This preparation and continuing education has been the foundation of my work in four ministerial settlements since receiving ministerial fellowship. My ministry has also expanded outward to include many denominational and civic activities.

I received my Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in June, 1968, with majors in both Physics and Sociology.

My theological degree is a Doctor of Ministry from Meadville Theological School of Lombard College. I received my degree in June, 1972. My thesis was on the history of Unitarian and Universalist statements of faith and their meaning for the development of congregational units in the modern Unitarian Universalist Association. The course work for my degree included several courses in education applicable to religious education work.

Other formal educational work I have engaged in includes the completion, in 1978, of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Independent Study Program for accreditation as a professional Religious Educator, a course in Medical Ethics at Andover Newton Theological School, a graduate course in Early Childhood Education at Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts, a course in Environmental Education in Camp Settings at Castleton College in Vermont, and extensive post-doctoral work in Religious Education at New York University(Ph.D., ABD)

As part of my primary theological degree I participated in a 3-month program of Clinical Pastoral Education at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. This program helped me develop my pastoral skills with particular emphasis on crisis counseling and interfaith ministry.

In addition, I have attended numerous continuing education workshops through such groups and agencies as Virginians Against Domestic Violence, Family Planning Advocates, UUA Washington Office, and Red Cross.

Upon graduation from Meadville Theological School in June, 1972, I was granted Preliminary Ministerial Fellowship by the Unitarian Universalist Association. In 1975, after the customary 3-year preliminary period, I was granted Full and Final Ministerial Fellowship in Parish Ministry.

On October 8, 1972, I was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist Ministry by the First Unitarian Church of Providence, in Rhode Island.

In 1978, I became an Accredited Director of Religious Education, the highest standing for religious educators at that time. In 1980, with the inception of the Ministry of Religious Education, I was one of the first seven people in the denomination to be granted immediate Full and Final Fellowship as a Minister of Religious Education.

The Renaissance Program for Religious Educators offers a series of introductory level educational
modules in key areas of religious education. I was involved in the field testing and initiation of two of the modules, and have been trained to lead several others.

In 1991, through the National Council of Churches, I had the opportunity to be a participant in a workshop for anti-racism training for educators. This 4-day workshop brought participants into confrontation with their own patterns of inherent racism. This experience helped me to understand the problem of racism and to see possible changes we could make in our Unitarian Universalist programming. Subsequently, through the local UUMA chapter, I have participated in the two anti-racism training models offered by the UUA.

I participated in some of the early design work of the inter-faith program, "Faith Development in the Adult Life Cycle". In the late 1980's, I was involved in two seminars exploring the findings of this significant national study. The study was the first academic research on changes in belief patterns that parallel other life changes in adults.

As a participant in the 1990 national symposium, "Faith Development in Young Children," I explored in depth the work of major theorists on the religious development of our children. During the symposium, James Fowler, Betty Caldwell, and others, presented the best understandings we have today about the spiritual growth of children.

When plans were made for a denomination-wide convocation in 1981 to design the new youth movement for the UUA, I was asked to serve on the leadership team. In preparation for what would become "Common Ground", I received intensive special training in youth work, group decision-making processes, and group dynamics.

In addition to these opportunities, which have given me specific training and skills, I have also found educational enrichment through regular participation in programs such as the annual conference of the Liberal Religious Educators' Association, Meadville/Lombard Winter Institute, periodic convocations of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association, and workshops at the UUA General Assembly.

At a national religious clowning conference - YES, that's me on the right

I was certified as a trainer of trainers for the About Your Sexuality course, and have led several training sessions for AYS trainers in the Northeast. I participated in various aspects of the development of the Our Whole Lives curriculum which replaced AYS.

From 1972 to 1975, I served as part of the multiple staff ministry at the First Unitarian Church of Providence, Rhode Island.

I began as Assistant Minister, became Associate Minister by call of the congregation, and then became Acting Minister following the departure of the Senior Minister. First Unitarian was a large society (450 members, 140 RE students, five full-time and two part-time employees) offering a great variety of programming both to its members and to the adjacent Brown University community. My primary areas of concern were worship, administration, campus ministry, community action, direction of the religious education program, facilitation of the adult education program, and coordination of communications. As Acting Minister, as is the case with an interim minister, I was not eligible for the permanent ministerial position and at the end of my term I was called to the congregation in Andover, Massachusetts.

From 1975 to 1980, I was Minister to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Andover, Massachusetts, where I was responsible for both parish and educational ministry. This was a congregation of about 150 members (90 pledging units and a church school of about 80 young people). I helped the congregation through the challenge of confronting a long-term deficit caused by building expenses, and they made the difficult choice to sell the parsonage and the church building that was too expensive to operate to provide for a financially balanced future. When I arrived in Andover in 1975, the congregation projected only three more years of existence based on its financial resources. I am proud to note that because of my work with them, they are a now a growing congregation in more appropriate facilities. I left Andover in 1980, in response to a unique offer from Long Island to become the first Area Council Religious Education Consultant in our association.

