Our Minister, Staff, and Affiliated Community Ministers

Heads up about scams.

Common things to check:
  • Spelling errors or odd usage of the language
  • Persons acting uncharacteristically (i.e. a scam impersonating our minister and asking to complete a deal discreetly, which is definitely now how our minister operates)
  • The email domain, and how to expand the top section to show the email address itself. It may say Aline, but comes from <notAline@summerlove67.scam>.
  • Is a common signature missing or incorrect?
  • Using old or expired information

 Please feel free to check with us about any emails that claim to come from any staff or leadership of the church. 

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Rev. Tracy Springberry, Minister

Rev. Tracy Springberry (she/her) believes in the power of religious community to changes lives and the world.  She believes kindness and love transform us, and that we become closer to what matters through spiritual practice.  She believes wisdom can be found everywhere if you pay attention.

She is a Unitarian Universalist because she values the inherent worth and dignity of each person and interdependent web of existence.

She feels blessed to be a minister because she gets to hang out with babies, elders and everyone in-between, and when she is not doing that she gets to read interesting books.

She is the mother of four children, and is co-editor of and a contributor to Chaos, Wonder and the Spiritual Adventure of Parenting: An Anthology.

 

Minister’s Office Hours

Have a question about being UU? Curious about what shared ministry means? Need to talk about a tough issue and get some loving support? Rev. Tracy is keeping regular office hours on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Any WHUUFer is welcome to make an appointment on Calendly. 

 

Liz Hart, Director of Religious Education

Liz Hart (she/he/they), a queer farmer and parent born and raised in the Willamette Valley, has been a Unitarian Universalist for over 8 years and as Director of Religious Education believes in teaching children how to be in community and navigate a world they create with our shared values.

John Boelling, Music Director

John Boelling (he/him) is an Oregon native who has been singing and teaching professionally in the Portland area since 2003. He holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Florida State University and was mentored in choral conducting by Mark Slegers at the First Unitarian Church of Portland. John founded a women’s choir there in 2011, now named the Amity Treble Choir, and is happy to be director of WHUUF’s Choristers.

image of a white haired woman in dark glasses and a purple t-shirt

Jen Fife-Adams, Congregational Administrator

Jen Fife-Adams (she/her) has been active in social justice work for many years but has most recently led the non-profit Planting Seeds Community of Beaverton along with congregation member Roger Golliver, where they support local refugee and asylum-seeker youth. She has also co-chaired the board of HomePlate Youth Services, a Washington County non profit supporting home insecure youth between the ages of 12 – 24 and worked at the Arts & Communications Magnet Academy, an arts-focused school in the Beaverton School District. When she isn’t working, Jen loves to read, knit, and take long walks with her two dogs, husband Steve and two kiddos. Please email Jen at admin@whuuf.org and she’ll endeavor to get back to you as quickly as she can.

 

 

 

 

 

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WHUUF’s Affiliated Community Ministers

Affiliated Community Ministers are ordained Unitarian Universalist ministers who work on behalf of our UU values beyond the walls of an individual church. Each community minister affiliates with a UU congregation (however, they are not staff members). WHUUF’s Affiliated Community Ministers are:

 

Rev. Leslie Becknell Marx

Rev. Leslie Becknell Marx’s (she/her) ministry is supporting leaders to foster organizations of equity, inclusion, and innovation through trainings and coaching. Leslie also serves Wy’east UU Congregation as their quarter-time minister.

 

 

 

 

Rev. Mira Kepler

Rev. Mira Kepler (she/her, nee Mickiewicz) is a community minister with interests in rites of passage, consciousness, nature ministry, and birth and death work. She is in the midst of a yearlong training through UC Berkeley to become a licensed psilocybin facilitator in the State of Oregon. She was previously an Intern and Summer Minister at the First Unitarian Church of Portland, and supported WHUUF in hosting Chalice Camp, a UU summer camp for children and youth. She lives in the woods in Columbia County with her husband, Ian.