Cassidy Hall (she/her/hers) (MA, MDiv, MTS) is an author, award-winning filmmaker, podcaster, ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and leading voice in contemplative spirituality. She is the cohost of the Encountering Silence podcast and the creator of the Contemplating Now and Queering Contemplation podcasts. Her films include In Pursuit of Silence and Day of a Stranger. Her forthcoming book, Queering Contemplation, Finding Queerness in the Roots and Future of Contemplative Spirituality is set for release in May of 2024. Cassidy is widely published and currently resides in Indianapolis, where she is studying for her DMin degree.Born and raised in Iowa, she currently serves as Director of Communications for the Heartland and IKC Conferences in the United Church of Christ – overseeing First Communication for hundreds of churches in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana. She will be ordained in the United Church of Christ in January 2024, and continues to re-imagine alongside the modern world what it means to be the church in the digital space. Throughout her time at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, she worked as a Teaching Assistant while studying for her MDiv and MTS degrees (December, 2021). Her MTS thesis is titled Awakening Mysticism with the Scholarship of Three African American Women, and features the work of the Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Holmes, Spiritual Directors of Color Network Founder Therese Taylor Stinson, and Dr. Joy R. Bostic. During Cassidy’s time at seminary, she also served as the Secretary of the International Thomas Merton Society and continues to serve on the board of enfleshed.Before pursuing her MDiv and MTS in Indianapolis, Cassidy lived in Los Angeles where she worked on the production team of the documentary feature film, In Pursuit of Silence. The film’s success on the festival circuit and beyond led to its worldwide theatrical release. Her directorial debut short-film, Day of a Stranger, paints an intimate portrait of Thomas Merton’s hermitage years and received the Audience Choice Award from Illuminate Film Festival.