2018 Chaplains of the Week

WEEK 1: June 23 - 30

The Rev. Dr. Anita L. Bradshaw

            The Rev. Anita L. Bradshaw, Ph.D. is a consultant, theologian, pastor, trainer, and teacher working with congregations, judicatories, denominations, and non-profits. She has served as a parish pastor, an interim pastor and an interim denominational executive, as well as a consultant. She is currently finishing as the Transitional Pastor at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Minnetonka, MN through the Lutheran-Reformed agreement. She is ordained in the United Church of Christ and a member of Mayflower Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

She is the author of Change and Conflict in Your Congregation (Even If You Hate Both) published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. She has also taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels at several different schools, including Yale University Divinity School, The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, and Hartford Seminary.  

            She holds an M.Div. and an S.T.M. from Yale University in theology and a Ph.D. from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Her fields of study were systematic theology and congregational leadership and life.

            In addition, Ms. Bradshaw has been an activist and educator in urban and social justice ministries.  In 1999, she was awarded a Coffin-Forsberg Fellowship at Yale Divinity School in recognition of her work in those areas.  Aside from her professional interests, she is actively involved in the arts.  She was an incorporating board member of Opera Americana and has sung with One Voice Mixed Chorus, as well as serving on their Board of Directors. 

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WEEK 2: June 30 - July 7

The Rev. Elizabeth Miller

            The Rev. Elizabeth Miller comes to Week Two from East Lansing, Michigan T she is the Pastor of the Edgewood United Church.  She earned her MDiv degree at Andover Newton Theological Seminary.  

            Liz's ministry has focused on helping her local church reflect and act on the issues of the day.  Their current exploration has been around the question of "What does it mean to be anti-racist today?"  This life changing exploration has included a variety of trainings, engaging with books, speakers and making connections with their local Black Lives Matter chapter.  Liz also hopes to further explore her commitment to interfaith dialog and interaction.

            Liz will be join by her spouse Beth Scanlon.

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WEEK 3: July 7 - 14

The Rev. Lauren Buck Medeiros

            The Rev. Lauren Medeiros will be joining us all the way from Hawai'i where she is the Chaplain of the Punahou School in Honolulu.  Punahou School was founded in 1841 by Congregational missionaries.

            With theological (Perkins) and music (Phillips) degrees as well as years of leadership in a variety of small groups, camp and conference ministries, Lauren looks forward to being our musician/storyteller/theologian and pastoral presence in Chautauqua's unique setting.  Given the theme of Week 3, "The Art of Play", Lauren is sure to bring some island flavor to our joyful task of rediscovering the gifts of play.

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WEEK 4: July 14 - 21

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Cole-Turner

            The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Cole-Turner is not a stranger to our Chautauqua community.  For four years her husband, Rev. Dr. Ron Cole-Turner served as Chaplain Administrator.  With her background and passion for counseling and spiritual formation, Rebecca added much to our Society life while living in our Headquarters building.  Our Taize service is thanks to her leadership.  

            Now ordained, Rebecca brings her love for Chautauqua and her faith back to our community. Of particular interest are "hidden disabilities" and her hopes to use her poetry to help all of us explore this important, but often unspoken, ministry. We will also ask her to, please, once again lead our weekly Taize service.

           Rebecca will be joined by her husband, Ron Cole-Turner and two grandchildren - Ben and Caroline.

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WEEK 5: July 21 - 28

The Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer

            The Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, author and theologian, currently serves as ninth General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ.

            Previously, John served as the Conference Minister of the Southwest Conference of the UCC. Prior to his role at the Southwest Conference, Dorhauer served as Associate Conference Minister in the Missouri Mid-South Conference, and also served First Congregational United Church of Christ and Zion United Church of Christ, in rural Missouri.

            Rev.Dorhauer received a B.A. in Philosophy from Cardinal Glennon College (1983), and has a Master of Divinity degree from Eden Theological Seminary (1988), the same year he was ordained in the United Church of Christ. He received a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary (2004), where he studied white privilege and its effects on the church.

