Who Does What at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church

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Our Ministers, Evan Keely, Interim Senior Minister, and Heather Janules, Associate Minister, Minister for Pastoral Care, are available to church members. They each have training and experience in talking with people struggling with personal difficulties. There is never a charge. Contact anyone of them for an appointment. Ministerial counseling is generally short term. We are fortunate to have many trained professional counselors in this area to whom the ministers are able to refer church members if necessary. Learn more about our ministers: Evan and Heather.

Our Minister of Religious Education, Susan Archer, retired at the end of 2011 after serving our congregation almost ten years. She will be greatly missed but we wish her well in her move to be near her family in North Carolina. To read a farewell note from Susan please click on her name.

For the period of January until June of 2012 while the search is conducted to find an Interim Religious Educator supervision of the Religious Education program will be provided by Linda Gianessi, long time religious education teacher extraordinaire, under the direction of Evan Keely, Interim Senior Minister. Susan Clark will be assisting by coordinating Chapel services.

We are privileged to have Nancy Bird Pellegrini as our Intern Minister this year. She will work with us from August, 2011 until May 2012. Click here to find out more about Nancy.

In addition to counseling, and their obvious focus on providing quality Sunday worship, the ministers are available routinely in a variety of areas. Our associate minister, Heather Janules, has primary responsibility for pastoral care and supervises our lay Pastoral Associates program but Evan and Nancy also make home visits. All the ministers are available to church members for Weddings, Funerals and Memorial Services, and Child Dedications. They keep their own calendars so contact them directly to check availability for specific dates.

Religious Education of children and youth is much more than something that takes place on Sunday mornings. We are, year round, occupied with teacher training, teacher recruitment, and curriculum development. While our Religious Education Council develops and implements policy, general inquiries regarding the program, registration, and scheduling may be directed to the Religious Education Administrators -- Gale Ginther Luce and Jeannette Wilson. They may be reached at RE@cedarlane.org. The Rev. Susan Archer, Minister of Religious Education, provides leadership in this area, and of course, is also available for specific concerns and consultation.

Our senior high youth group will be led by the Senior High Youth Coordinator, Vanessa Steck, who helps the group plan events. The junior high group is led by volunteer John Daniel.

Our Adult Program offerings are among the most extensive of churches in this area. The Adult Programs Committee is always interested in new ideas for programs and individuals who can teach or facilitate them. Jeannette Wilson and Gale Luce, our Religious Education Administrators, support these programs in the area of registration, scheduling, and preparation of the program booklets. You may contact them with inquiries at RE@cedarlane.org.

Our Music Program: We are happy to have Dr. Henry Sgrecci as our Director of Music. Henry directs the Cedar Lane Adult Choir (an adult choir of 50+ singers), the Youth Choirs, the Handbell Choirs (bell ringers), and Gruppo Piccolo (chamber ensemble), when not playing the trumpet. Henry first served as our Interim Director of Music, following the retirement of our longtime Director of Music Ministry, Dick Darne and Mary Darne, our Assistant Director of Music. Henry has been joined by our new Organist & Accompanist, Thomas W.D. Guthrie. Thom plays both organ and piano. Learn more about our Director of Music, Henry Sgrecci.

The Church Administrator is Sara Deshler. Sara has the overall responsibility, under the direction of the Senior Minister, of managing the daily functioning of the church office and coordinating all the administrative and financial activities of the church. Sara supervises the Buildings and Grounds Manager, Mickey Sigsbee, the Administrative Assistant, Sara Davidson, the Database Assistant, Lucy Dubinsky, the Church Accountant, Bruce Marquette, and the Membership Coordinator, Andy Streich. Sara is happy to be available to assist in answering questions or responding to concerns of the congregation in the administrative and financial area. Sara schedules Memorial Services, both for members of the congregation and non members. All ministers perform member memorial services.

Money in all its wonderful and various forms and purposes passes over the desk of and is tracked and recorded by Bruce Marquette, the Church Accountant. Bruce sends out the monthly statements on pledge commitments. Questions regarding pledges, payments, discrepancies, etc., should be directed to Bruce. If the Church Accountant is unable to resolve your question you may always call upon Sara Deshler, or Michael Lentz, the 2011-2012 Treasurer of the church.

The Order of Service is prepared by Sara Davidson, our Administrative Assistant. The Order of Service has the primary purpose of guiding us through the Sunday Service and indicating the names of the individuals who help to make it happen. Other announcements as space permits will be included with priority to the most current.

Responsibility for updating the Cedar Lane Web Site rests with Sara Davidson.

The Church Calendar is kept by Sara Davidson. To place an event on the calendar, call or e-mail Sara at the church office with scheduling requests or questions, ext. 202 or email her at sdavidson@cedarlane.org. Please note we only rent to not-for-profits.

All Weddings, whether for a member or a non-member, are scheduled with Sara Davidson. Members who are planning to be married at the church and wish the services of one of our ministers should contact the minister directly.

The church newsletter, Cedar Lane News, is published on a monthly basis. Submissions should be sent to newsletter@cedarlane.org. The deadline for submissions is noon on the Wednesday before the publication date. The newsletter editors are Nancy Derr and Robin Larkin. Questions about the newsletter may be directed to Sara Davidson at the church office. If you are interested in reducing paper waste as well as newsletter mailing costs you may opt to receive an e-mail notification of when the newsletter is posted to our website by sending Sara an email to that effect. The church electronic newsletter, the Cedar Lane E-News is sent out on Friday afternoons. If you have information to be included in the E-News please send it to newsletter@cedarlane.org by the day before it is published, Thursday, 3 p.m. Additional notifications are sent out by email with specific purposes such as information about about upcoming events or building closures due to weather.

The Church Database and Mailing Lists (including the newsletter, church mailings, RE mailings, Adult Programs, committee lists and others) are maintained by Lucy Dubinsky, the Database-Membership Assistant. If your address or phone number changes, or if you�re going away for an extended period of time, let Lucy know. She will see to it that your mail follows you so you don�t have newsletters piling up on the porch. Lucy can also supply you with mailing list labels for a church-sponsored mailing. In conjunction with these activities, Lucy performs many related tasks including preparing name badges and mailing information packets about the church to people who request them. If you want a name badge or your current one is missing or worn out, drop Lucy a note and she will arrange for one to appear in the name badge rack.

Our Membership Coordinator, Andy Streich, works with our Member Services Committee to help make sure newcomers feel welcome and, eventually, are comfortable enough to join and become a truly integrated part of the church community. Andy works with the Welcome Newcomers talks after each service, the Getting Started classes for folks new to Cedar Lane and the New Member Welcome service.

Mickey Sigsbee is our Buildings and Grounds Manager, reporting to Sara Deshler. He is responsible for the coordination of the maintenance of the church facility and grounds, with support from the Facilities and Grounds Committees. Mickey supervises the custodian, Pedro Diaz.

The Receptionists are all volunteers. They are coordinated by church member Jeanne Pearson. They strive to be aware of scheduled events and can answer routine questions. If you are not sure whom you need to speak with, the receptionists will be able to refer you to the right person. They take messages for the ministers and the staff and provide a warm and welcoming impression of our church to first time callers.