I create and deliver programming to church leadership-- clergy, laity, and seminarians—that seeks to recover God enfleshed as a central premise of Christianity by both critiquing sexual repression and by encouraging sex positive perspectives through performance and small group facilitation.
Current Position
General Minister & President of the Christian Association, an ecumenical Protestant campus ministry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Education
D.Min. and M.Div. from Chicago Theological Seminary; foci: pastoral counseling and reinvigorating the small church.
M.S. Sociology from Illinois State University; focus; "Exposure to Religion and the Sexual Double Standard."
B.S.; Sociology with a minor equivalency in Sex Education.
Certified by the Unitarian Universalist Church to teach Our Whole Lives Sexuality Curriculum for grades 7-9.
Pastoral Experience
Served as pastor for six years in a local church in central Illinois.
Performances/Workshops
Developing a Successful Sexuality Ministry for Young Adults, a comprehensive teaching workshop that summarizes various highlights of a sex-positive campus ministry, Episcopal Province Three College Chaplains, June 2007, Rehobeth, MD.
Conversations on Sex the Church is Avoiding, a series of workshops to address topics seldom discussed in Church, Fall 2006 and Spring 2007
An Irreverent Journey: From Eggbeaters to Vibrators, a one-woman performance at Philadelphia Fringe Festival, September 2006.
God as Eros, a four-week series exploring the interweaving of passion (Eros), spirituality, peace, and justice. Fall 2005.
Discovering God as Eros, A Biblical and Theological Study, a 12 week series exploring biblical and theological mandates for a new Christian sexual ethics, Spring 2005
"The Sacred and the Erotic, a four-week series exploring the intersection of spirituality and sexuality. Spring 2004.
Women’s Erotic Empowerment and What Every woman Should Know About her Erotic Power, an intergenerational discussion series for empowering women of faith. Fall 2002, spring 2003.
Liberating our Sensual Selves, Faith works Philly Style, Penn Southeast Conference of the UCC Oct. 1992
Sex @ Penn: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, a workshop for fraternity pledges, Spring 2010.
Moving Beyond the Lust and Plumbing Conversation, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, January 2010.
God in the Bedroom, UCC young adults, Kutztown, PA.
Preachers and Politicians in an Overcrowded Bedroom, Bucks County Community College, Sept, 2009.
Organizing founder of The Madonna Mamas, a feminist acapella trio singing songs of spirit and justice.
Performed contemporary gospel concerts as one-woman shows in central Illinois.
Professional Memberships And Board Experience
Founding Member of the Philadelphia Progressive Clergy, 1998.
Member and Co-chair, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgendered Center, University of Pennsylvania, 2000-2002.
Member of the African American Resource Center Board at the University of Pennsylvania.
Member of the Women’s Center Advisory Board at the University of Pennsylvania.
Member and Chair of the Advisory Board of The Other Side magazine.
Recognition
Honored by the Lesbian and Gay Law Policy Center for helping to pass the Domestic Partnership Act in Philadelphia.
Clergy Participant in Legislative Hearing on Emergency Contraception Bill #288, Harrisburg PA, June 2007.