From 1980 to 1995, I served as Program and Education Consultant to the Long Island Area Council of Unitarian Universalist Societies (LIAC). LIAC is a cluster of 12 societies in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties. My work with those societies included support for existing programs, development of resources for those programs and their leaders, design of growth strategies for new societies (we grew from 10 to 12 societies in this period), creation of intersociety programs, preaching in the member societies' services, and consultation in other areas as needed by individual societies.

These congregations served a total of about 1800 households representing about 2400 adults and approximately 1000 children and youth. In the more than 15 years I was in this position, the number of children and youth enrolled in the local congregations' programs has increased by about 40% and the number of paid paraprofessional leaders in religious education has grown from four in 1980 to nine in 1992. In 1980, six of the ten societies had professional ministerial leadership; now eleven of the twelve have a permanently settled minister (eight full time, three part time).

As part of my work with LIAC, I served as Extension Minister (part time) to our congregation in Water Mill (Southampton) from 1987 to 1995. I helped this new congregation grow to a healthy 35 members. They are now a year-round congregation in the process of erecting their own building, with close to 100 members.

Of all the work I did on Long Island, I am most proud

– of the Sophia Fahs RE Camp, which provides a week each summer of Unitarian Universalist religious education in a camp setting for 100 UU youths in grades 2-12, because of the way it exposes our young people to UU youth from other societies and other age groups;

– of the individual programs I have created for local societies, because of the way I was able to craft those programs in response to specific needs that could not have been met by "off-the-shelf" materials from other sources.

– of the growth, both in numbers and in depth of programming I have brought to the smaller congregations where I conducted Extension Ministries.

In 1995, with the implementation of the new Religious Education and Program Consultant positions in the Districts, my Area Council position was gradually phased out. I received a call from the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists to be their first settled minister.

The WUUs had been founded in 1989. Through a series of rental locations and short term ministries (Extension, Interim) the congregation in 1995 had bought its own property, was building its own worship building and renovating an existing building for RE, and was ready to call a permanent minister. They had 136 members, about 50 children, 91 pledging units, and a budget of about $105,000.

Since I arrived in August, 1995, the congregation has undergone many changes. Their voting membership grew to a high of 250, about 95 children, 160 pledging units, and an annual budget of $225,000. The main worship building was completed. The average of 67 adults in worship in 1995 grew to about 160. The property was enhanced by the purchase of an adjacent house and land to provide for more RE space and office as well as land for the expansion of our parking lot.

In terms of programming, the 9 month operation that was in place in 1995 has evolved into 12 month worship, education, and event programming. Their staff which numbered two in 1995 grew to include seven (part time varying from 3/4 to 3 hours per week) in addition to me as minister.

In this period we developed a community-wide education program (Williamsburg Area Learning Tree) offering about 25 courses in each of two semester per year, became a major contributor to Housing Partnerships (rehabilitation of existing housing), site of numerous arts and culture events in the community, and host to two AA groups.

Me with Jim Vander Weele, former intern

The details of my professional work in Park Forest can be found by clicking here.

My congegational ministries have always focused on five elements that the congregations and I agreed upon as central:

WORSHIP
PROGRAMMING and EDUCATION
UU COMMUNITY
WIDER COMMUNITY
ADMINISTRATION and SUPPORT

DENOMINATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Two of my many activities in the UUA of which I am most proud would be my work with students in various level of preparation for professional leadership and my work on behalf of children.

In 2005, I was honored to be elected to the Executive Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Minister's Association; I serve in the capacity of Arrangements Chair, responsible for the four annual Executive Committee meetings as well as the annual Ministry Days at General Assembly which gathers together 700+ of my colleagues.

Over the years I have been the supervising minister to eight ministerial interns, two in institutional settings, two in religious education ministries, and four in parish ministries. As I scan the list of Professional Leaders in our association, I note with joy their names among my colleagues now. To be able to learn as I have from some of the great ministers and religious educators of the past and transmit that learning to the future generations has been a cherished privilege of my work.

I was also an advisor in the UUA's Independent Study Program from 1978-92, working with four different candidates in the preparation of their study proposals and the on-going evaluation of their work.

When the UUA challenged itself to provide quality children and youth programming at General Assembly, I accepted the call to develop what is now Young Fun at GA, a camp-like program for children in elementary and middle school to participate in GA. Serving as the director of that program for many years, I found delight in helping our young UU's discover some of the excitement of our annual gathering. When I read the names of many of our Youth Caucus leaders today, I see names of those who were Young Funners years ago.

I am an active member of the local UUMA cluster: VACUUM - which stands for Virginia Area Cluster of UU Ministers, as well as the Southeast Chapter of UUMA. I am active in Thomas Jefferson District work, serving for several years on their RE Committee and being host Minister to an Annual Meeting.

Within the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association, I have served on the District Chapter Boards in two districts and on the program committee in Metro- New York area for two separate terms.

I have also had a long relationship with LREDA, the Liberal Religious Educators' Association, as a member since 1978, as vice president (in charge of programming) from 1982-84, and as a founding member of the editorial board of its journal, "Liberal Religious Education".

