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Reverend John Wesley Taylor, Senior Pastor Reverend John Wesley Taylor was appointed Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in July 2006. He graduated from Boston University School of Theology in 1990 and has been a life long Methodist, as his father, the Reverend Blaine Taylor, also served churches in the New England Conference. Pastor John began his formal career in ministry as a student Pastor at Edgartown United Methodist Church and Chilmark Community Church on Martha's Vineyard in 1986. As a full-time pastor, Pastor John served two years of full-time ministry on Martha's Vineyard and was appointed to First United Methodist Church of Hudson, MA, where he met his wife, Nancy. Pastor John and his family have most recently been serving the Crawford Memorial United Methodist Church in Winchester, MA. Pastor John and his wife Nancy have two children, Shaw, age 8, and Ashley, age 6. The Taylors look forward to getting to know everyone at First UMC and meeting new friends in the Westborough area. |
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Reverend Leigh Dry, Associate Pastor Reverend Leigh Dry was appointed at First United Methodist Church to begin worship and Bible study in the Hopkinton/Holliston area. She is a graduate of Purdue University, with a Masters degree from Montclair State University. She completed her M.Div. from Boston University in December 2002. Leigh and her husband Dave reside in Hopkinton with their children, Matthew and Steven. |
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Debbie Hennings, Director of Christian Education First UMC is blessed to have Debbie serving with us as Director of Christian Education. In this role, she is responsible for leading an outstanding Sunday School program at First UMC, with the help of many loving, committed teachers and parents. Debbie looks at her work at First UMC as a natural extension of being a Christian, and draws energy from the children, enjoying their wonder and awe which adults can sometimes forget. She takes great care in understanding the psychology of learning, and in creating a safe, supportive, and loving environment in which children can be free to learn about God’s love for them in their own lives. Debbie’s professional experience includes roles as director of Christian education, youth coordinator, and pre-K teacher in faith communities from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Antwerp, Belgium. She is a graduate of The University of Nebraska at Lincoln, has studied at the graduate level in child psychology, and has completed continuing education courses in teaching, with courses on disciplinary issues and conflict resolution. Debbie and her husband Steve have one son, Chris, who is currently studying at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. |
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Reverend Elizabeth Kubota , Director of Music Ministry God has blessed First UMC with Elizabeth Kubota’s musical talents since 1996. She coordinates the music ministry at First UMC, leading the sanctuary choir, the Jubilate Deo ladies’ choir, the flute choir, and the orchestra, in addition to accompanying other groups and serving as our organist. Elizabeth possesses a life-long love of music and working with musicians of all ages. Ordained in the Order of Deacon, Elizabeth seeks to extend God’s grace through her music ministry from the church into the world, working as a music teacher in the public schools and with private students of all ages and abilities. Having discerned God’s call for her in church music ministry while yet a high school student, Elizabeth began her formal education in music at Minnesota State University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in music education. Elizabeth studied at the Vienna Academy of Music in Austria and completed recitals in both voice and organ. In addition to her work at First UMC, Elizabeth enjoys teaching music in the Westborough Public Schools and also offers private music instruction (in piano, voice, harp, organ, and guitar) through Apple Tree Arts, a non-profit organization in Grafton dedicated to education in music and theatre arts. In the second phase of her formal education, Elizabeth recently graduated from the Boston University School of Theology with Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Music degrees, including a graduate organ recital in 2004. She was ordained as a full member of the New England Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Order of Deacon, in 2009. Elizabeth and her husband Morio have two children: Brian is a 2004 graduate of Boston University and is working in the Boston area. Anne is a junior at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, studying architecture. |
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Joan Olson, Parish Nurse As our parish nurse, Joan Olson approaches health care from a wholistic perspective, promoting health and well-being as an integration of body, mind, and spirit. Parish nursing exists at the powerful intersection of health and spirituality, and we are fortunate to have Joan with us in this role. Joan has served as parish nurse at First UMC since 1999, and has helped many in our congregation, old and young alike, through various health concerns and treatments. Joan uses a combination of information, prayer, and caring to ease the anxiety that can sometimes accompany medical treatment. She can help to navigate and demystify health care and has, on occasion, even provided additional home visits as a followup to hospital discharges. Preventive health teaching to assist others in having optimal health and helping parishioners draw on God’s gifts to them is Joan's primary role. On a monthly basis, Joan and the Health and Welfare Ministry staff a blood pressure clinic on Sundays, and help to remind us to take responsibility for our own health care. Joan is a registered professional nurse. She received her R.N. from St Barnabas in Minneapolis, her B.S.N. from The University of Wisconsin, and completed her Parish Nurse Basic Course at Boston College. |
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Cynthia Hamburger, Director of Handbells Since founding the handbell ministry at First UMC in 1984, Cynthia has blessed our worship through her leadership with handbell choirs for all ages and levels of experience. She currently leads handbell groups at First UMC for experienced adult ringers as well as two youth ensembles for students in fourth grade and up. (Alice Morrison currently leads a beginner adult bell choir.) Cynthia also offers short-term opportunities for children in Sunday School, women (at Valentine's Day), and men (for Mother's Day). The handbell programs are most widely known for their annual Christmas concert, held for the community in early December each year. Her handbell ministry has extended beyond First UMC, as Cynthia held the position of Massachusetts State Chair of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers for 6 years. She served on the organizing committee for the Massachusetts Youth Spring Ring for 13 years, 9 of them as chair. Cynthia teaches music at the elementary school level in the Westborough Public Schools has taught piano privately for several years. She holds a bachelor's degree in Music Education from West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Cynthia resides in Westborough with her husband Vic. They are 30-year members of First UMC and have two adult children, Jim and Laura. |