Leaders
Testimony
I’m skeptical about institutionalized religion; nevertheless I'm on the lookout for genuine community that is not self-centered.
Leaders
Christian Coon, Pastor
Chris has been a pastor since 1998 and served two area suburban churches before moving to the city. He’s a native Iowan who worked in the non-profit public relations and journalism fields before going into the ministry. He loves running, blogging (www.genxrev.com), all kinds of music, baseball, ice cream, and, most importantly, his wife, Anne, and two children, Caroline and Ethan. You can read some of his writing in the books “365 Meditations for Young Adults” and “365 Devotionals for Men by Men.”
Trey Hall, Pastor
Trey looked up at the blackboard one day in a college Organic Chemistry course and realized he was never going to be a doctor. Since then he’s been on a haphazard journey of trying to serve God in a different way than he’d originally planned. It’s been a good ride so far. A Southerner by birth and formation, Trey’s been a pastor since 2000 and has served congregations in the United Kingdom and Chicagoland. A reader, runner, coffee drinker, public transit junkie, and very novice guitar student, Trey feels lucky to be living in one of the best cities in the whole world.
Anne Williamson, Pastor of Discipleship
Anne moved to the Chicago area from Indiana 11 years ago. After graduating with a degree in economics from Northwestern, she spent 4 years in the business world before returning to Evanston to study theology. Guess all those electives in the religion department during undergrad were telling! Anne has served several Chicagoland churches. She loves being in nature as well as downtown Chicago – walking through either gives her such joy! She also loves her friends and family – including hubby Todd – and is passionate about living simply, laughing often, and mixing cereals.
Sarah Marie Young, Worship Leader
Sarah is a vocalist, pianist, songwriter and all around imaginative musician. A lover of all styles of music, Sarah began singing in a small Baptist church in Indiana alongside her musical parents. She went on to study classical and gospel voice at Indiana University, took a hiatus from college while playing in an indie rock band, and finally finished her music studies in 2008 at Columbia College for jazz, latin, and blues music. Sarah currently performs all these styles around the city with her husband, Matt. While performing, Sarah’s deep love for God has called her to be a worship leader, and she is so excited to use God’s gifts to inspire others to renew and heal lives through worship.
Matt Young, Worship Leader
Matt is a band leader, bassist, guitarist, and native St. Louisan who moved to Chicago in 2004 and has been blessed ever since. In 2007, he completed his bachelor’s degree in jazz studies at Columbia College. Aside from performing with numerous local jazz musicians, Matt also leads his own band, The Matt Young Group and runs Vivace Music, a small community music school in Lincoln Square with his wife, Sarah. Matt enjoys performing, writing music, playing synth-bass licks from choice Michael Jackson tunes, jammin’ on his 50′s Telecaster, designing websites, and watching “Bones,” “House,” and “The Dog Whisperer” on Hulu. Matt needs to start running with Chris and Trey, ASAP!
Teran Loeppke, Deacon
Teran is an ordained deacon serving in the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. Urban Village is his second ministry appointment. His primary full-time appointment is as Community Organizer at Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp., a bricks and mortar developer of affordable housing and community based organization. Teran is very excited to be a part of Urban Village because it is a community that values authenticity, that encourages him and others to be and discover their true selves with one another and with God.
Emily Jones, Seminary Intern
Emily is relatively new to this wonderful city, having moved here in August 2009. She studies at Chicago Theological Seminary and works part-time at a local education non-profit. Before moving to Chicago, she was an organizer for the healthcare worker’s union in Connecticut. Passionate about issues of spirituality and social justice, she is delighted to be one of this year’s Urban Village interns.
Tim Kim, Seminary Intern
Tim is studying to get his Master of Divinity and Master of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He is originally from Los Angeles and is therefore a weather snob who doesn’t understand the workings of humidity and snow (not to mention rain, wind, thunder, and lightening). Tim dislikes drivers who don’t give you the thank you wave when you let them in, when it rains while he is wearing suede shoes, and ketchup on anything but french fries (especially on rice). He drinks 3-4 cans of diet coke a day and wishes he had a dog named Mr. Marbles.
Jon Reynolds, Seminary Intern
Jon is a 24 year old seminary student at Garrett Evangelical-Theological Seminary in Evanston. He is originally from Michigan just north of Detroit. Jon is a very active person who enjoys team sports, especially baseball, but he has also been getting into cycling lately. In college he dreamed of opening a bookstore called “The Morning Start,” which he hopes someday will serve as a place where people have permission to vocalize their deep questions about faith. Jon gets excited about social and environmental justice, and appreciates helping people talk and explore their faith.
Jonathan Dean, Theologian-In-Residence
Jonathan was born in industrial Dudley, in the U.K., and raised in rural Cambridgeshire, in the beautiful ancient city of Ely. He studied Classics at the University of Oxford and theology at the University of Cambridge, where he completed his Ph.D. in Reformation Studies. Ordained in the British Methodist Church, Jonathan has served churches both in the U.K. and in the Chicago area, and worked in Britain as a prison chaplain in a high-security jail. Presently, he teaches Religion at Aurora University, teaching courses on spirituality, Jewish and Christian responses to the Holocaust, world religions, and survey courses in Christian history.