A Worship Associate is part of a worship team and each Associate works with support.  Approximately one month prior to their chosen service, the Associate and Minister each contribute personal reflections and research. The Associate is responsible for writing significant portions of the Sunday service. During the second year, an Associate may be responsible for cooperatively creating an entire service for a guest speaker or giving the sermon.

Over the course of 20 years, approximately 50 past Associates include a diversity of people. They have brought the richness of their life experiences, with the perspective of their race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity. Associates have included those who were in high school, university students, parents with young children, those who are retired, and our elders.  

Although this is not a full listing of our Associates through the years, here are some members and friends who have served. 

Ruth Fisher Hall, Betsy Raymond, Steve Burns, Sarah Larkin, Heather Swain, Donna Sachs, Meghan Kelly, Chuck Halsted, Jaki Leiva Conklin, Grainne Grant, Leonie Pickett, Becky & Bryan Plude, Cliff Ohmart, Susan Steinbach, Sandy Westfall, Alex Lee-Jobe, Ben Bazor, Mollie Napier, Elli Norris, Jeff Lefkoff, Emily Burstein, Nancy Kays, Lily Roberts, Gordon Lane, Kathy Tucker, Tamara Range, Anne Hillman, Nancy Jungerman, Stacie Frerichs, Autumn Labbe-Renault, Ray Coppock, Vatrena King, Carlena Wike and many more!


2020-21 Worship Associates:

Sarah Larkin, I applied to be a Worship Associate because I was I was terrified to speak in public. I didn’t believe I was capable of it. Having a safe space to practice self reflection, writing, and public speaking has been a life changing experience for me.

 

 

Mollie Napier, You probably have seen my kids sharing cars with everyone and cheerfully running to Sunday school.  I became a Worship Associate in the hopes of getting to know the church and the people here better.  I wasn’t expecting to learn so much about Zoom, but that had been an extra experience.

 

 

Cliff Ohmart, I am one year into my term as Worship Associate and it has been all that I had hoped for when I joined. It has given me time to think deeply about important and challenging topics and how I feel about them. It has also been great developing services with Reverends Beth and Morgan, as well as with the other wonderful and thoughtful Worship Associates.

 

 

Susan Steinbach, I’m enjoying being a WA for the second time, love the camaraderie with other Associates, the ministers,  and the worship team.  Keeps me on my toes technologically and challenges my thinking and my perspective.  The upside of COVID is that our congregations stays in touch on zoom, carving a new way of being together during the pandemic.