Brian Allain leads Find Your Next Calling and How to Heal Our Divides. Previously he founded Writing for Your Life, a resource center and conferences for spiritual writers, Publishing in Color, a conference series intended to increase the number of books published by spiritual writers of color, and Compassionate Christianity, a resource center for progressive Christians. Writing for Your Life and Compassionate Christianity are now owned by Kate Rademacher, and Publishing in Color is now owned by Joyce Dinkins. Previously Brian served as Founding Director of the Frederick Buechner Center where he led the launch of Mr. Buechner’s online presence and established several new programs and strategic partnerships. Brian has developed and led spiritual writers conferences at Princeton Theological Seminary, Drew Theological Seminary, Western Theological Seminary, the University of Southern California, Belmont University, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, the United Methodist Publishing House, and several churches. Over the course of these efforts, Brian produced or co-produced many conferences featuring Barbara Brown Taylor, Anne Lamott, Patricia Raybon, Brian McLaren, Rachel Held Evans, John Pavlovitz, Diana Butler Bass, Parker J. Palmer, Yolanda Pierce, Lisa Sharon Harper, Philip Yancey, Mako Fujimura, Kathleen Norris, Sarah Bessey, Frank A. Thomas, Kaitlin Curtice, Jacqui Lewis, Matthew Paul Turner, Luci Shaw, Grace Ji-Sun Kim, and many others.
Brian led the publishing effort for the book Buechner 101: An Introduction to Frederick Buechner in collaboration with Anne Lamott, and also the books in the How to Heal Our Divides series. All of this is a second career, coming after business and technology leadership in high-tech. Brian has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was designated a Palmer Scholar, their highest academic award. Learn more about Brian here.
Previous and Current Projects
Frederick Buechner Center
Brian served as Founding Director of the Frederick Buechner Center from 2010 through 2018. There he led the launch of Mr. Buechner’s online presence and established several new programs and strategic partnerships.
Writing for Your Life
Brian founded Writing for Your Life in 2016 and sold it to Kate Rademacher in 2023.
Writing for Your Life (WFYL) is committed to offering a wide variety of useful resources and services to support spiritual writers. WFYL offers writing conferences, resources, services, and online videos featuring leading spiritual writers and publishing industry experts.
Publishing in Color
Brian founded Publishing in Color in 2018 and Joyce Dinkins became the new owner and director in 2023.
Publishing in Color (PIC) strives “to remain fruitful in overcoming the scarcity of resources by Black persons and other people of color through a network of diverse, professional individuals who help nurture writers, authors, speakers, illustrators, designers, and other communicators to publish Christian resources. PIC conferences refresh participants with encouragement and, through “hands-on” mentoring, help to break up barriers. Collaboration and the tools PIC shares help to bring publishing visions to fruition. PIC invites you to be part of this growth. Find out more at publishingincolor.com.
Many book deals, literary agent relationships, devotionals, book contributions, magazine essays, and more have resulted from Publishing in Color conferences.
Conferences for Spiritual Writers
As part of the above three businesses, Brian was privileged to produce many conferences for spiritual writers. You can view the complete list, including speakers, here.
Compassionate Christianity
Brian founded Compassionate Christianity in 2019 and sold it to Kate Rademacher in 2023.
Compassionate Christianity provides inclusive, welcoming, and affirming ideas, nourishment, and resources, reflecting the compassion Jesus modeled for us.
How to Heal Our Divides
Brian founded How to Heal Our Divides in 2021.
How to Heal Our Divides is a project aimed at building awareness of organizations that are taking real action to address the serious, deep divides that have had strong negative impacts on our society – racial, political, religious, and other divides. The project is not an attempt to gloss over serious problems or “make happy” but instead to highlight tangible efforts that are solving problems – actually healing divides in effective and practical ways. Our two books are available on Bookshop, Amazon, and IndieBound.
Find Your Next Calling
Brian founded Find Your Next Calling in 2023.
Find Your Next Calling is a combination of “discernment” – determining what you’re called to do – and “how to launch your own new business”. Here you will find a community where you can get advice, resources, and training on discerning your next calling and turning it into a reality. None of us has a corner on good ideas – here is an opportunity for mutual support and learning.
Faith & Justice Book Group
Brian founded the Faith & Justice Book Group in 2024.
The Faith & Justice Book Group is a weekly series of author interviews featuring the most recent and most important books at the intersections of social justice, climate justice, equity, inclusion, politics, and faith.
