For the last 8 years, Mark Siler has been the primary caregiver of two daughters. In addition to fatherhood, Mark has done extensive volunteer work in the community. He helped organize the Asheville based non-profit, Christians for a United Community (CUC), an inter-racial and inter-denominational organization of area churches working on issues of racial and economic disparity. Mark served as CUC’s first director. He is presently coordinating the Asheville Buncombe Living Wage Campaign and is the music minister at his church, The Circle of Mercy.

Prior to the birth of Mark’s eldest daughter, he worked for two years as a hospital chaplain in Charlotte, NC. In addition to chaplaincy, Mark worked in numerous human service positions, including home-based family work with abused and neglected children, teaching adult education/English as a Second Language classes in a low-income community in Washington D.C. and group home work with Vietnamese orphans.

One of Mark’s great loves is travel. He has lived in Europe, the Middle East and traveled in Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba. Based on his own experience, he deeply believes that travel, particularly when it provides the opportunity for cross-cultural community, uniquely creates a sacred space for the development of self, faith and fun.

In 2001, Mark completed a Masters of Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in New Orleans. He also has a Masters of Social Work from East Carolina University and a Bachelors of History from Wake Forest University. While in Charlotte, Mark completed two years of Clinical Pastoral Education.