Our congregations exist in the soil of a particular community and in the soil of our wider denomination. Throughout my service as a minister and before that as a lay leader, I have felt it important to be involved in supporting both. We are stronger together. 

I have decades of service to our denomination beginning with youth, campus and young adult ministry efforts as a teen, then young adult, and proceeding from there. I am particularly glad to have been part of growing the campus ministry movement across our Association at a time that it was vibrant, picking up steam, and adding many new young adults to our roles. 

My ministry is informed by experiences on the leading edge of our faith and participating in cohorts where we ask the questions and experiment with ways to remain relevant and vibrant. 

After a decade of youth and young adult ministry, I joined the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF). I helped launch the Church of the Younger Fellowship (CYF), served on the CLF’s Ministerial Search Committee, on the Development Committee, and ultimately as president of the CLF’s Board. During this time, we shifted the CLF from being primarily a printed mail ministry to a robust, online global ministry with clear commitments to anti-oppression.

In the state of New Jersey, I have served as part of the leadership of UU Faith Action NJ (formerly UU Legislative Ministry) as we expanded our staff from a part time to a full time Executive Director. I served on the Board, on Executive Committee, as chair of the Public Policy Network, and on the Development Committee.

It was my great honor to have been asked by the UUA Presidential Search Committee to apply and then to be selected by them as one of the first two candidates ever nominated for UUA President. It was an opportunity to raise issues in the interest of the health and dynamism of our faith, and I learned and grew throughout the campaign. I now bring the broader perspective of the whole UUA and the leadership skills I honed during the campaign to the congregation I serve.

Currently, I am on the board of Starr King School for the Ministry, on the Development Committee, and the convener of the Alternative Sources of Revenue Taskforce. I said “Yes,” when asked to join because I want to be a part of investing in the leadership pipelines of our faith. Our big challenge has been to move towards sustainability in a time when many colleges and graduate schools are struggling. We have made some bold moves, including the sale of our building, and are now co-housed at a college with similar values. We are on much more solid footing. 

You can read my resume, if you’d like to see further details about  my denominational involvement.