Previous Clients
Reputation
“Working with Brian Allain is such a pleasure that it never feels like work. He is one of the most positive, creative, effective and genuinely kind people you will ever meet.” – Barbara Brown Taylor
“Few in this world are as smart, generous, creative, and kind as Brian Allain. He’s a joy to partner with, honors God with his best, and genuinely loves helping, launching, and leading others. I’m always excited to work with Brian, but especially grateful to call him a friend.” – Patricia Raybon, Author
“I’m extremely selective in who I partner with when it comes to writing conferences and seminars, and it’s why I’m so excited about Writing For Your Life.” – Rachel Held Evans, Author
“Brian and I have worked together and known each other for many years. His business insight and judgement are excellent, and he is a great joy to work with.” – Raju Rishi, General Partner, RRE Ventures
“Brian and I worked together at multiple companies, including two different positions that I recruited him for. His performance was outstanding in every case. He makes things happen, no matter the obstacles. The moment he’d commited to a plan, I considered it complete. In addition he offers a thorough, insightful, “common sense” perspective that has been invaluable. I highly recommend him.” – Eric Sumner, Founder and CEO, Lion Cave Capital
“Brian brings a depth of insight and wisdom to the conversation which is both pragmatic and ambitious. As our consultant, he effortlessly saw a potential flaw in our project which might have kept us from our aspiration. Through conversation and his support, we re-thought our project and now are well on our way. He has keen listening skills and a wealth of know-how – all to our project’s benefit.” – Rev. Nancy Lynne Westfield, Ph.D.
“Brian Allain is a gifted communicator and strategist. He has been a valuable resource for helping our team to hone our message, reach new audiences, and grow our social media reach. His experience and creative insight helped us to reach new heights.” – Anne Stewart, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Brian brings writers sorely needed marketing knowledge and experience, and has built a very impressive network of authors, agents, and publishers. We’ve worked together on several conferences and seminars over the years, and I am always impressed with his integrity and ability.” – Jeff Munroe, former Executive Vice President, Western Theological Seminary
“Brian Allain is smart, responsive and inventive. When you hire Enliven Your Tribe, you’re hiring an advocate who will apply his cutting-edge skills to the ever-changing world of social media. His work on your behalf will allow you to do what writers do best: focus on their writing!” – Leslie Leyland Fields
“I have been thrilled and impressed with what Brian has accomplished on behalf of his clients. I am so glad he is able to apply what he learned to help other authors.” – Ami McConnell, former VP and Editor-in-Chief, Howard Books / Simon & Schuster
“Working with Brian is a delight. He’s inventive, flexible, efficient, and experienced. He listens. He’s open to creative ideas and exercises his own considerable creativity. One need only see what he’s done with his clients to know how thoughtful and aesthetically astute his work is.” – Marilyn McEntyre, Author
“Brian has done an amazing job taking writer’s work, revitalizing them, and helping them get the global attention they deserve. I believe there are many authors who would be well-advised to seek his support.” – Stephen W. Hanselman, Founder & President LevelFiveMedia, and former Executive Vice President, HarperCollins
“Brian’s results on behalf of multiple authors have been nothing short of outstanding. He has far exceeded what I thought was possible.” – Lyn Cryderman, Consultant and former Publisher, Zondervan
“Brian has always been available, supportive, hard working and knowledgeable for me…The whole experience was worthwhile, pleasant and useful for a newbie like myself. Here’s to my next book, and thank you Brian!” – Justin Wells, documentary film maker and author
“I have had the wonderful experience of working closely with Brian for 7 years. Early on, Brian established the warm, comfortable culture that exists in the company to this day. Brian brings a unique wealth of experience to any situation. I think this allows him to see things with a more holistic viewpoint than most people. I very much have valued Brian’s input through the years. When Brian sees something that needs to be done, or he is given a new task, he accomplishes it with thoughtfulness, thoroughness and excellence. On a personal level, Brian is a warm and generous man – I am grateful for the 7 years we have worked together. ” – Julie Maxwell, Human Resources consultant
“My one-on-one telephone consultations with Brian Allain are always productive…It’s up to me to continue with my communications plan but I feel the work I’ve done with Writing For Your Life (including attending their workshops and conferences) has given me the grounding and momentum to carry on as I move forward. I highly recommend the experience and expertise of Brian Allain and the resources of Writing For Your Life!” – Vivian Fransen, author
“I worked with Brian for several years at Capital Services. Brian is a seasoned, experienced business professional whose multifaceted strengths allow him success in varied business challenges. Brian thrives in an environment where he is presented with a business need and he methodically applies creative solutions. He has a strong understanding of business processes, both operational as well as the revenue side and is able to bring projects to completion.” – Meredith Murphy, CFO, Capital Services
“Brian has provided generous encouragement and excellent resources to help me focus my approach, build a platform, and develop a way of life with writing closer to its heart. Writing for Your Life sparked a personal and professional overhaul and it’s not over yet. My blog is in the works, and so am I. Breathing feels good.” – Rev. Jen Adams, pastor
“I have great respect for Brian. His strengths are too many to attempt to describe here. I recommend him highly!” – Rohit Mehra, VP Network Infrastructure, IDC
“You’ll find working with Brian to be a superb experience. He is excellent at both business strategy and execution. His years of experience in various business models and industries help him find innovative solutions to business challenges. He does everything with a high level of integrity.” – Lorenzo Mejia, veteran start-up executive