I was invited in 1987 to participate in the UUA's Small Society RE Curriculum Team: a project group that considered the needs of small RE programs and provided the foundation for the UUA's publication Starting from Scratch.

In 1988, I was elected to the Board of UNIRONDACK, the UU camp that serves the Metro-NY and St. Lawrence Districts. While I was on the board, I was active in the search process for a new Director, and was also responsible for publicity. In 1990, I was elected President of the Board and, during the two years of my tenure, I helped reshape the fee structure to end the camp's deficit operation and include funds for capital improvements.

I have been on staff at many Unitarian Universalist camps and conferences: as Minister-of-the-Week and theme speaker at Star Island (All Star I, RE Week, and Life On A Star), workshop leader and newsletter director at UUMAC, workshop leader at The Mountain, and RE program leader at Lake Camp. I was the LREDA representative to the Women and Religion conference in Albuquerque in 1982, serving as registrar for that conference. As a result of my involvement in camp and conference work, I have also been active in the Council of UU Camps and Conferences (CU2C2), serving as annual meeting moderator, annual meeting coordinator, and institutional design consultant.

I served on the RE Committee of the Metro-NY District from 1982-86 and worked with the Youth Adult Committee of the District during that term.

While in the Boston area, I served first as a board member and then as President of the Doolittle Home, a UU retirement residence, initiating the home's chaplaincy program and the transition to accepting boarding residents as well as lifetime care residents. I served as President of the Ballou-Channing District in 1974-75.

In 1976, I was appointed by Andover Newton Theological School as Visiting Lecturer to establish and provide an annual course on Unitarian Universalist Polity and Practices. I served there through 1978.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

My professional activities in Park Forest are listed on their website.

In Williamsburg, I was called upon by a number of civic and religious organizations to serve in professional capacities.

Colonial Williamsburg asked me to coordinate with the community clergy their annual Thanksgiving service in 2000, 2001 and 2002. I was able to expand this program to include representatives of our many black congregations, our local Jewish Temple, and the our Islamic community for the first time. In 2002, nearly 500 people joined us in historic Williamsburg to worship together.

In January 2003, I was invited to offer the invocation at the NAACP sponsored Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast.

In 1999, when the City of Williamsburg celebrated its 300th Anniversary, I was asked by the City to convene a committee of clergy to prepare an interfaith Prayer Proclamation for the occasion.

The newspaper of the Newport News metropolitan area, The Daily Press invited my participation on its panel of religious guest columnists in 1997, and I wrote for them about every 8 weeks from 1997 through my 2003 departure from the area.

I served two terms as President of the Williamsburg Clergy Fellowship and served on numerous United Way allocations panels. I was a member of the Ethics Committee for the Williamsburg Community Hospital.

Teaching at the College of William and Mary

The Christopher Wren Association of the College of William and Mary provides community classes; I was a lecturer with them from 1997-2003, and my course on World Religions had the highest enrollment (94) of their history when offered in 2000. Other courses included Heresies, Decisions That Changed the World, and The Modern Ages.

I was also an invited guest speaker at Christopher Newport University,in the Williamsburg/James City County Public Schools, and at Walsingham (Roman Catholic) Academy.

From 1987 to 1992, I served as the Unitarian Universalist Association's representative to the Child and Family Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches. This group had direct responsibility for the Ecumenical Child Care Network and the Children's Health Project, as well as for other advocacy programs for children and families. From 1989-91, I served as Chair of this group, giving me a voting position on the Steering Committee of the Prophetic Justice Unit Committee, the highest voting level a UU can attain in our denomination's observer status with the Council.

In 1986, I served as the founding President of the Parish Resource Center of Long Island, an interfaith resource consultancy. This program has now expanded to include resource and consultation centers in both Suffolk and Nassau counties, serving over 200 congregations.

In 1982, I was the founding President of the Center for Family and Youth Resources, a community-based support facility for professionals concerned with family issues.

Throughout my time in New York State, I was a member of Family Planning Advocates, a statewide advocacy group protecting the right of choice. I usually attended their January lobbying conference in Albany, and I coordinated Long Island's efforts for religious support for FPA in 1990. In Massachusetts, I was active in the Massachusetts Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights.

My previous involvement in community activities includes service on the Board of the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority in Massachusetts as Vice Chair and official appointee of the Town of Andover. The Board was directly responsible for the $5 million operating and capital budgets of the Authority. In addition, I have been a member of the Board of the Red Cross of Providence, and of the Advisory Board on Reproductive Freedom for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In Massachusetts, I was Visiting Lecturer at Northern Essex Community College, where I taught a Marriage and Family course for two semesters. For two additional semesters, I taught Human Development and Sociology in a special program to educate women who had completed treatment for drug or alcohol dependence.

SUMMARY

My primary and continuing education prepared me for professional standing as a Parish Minister and Minister of Religious Education. In those roles I have worked in four significant positions that have given me the opportunity to demonstrate my skills in all aspects of the ministry. I have experience working in multi-staff positions and with large numbers of employees and volunteers. I have also provided leadership in denominational, interfaith, and community programs.

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