Welcome our new regional staff members!

We are pleased to announce that we have called three new regional staff members. These talented people, along with our Interim Co-Directors of the Christian Conference Center, will focus on many of the responsibilities that previously were handled by Rev. Tiff Williams, our former Associate Regional Minister, and Lori Krase-Cayton, our former Administrative Coordinator for Ministries.

Rev. Katie Hainline

Rev. Katie Hainline was ordained in the Upper Midwest Region in 2013 and has served churches in our region since 2015. She is currently the minister of Runnells Christian Church. She joins the Upper Midwest staff as the part-time Interim Associate Regional Minister for Camp and Connection because of her love for our region's camping ministries. Since coming to our region, she has counseled or directed camp every year and she even had her wedding reception at the Christian Conference Center! Katie knows the Christian Conference Center is Holy Ground and wants to help create sacred spaces and memories for the campers and volunteers who gather here.

Katie's primary responsibilities will include coordinating summer camp, resourcing the Camp Council and Upper Midwest Youth Council, and helping with regional communications. She began serving on October 16.

Rev. Andrea Brownlee

Rev. Andrea Brownlee earned her Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Mount Union College; Alliance, Ohio in 2004 and her Master of Divinity degree from Lexington Theological Seminary; Lexington, Kentucky in 2007. Andrea was ordained into Christian ministry through the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in West Virginia on June 30, 2007. She is currently in the process of completing the Spiritual Direction Certificate program at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga.

Because of her work in spiritual direction and discernment, Andrea is looking forward to serving in the part-time role of Interim Associate Regional Minister of Vocations. She is looking forward to working with Ordination and Commissioning candidates as they discern God’s call to ministry as well as with congregations in the region discerning what they hope to find in a pastoral candidate. Andrea currently serves as the Pastor at First Christian Church, Perry and is beginning to establish a practice as a Spiritual Director. In her "free time" Andrea enjoys reading, spending time with family and friends, cooking, being in nature, serving as a volunteer firefighter and first responder. She lives in Perry, Iowa with her husband Brandon and their dog Charlie.

Andrea's primary responsibilities will include resourcing our regional Committee on Ministry, working with candidates discerning calls to ministry and our Commissioned Minister Education Program (CMEP), and supporting congregations and ministers in the search and call process. She will begin on November 1.

Rev. Lisa Grace

Rev. Lisa Grace graduated with her M.Div. from Eden Theological Seminary in 2012 and was ordained in 2018. She completed her intentional interim training through Interim Ministry Network in 2019 and has served as an intentional interim in three different regions. She moved to the Upper Midwest with her cat Bigfoot in 2020 to serve as Altoona Christian Church’s intentional interim minister. She loves working with people during transitional times and is looking forward to being part of this exciting time in the region as the part-time Transitional Executive Regional Minister.

In addition to offering some intentional interim resourcing for our region's ministries, Lisa's primary responsibilities will include providing administrative support for Operations Council and large regional events, providing key support for regional finances, maintaining the regional database and records, and overseeing our primary regional phone and email address. She will begin on November 1.

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