Our Pastor

"I was completely taken by the life and work of Jesus Christ.”  

Born  in Massachusetts, Rev. Amy was raised in Rochester, NY.  She and her family have a background in the Episcopal church.  They attended a Pittsford, NY, Episcopal church for quite some time, where they were  under the ministry of a well-liked minister, “Father Ed” Elliott.  Rev.  Amy was very much impacted by the worship at that church, including  communion, sermons, prayers, and liturgies.  She was also asked to preach a sermon during a Youth Sunday, a fact at which she continues to  marvel.

Father  Ed passed away while Rev. Amy was in High School.  Not long after, her  family moved to a downtown Rochester, NY, congregation.  Rev. Amy says  the church family there was, “a small, mixed congregation of everything  from seminary professors to homeless folks.”  There, she was again  affected by the ministry – both physically and spiritually – and is  still affected by the experience.

It  was during college that Rev. Amy felt an increased pull towards  ordained ministry.  A critical turning point in her future came during  the last year of her undergraduate studies.  Originally, she was headed  for a Ph.D. in Anthropology; however, needing to fill one more requirement, she chose to take an “Introduction to New Testament” class over an art class. She says about that choice, “That decision changed my life. It was during that course that I read the gospels in their entirety for the first time… I was completely taken by the life and work of Jesus Christ.” After receiving her undergraduate degree, she decided to attend Colgate-Rochester Divinity School. There, she ended up receiving a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. Following that, she received her second Master’s degree – a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary.

Due  to a significant amount of female ministerial candidates in the  Episcopal denomination in Rev. Amy’s home area of Rochester, she decided  to investigate the United Methodist Church as an option for ordained  ministry.  In 1989, she became a United Methodist, and in 1990, she  became a United Methodist pastor (having finished her Master of  Divinity).  In 1991, she was ordained a Deacon, followed by ordination  as an Elder in 1993.

As  a minister, Rev. Amy has seen a wide variety of congregation sizes,  ages, and social statuses.  About this, she says, “all of these good  Christian souls have inspired me.”  She is welcoming towards both  traditional and more contemporary styles of worship, though she trends  traditional.  She also prefers to follow the United Methodist Book of  Worship as a guide for planning services and she says, “I do feel that  good liturgy, preaching and teaching is critical to the local church.”   Rev. Amy has also learned, by way  of studying for a doctorate, “to look beneath the surface of  congregational life in striving to understand why congregations are the  way they are.” Rev. Amy sums up her strengths as a minister in this way:

My  greatest gifts in the local church are easily worship, teaching and  preaching.  I am a very strong biblical preacher, and seek to make the  scriptural message relevant to contemporary life.  I enjoy visiting  hospital and home-bound church members, and relating to a variety of age  ranges.  I enjoy training and enabling laity to live out their God-given gifts and graces for service to God, the local church, and the  world.  I also enjoy having fun with my church members, studying the [B]ible with them, and working alongside them in a spirit of  resurrection joy.

Rev.  Amy has a close-knit family consisting of her husband, Denny, two daughters, Sarah and Ellen, her mother (on the Eastern Shore), and her sister, Ivy, and family in Virginia.  She also has several animals – some rescued – including dogs and horses.  She enjoys books, classical music, needlepoint, piano, and talking with God. 

May we join with Rev. Amy in ministry to each other and the world in God’s name!