My Ministry

My ministry is devoted to creating communities of care that provide more opportunities for the flourishing of everyone and our home. I’m passionate about shared ministry, strengthening relationships, and collaborative leadership. I thrive on helping the congregations I serve live Love ever more fully and fiercely into this world.

Worship Services

I love co-creating worship services that give us the spiritual experiences and connections we crave. We all experience the sacred and process information in different ways, so I enjoy crafting a different types of worship services that contain entry points for different types of people. Here are some different services I’ve led:

Journeying Toward Wholeness, February 15, 2026 (trauma stewardship)
Joy as Resistance, January 25, 2026 (reflections on resistance in Minneapolis and choosing joy)
Choosing Hope, December 7, 2025 (an interactive service)
The Promise and the Practice, November 9, 2025 
Growing Elephant Ears, November 2, 2025 (an all ages service about compassion)
Nurturing Gratitude, Celebrating Hope, October 26, 2025 (a stewardship celebration service)
A Home for Hope, October 5, 2025 (a stewardship kickoff service)
Articulating (Y)Our Faith, September 14, 2025 (an introduction to Unitarian Universalism)
Constructing Knowledge, Building Belonging, September 28, 2025 (an all ages Banned Book Week service)
Love in Action, Part 3, January 18, 2026
Love in Action, Part 2, July 13, 2025 (How might we respond to rising authoritarianism?) 
Love In Action, Part 1, July 6, 2025 (How might we respond to rising authoritarianism?)

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Rites of Passage, Rituals, and Pastoral Care

Being present with people in the joys and sorrow, difficulties, and stillnesses of life is a privilege. I love designing rituals and rites of passage that help us mark major life moments and meet the needs of individuals, families, and communities. I particularly specialize in developing creative rituals. Rituals and rites of passage I lead include: weddings (especially LGBTQ+ and interfaith ceremonies), child and baby blessings, memorial services, and rituals for the seasons.
During my ministry studies, I completed a certificate in spiritual and pastoral care. I lead continuing education workshops for pastoral care associate teams. I often work with people who need my particular skills like cross-cultural pastoral care, religious trauma, violence, dying, etc. Learn more here.

Facilitation, Religious Education, and Leadership Development

I’ve been a facilitator for three decades. I’ve worked in community-based education, public involvement, and community engagement. In that time, I’ve learned that how we work is as important as what we’re trying to accomplish. I enjoy using the highly-honed facilitation skills I built in my previous career and attuning them to congregations as I lead groups and teach classes.

Religious education is not only what happens in classrooms but includes the whole life of the congregation – classes, worship, social justice work, and individual spiritual practice – both inside and outside the church building. It includes what we think we’re teaching, the way we’re doing things, and what we’re not teaching or talking about. Learn more here.

Justice Work

Living our beliefs in the world is integral to my ministry. I have made personal and ministerial commitments to engage in social, racial, and environmental justice work. I regularly bring justice issues into Sunday and special worship services. I support justice teams to engage the entire congregation by helping them develop new approaches to justice ministries and programming.

Anti-racism/anti-oppression (AR/AO) work infuses everything I do as a minister. I consistently challenge myself with my own ongoing AR/AO learning, engagement, and self-reflection. With AR/AO work in congregations, one of my key roles is to help a congregation think about what is needed, what our roles are, and whose voices need to be heard. I support congregations in addressing how we’re actively engaging with AR/AO work in community. Sometimes our most important work is supporting other voices to be heard and sometimes it is letting our voices be heard.

Community Building

Covenant is a central element of my personal theology and way of moving in the world. Covenants require tending, both as we work to remain in covenant with one another and when a person or group moves out of covenant. We’re all responsible for maintaining our covenant.

One of the most crucial things I do as a congregational minister is connect people, whether it’s in coffee hour, during a social event, or during a class or other more formal spiritual development or worship offering. At the same time, building community is everyone’s calling and responsibility. I encourage congregants to reach out to each other, often helping provide structure for people to feel safe doing that. It's also crucial that we make sure we have fun, laugh, and play together.

I enjoy working with congregations on creative conflict engagement. This includes both through our regular communication and through developing formal structures like a Right Relations Team.

Interfaith Relationships

I’m passionate about interfaith work, which often interweaves with justice work. I deeply value engaging with religious professionals of other faiths and with leaders of non-faith-based organizations. I have participated in interfaith work by being part of interfaith groups at every congregation I’ve served. At UUS, I have served as the co-president of the Johnson County Interfaith Coalition for the past 3 ½ years and have served as a bridge between various community groups as needed. I’ve also cultivated UUS’s relationship with other faith communities. More recently, I have been able to begin deepening our connection to Sacred Collective, an LGBTQIA+ ministry adjacent to the University of Iowa campus.