I grew up in Southern California, where my immediate and extended families have lived since my great-grandfather came down from Canada during the Great Depression and met my great-grandmother in Los Angeles. Both she and my mother were Christian Science/New Thought practitioners, and the church was central to life growing up. My brother, sister, and I rarely missed either Wednesday or Sunday services, but from an early age I was uncomfortable with how we practiced religion. Simply, I never believed in the religion’s faith-healing promises of a personal God who is more available to some than others. I followed the faith principally because our church life also formed the core of my family’s social life. It was our community. Between church youth group, summer camps, and twice-weekly worship services, religion touched every aspect of my life.

Leaving that faith, which had provided me a community for so long, was difficult, but when I discovered the Transcendentalists in a literature class, I saw a direction in which to head. Happily, my spouse Cindy (we met at a Christian Science college) was of like mind and we began attending our first of several Unitarian Universalist churches. We are currently affiliated with both the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

I enrolled at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago in 2002, in large part a response to 9-11. I was questioning a career that had me reporting on the sidelines and longed to be more connected spiritually to the world and involved with social justice. After receiving my Masters of Divinity degree, for 12 years I served congreagations in Texas and Illinois before hearing a call to military chaplaincy. After high school, I had served the Air Force for seven years as an enlisted member, and after a gap of two decades re-joined the Air Force in 2018 as a chaplain. In 2023, after facing a disability that left me unable to continue my active-duty service, I left the military a second time.

Ministry was actually a second career. My first was as a writer and editor. As I refocus my vocation on spiritual direction, I also return to a passion for writing.

My interests outside the ministry include music (trombone, guitar, and voice) and flying light airplanes. For more than 20 years, I played with the Chicago-based, punk-rock inspired brass ensemble Environmental Encroachment. I have played “serious” music with the “Gateway to the West” Air National Guard Swing Band, the Solano Winds, Benicia’s Jazz Gorilla, Japan’s Okinawa Community Band, and currently, the Verona Area Wind Symphony. I also serve the Civil Air Patrol/Air Force Auxiliary as the Wing Chaplain for Wisconsin.

Autumn Powell (She/Her/Hers) joined the team as Office Assistant in May 2016. She became our custodian, in addition, in December of 2016. She is now our Office Manager as of March 2020. She greets visitors and takes phone calls on weekdays and runs the management of the front office.

In addition, Autumn maintains the church calendar, coordinating all space use in the building (both for members, committees and teams, and outside renters). She is the appointed staff member for Building and Grounds Committee as well as the Finance committee.

Autumn is typically in the office Sundays from 9-1, on Tuesday - Friday from 11 AM - 4 PM.

Lindsay Trank (She/Her/Hers) became the Director of Religious Education in July 2016. She works closely with the Religious Education team to plan and implement weekly lessons as part of the Religious Education curriculum. She also works with the Community Fellowship Team to plan whole-congregation events throughout the year. Lindsay coordinates all of our Religious Education and Youth Group volunteers.  Additionally, Lindsay is involved in planning multigenerational worship throughout the year. She also serves as Co-Director of Woodsong Nature School.

Lindsay has over fifteen years of experience working with children.  That experience has included classroom teaching at the fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade levels, working with adults in an ESL program, and tutoring students of all ages.  Lindsay has two lovely children, with whom she enjoys biking, taking walks, and gardening.

Lindsay was born and raised in Rockford.  She graduated from Guilford High School and received her Bachelor’s degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.  She also received her Master’s Degree in Teaching and Leadership from St. Xavier University in Chicago, IL.