About

Dr. Gail Nelson Bones is the founder of CrossWise Living, a ministry devoted to helping people at all stages in life navigate change through cross-generational relationships. She has been engaging audiences as a speaker, songwriter, and worship leader for over thirty years. Formerly a professor of education at San Diego Christian College, Dr. Bones is the author of Living CrossWise: Hope and Help for Navigating Transition.

Gail and her husband Jeff have been married for over 30 years and together have recorded seven albums of original Christian music. Along with their now-grown children, they spent many years presenting family concerts at churches across the United States. Gail is currently a women’s ministry leader and member of the worship team at her home church in La Mesa, California.

From her Author Bio

I first experienced the exhilaration of connecting with an audience back when I was an English major at the University of Connecticut. Sporting a beret and leather miniskirt, I regularly delivered a convincing imitation of my heroes, Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt, at campus coffeehouses. After graduation, I performed in Greenwich Village bars by night while toiling away in an office as a paralegal by day.

My conversion to Christ caused not only a dramatic life change, but also a shift in my career goals. I found that when my music became a vehicle for worship, God gave me not only a deeper sense of satisfaction and purpose, but also a much wider—and vastly more attentive—audience. I found I could inspire people spiritually through my songwriting. I married a fellow Christian musician and we’ve spent the last 30 years recording and singing my songs in churches here and abroad.

When my children were in school, I enjoyed a fifteen-year career as a high school English teacher and college professor. There, I discovered that God had given me a passion and a gifting in the area of mentoring, and often used my love of music to help me connect with the next generation.

I earned a doctorate in education at Liberty University in 2010, and since then have been using my life’s stories to write a 12-week study promoting cross-generational mentoring. Living CrossWise: Hope and Help for Navigating Transition combines inspirational personal essays with discipleship exercises and topical Bible study. I speak at retreats using the CrossWise Living curriculum I’ve created.

Learn More about the study

Family Photos