Gwendolyn Jones
Director of Congregational Engagement
Meet
Our Staff
Dr. Roderick W. Harden, Sr.
Minister of Music/UMM President
Assistant to the pastor
Min. Kim Blue
The Assistant to the Pastor serves as the chief liaison between the pastor and entities beyond the local congregation. The individual works on special projects as assigned by the Pastor or as requested by Office of the Pastor staff and other respective ministries in the life of the church. Specifically with respective to special projects, the individual is responsible for crafting messaging, marketing and media plans these projects that the church is embarking upon. The individual researches and serves as the lead grant writer to procure funding opportunities that support various projects and initiates the church may be embarking upon.
In addition, the individual keeps their pulse on what is going on in the larger world sphere and advises the Pastor and Office of the Pastor team about issues of that fall in line with Social Principles of the local and global church. They are responsible for cultivating opportunities for the membership at large to participate in advocacy around these particular initiatives.
The individual works to ensure proper time management of the Pastor's day to day schedule. The individual provides care and support to the pastor and pastor's family. The individual also leads the hospitality efforts with respect to guests of the pastor or church at-large.
director of Congregational Engagement
Gwendolyn "Patra" Jones
The Director of Congregational Engagement has the primary task of coordinating opportunities for members of the congregation to make the shift to being active disciples of Jesus Christ through Christian formation groups. The individual helps to create opportunities for members to have experiences that deepen their spiritual development. The individual also assists the members in getting connected to the life of the church through participation in ministries that highlight their respective talents skills and abilities.
The Director of Congregation Engagement regularly assesses the needs of the congregation to provide programming that address course of life needs of membership as a whole. Whether is be preparing for retirement, estate planning or end of life care to child care, learning how to salsa dance or perform CPR, the Director of Congregational Engagement sees to it that the needs of the total member are fully met beyond what they experience on Sunday morning.
The individual connects the church with mission opportunities locally and beyond to ensure that members of the church are fully active in making a different in the lives of people beyond the four wall of the church.
director of Community partnerships
Samontra Brightful
The Director of Community Partnerships has the primary task of facilitating relationships between the congregation, civic, business and non-profit organizations that have a direct impact on the well being of the community surrounding the church. The individual assesses the needs of the community to inform the church how they can better serve the residents. The individual regularly keep the church informed of opportunities for leadership to represent the church at various forums that allows the congregation to communicate its mission and vision on a broader platform.
The Director of Community Partnerships establishes and maintains a network of resources that can be utilized to provide congregation and community with information needed to meet their day-to-day needs. The individual makes this information known to the Church Administrator and other ministry leadership for timely dissemination to the church at-large. In addition, the individual helps to organize opportunities to give back to the community at-large through service and resources.
The Director of Community Partnerships also serves as the official liaison between the church and the Evergreen Community Association.
director of strategic planning
Brenda Pittman
The Director of Strategic Planning has the primary task of regularly challenging the Unified Board in its work of preparing for the church that does not currently exists. The individual leads the assessment of the church’s overall performance with respect to its ability to remain relevant in light of the current needs of people in the world at-large. The individual helps to ensure that whatever the church does is done in a spirit of excellence
The Director of Strategic Plannings helps the entire church and individual ministries acknowledge growing edges, while establishing plans that offer improvement opportunities through short and long term goals. The individual highlights strengths and encourages development of similar skill sets or knowledge bases that enable the church to fulfill its mission (what we exist to do) “Seek, Serve and Stand in Solidarity with Our Neighbor” and vision (what we can be when we live out our mission) A Center for Revitalization of the Whole Person and Community.
From time to time the Director of Strategic Planning with bring in outside entities that help to shift the congregation in being forward thinking in their approach to doing ministry. They will coordinator church-wide workshops and small group or individual training that will help improve the overall experience of being part of the Union Memorial Family.