Network several times and at a Christian charity that worked with homeless teens on the nighttime streets of downtown Spokane. -
Jill Walters
Administrator
Jill is a Spokane native, attended WSU and spent the past 25 years living in Olympia. Jill brings 25 years of administrative and technical skills from the Washington State Legislature, Washington State Department of Agriculture, and the Washington State Investment Board. She enjoys hiking, photography, and gardening. She also co-chairs the Spokane Alliance HEART Program for affordable housing, and volunteers with the West Central Development Project as an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Connector. Jill is also the Administrator of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church.