Amy Valdez Barker is the director of global mission connections for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Previously she was lead executive for the Connectional Table, which coordinates the mission, ministries, and programs of The United Methodist Church.  

Recently she published a book with Abingdon Press titled Trust By Design: The Beautiful Behaviors of an Effective Church Culture, taking the Towers Watson Research about the denomination’s lack of trust and exploring ways in which the church needs to rebuild trust internally and beyond church relationships.

Valdez Barker grew up in Iowa and is an ordained deacon in the North Georgia Annual Conference. She did her undergraduate work at University of Iowa in communication studies and has earned both a master's degree and PhD from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.

She is motivated to engage in mission by the experience of lives changed by the grace and love of God through the work of the church. Her interests include the study of different cultures and spiritual generativity -- what we are doing to pass on the faith from one generation to the next. In every aspect of her work, she is searching for ways to improve the lives of people around the world and building systems that will help the next 10 generations have a better future.