Staff
 |
Melanie Miller - Pastor |
|
Dr. Robert A. Chase - Director of Music |
Melanie Miller- Pastor
The Rev. Melanie Miller has a long history of social justice advocacy. She has organized
numerous poverty housing trips to Nicaragua in order for area youth to explore economic
justice issues. She also organized a trip to Kenya to engage in environmental justice with
the Green Belt Movement and Wangari Maathai, 2004’s Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Melanie is an advocate and a
community leader in women’s reproductive rights. She serves on Planned Parenthood Hudson
Peconic’s Board of Director’s, as well as on their Executive Board and as chair of the Board
Development/Nominating committee. She is the United Nations non-governmental organization
representative for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She also serves on the
Clergy Advisory Board for New York state’s Family Planning Advocates.
Currently, Melanie
is completing her Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Counseling at Drew University.
Her dissertation explores issues of reproductive justice and keeping our faith
communities safe from predatory and unsafe behavior.
Rev. Melanie Miller joins the
Church in the Highlands after a year of working in the field of immigration law, before which
she served, for seven years, at the First Congregational Church of Chappaqua as their Minister
for Families. Before coming to New York, Melanie served several small, rural churches in Maine
and was a hospice chaplain.
Dr. Robert A. Chase - Director of Music
The choir of the Church in the Highlands is directed by Robert Chase. Dr. Chase is the author of several books, a number of published articles and is a Graduate of Boston University, Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. He has served the Church in the Highlands for over 30 years and has been on the Pace University faculty for nearly as many years.
Laurie Flynn - Director of Religious Education
The Director of Religious Education at the Church in the Highlands is Laurie Flynn. She was born and raised in White Plains, New York, attending a local Episcopal Church where she taught before coming to the Church in the Highlands.
Laurie has been teaching at the Church in the Highlands for twenty years. Her three grown children attended both the Early Childhood Center and the church school program.
During Laurie's tenure, she has trained teachers, directed plays and pageants, and has encouraged and mentored the children of the church.