            John is passionate about justice. Two statements that shape his theology are: "God is love. God is just." Throughout his ministry, John has embodied the UCC’s vision to create “A just world for all.” On October 17, 2014, Dorhauer conducted the first legal same gender wedding in the state of Arizona when he performed the wedding service of David Laurence and Kevin Patterson. More recently, John initiated the creation of the White Privilege curriculum, which has been downloaded more than 20,000 times.

Under his leadership, the UCC has adopted a new Purpose, Mission, Vision Statement centered on seeking justice for everyone, highlighting the UCC’s core values of Extravagant Welcome, Continuing Testament, and Changing Lives.

            John insists “that the Holy Spirit envisions a future in which the United Church of Christ matters.” During his tenure, he is calling on the denomination to rethink itself and to consider new ways of “being church” in light of institutional religion’s changing landscape and emerging shifts in the generational populations.

            John is the author of, Beyond Resistance: The Institutional Church Meets the Postmodern World (2015) and Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right is Hijacking Mainstream Religion (2007), co- authored with Sheldon Culver.

            Along with his passion for justice, Dorhauer has a love of baseball – specifically the St. Louis Cardinals – music, literature and poetry. He has been married to his wife, Mimi who will join him this week, for nearly 31 years and they have three children and one grandchild.

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WEEK 6: July 28 - August 4

The Rev. Timoth Sylvia

            The Rev. Timoth Sylvia is Senior Pastor of the historic, founded in the 1640s, Newman Congregational UCC and lives in Rumford, Rhode Island.  Timoth brings his commitment to help the church "move beyond its walls" especially in the area of child welfare.  He continues to work in this vital area with the Rhode Island state legislature and many local community groups. 

            Timoth will be on site during Week 5 participating in the Chautauqua Clergy Leadership program and Week 6 as our Chaplain of the Week.  He will be joined by his spouse, Peter Sylvia.

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WEEK 7: August 4 - 11

The Rev. Dr. Carla A. Grosch-Miller

            The Rev. Dr. Carla A. Grosch-Miller is a practical theologian, educator and poet living in Northumberland, England.  She was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1992 after a first career as a poverty and civil rights lawyer.  After serving churches in the Illinois Conference she moved to England where she married David.  She has been a local minister in Oxford and lecturer throughout the United Kingdom.

            Her ministries have focused on inclusion and justice-seeking.  She is interested in the conversation into which we are invited by scripture and what is going on in the world, and our creative responses.  She teaches and writes in the areas of congregational trauma and sexual-spiritual integration, and is an accomplished liturgist and preacher.  Her book Psalms redux: poems and prayers (Canterbury Press, 2014) is available from John Knox Westminster Press.

            Joining Carla will be with her husband, Rev. David Grosch-Miller, who will be our Chaplain for Week 8.

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WEEK 8: August 11 - 18

The Rev. David Grosch-Miller

            The Rev. David Grosch-Miller is a retired minister of the United Reformed Church and lives in Northumberland in the North East of England. He has previously served as a local church minister in Bradford and Leeds, cities in the west of Yorkshire. After serving in the South West of England in a role similar to that of a Conference Minister in the UCC, he acted as Assistant General Secretary in the London Assembly Office. From 2014-2016 he was Moderator of the General Assembly representing the denomination at local, national and international gatherings. He continues to serve in regional and national church roles and is actively involved with partner Presbyterian Churches in Korea in lobbying for a peace agreement for the Korean peninsula.

 

            Carla, David's wife and our Chaplain from Week 7, will also be with us this week.

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WEEK 9: August 18 - 25

The Rev. Dr. Suzanne Schmidt

            The Rev. Dr. Suzanne Schmidt recently retired as Pastor of Trinity UCC in Manchester, Maryland.  She is now focusing on facilitating the Soul of Aging retreats. Before ordination Suzanne was frequently at Chautauqua as a teacher and for her own personal study and enjoyment. She holds a masters in Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

            She is active in the Central Atlantic Conference. Suzanne is the co-author of "Running on Plenty at Work" and co-owned a consulting practice with her best friend, Krista Kurth, before her call to local church ministry. 

            Suzanne is adept at incorporating movies into worship and retreats.  In fact, she will be weaving them into her time with us at Chautauqua during Week 9.

            Suzanne will be joined by her spouse, Daniel Davis.