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Three new Acting Associate Conference Ministers named

by Tiffany Vail, Associate for Communication and Communication Technologies

August/September 2007

Conference Minister and President Jim Antal has named three

new Acting Associate Conference Ministers to work regionally with churches and Committees on Ministry as part of a major transition plan for Conference staff.

• The Rev. Wendy Vander Hart, currently the pastor at Melrose Highlands Congregational Church, will serve as full-time Acting Associate Conference Minister working with the churches and the Committee on Ministry of the Metropolitan Boston Association as well as the churches of the North Sector of the Central Association.

• The Rev. Carol Atwood-Lyon, currently the Senior Pastor of Hampstead Congregational Church, UCC in Hampstead, NH, will serve as half-time Acting Associate Conference Minister working with churches and Committees on Ministry in the two Associations in Northeast Massachusetts.

• The Rev. Jill Graham, currently the pastor at the First Congregational Church of North Adams, will serve as the half-time Acting Associate Conference Minister working with the churches in the four Associations in Western Massachusetts, especially churches transitioning through the search and call process.  She has also accepted a call to serve as Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Sheffield on a half-time basis.

In all three cases, the appointments are on an acting basis, which means the three women are eligible to apply for settled posts in the future.

These appointments come during a major period of transition in the Conference, with the departure of two regionally deployed Associate Conference Ministers and a shift in responsibility for others in response to a new visioning process and tighter financial times.

“Transitions are always difficult,” Antal said. “But when they go well – as I’m confident this one will – it’s because all involved are committed to moving in a positive direction. My conversations with Wendy, Jill and Carol – along with the time I have spent throughout the Conference – give me great confidence that everyone involved wants to strengthen our covenantal bonds and the witness we bear as the United Church of Christ.”

Vander Hart takes the place of Associate Conference Minister Tom Clough, who after serving the Conference for six years has accepted a call to pastor the Edgecomb Congregational Church in Edgecomb, Maine. Clough will continue to serve the Conference until August 17, and Vander Hart will begin on September 19.

Atwood-Lyon is taking the place of Associate Conference Minister Mike Penn-Strah, who after five-years with the Conference has accepted a call as South Central Connecticut Regional Minister for the Connecticut Conference.

“While losing Tom and Mike is a big loss by any measure, we are so fortunate to have attracted candidates as highly qualified as Wendy, Jill and Carol,” Antal said. “As is obvious from their bios, they bring an incredible amount of experience and familiarity with the things that make Massachusetts unique in the way we do ministry.”

Graham will be assisting Peter Wells in working with the Western Area churches, as Wells is taking on the added responsibility of coordinating and resourcing Mission and Justice Work. That work was formerly done by Associate Conference Minister Paul Nickerson in addition to his work on evangelism. Nickerson was originally asked to give up the mission and justice work and take on the Associate Conference Minister responsibilities in the Northeast in addition to his evangelism work, but he declined, saying he does not feel he has the gifts for that type of work. He will continue serving the Conference on a half-time basis working on evangelism, vitality and new church starts.