I’m Liz Dieleman, author of The Other Mary, a mixed media blog with music, essays, commentary, videos, and illustration. I’ve been writing songs for over 20 years and am a self-taught musician, currently serving as the worship leader at a Calvary Chapel in Victoria, British Columbia. I graduated Calvin College with a BA in English and Studio Art, and am an ordained interfaith minister through the New Seminary in NYC. I did other random things, like study biodynamic farming, and work as a professional doula. I have a 12-year-old son named Pythagoras.
Born and raised in Michigan into a conservative Calvinist household, I became a spiritual seeker and explored other traditions and practices, including psychedelics in the Peruvian jungle, and being a witch’s live-in apprentice in Upstate NY (in other words, you ain’t gonna surprise me). My spiritual journey eventually led me back to the foot of the cross, crawling on my hands and knees. I’ve been on a mission to connect with other spiritual seekers and unconventional believers. I dove down many rabbit holes, which required me to learn basic logic and critical thinking skills, which I incorporate into my blog, Everyday Exorcism.
My life’s dream is to be a singer-songwriter as well as a writer and illustrator, and when I came back to the Christian faith, that dream crystallized into artwork as apologetics. Thus you’ll find my original folk country songs mixed with traditional liturgical music I’ve coined as “hip hymnody.” I share my creative process, as well as my stumbling spiritual one, with the sincere hope of finding like-minded misfit congregants with whom I can play alongside in this Greatest Story Ever Told.
Book interviews, keynote concerts, and guest worship leading: