Trinity United Methodist Church

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Rev. Jeffrey Childs - Senior Minister

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Born September 20, 1952 in Titusville, PA

Graduated from Titusville High School 1970

Graduated from Penn State with a BS in Medical Technology in 1974

Worked as a laboratory technician at Central Blood Bank in Pittsburgh, PA 1974-5

Served in US Army (Military Intelligence) 1975-9 Trained as a Russian linguist in Monterey, CA then stationed in Augsburg, Germany

Attended seminary at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in Minneapolis, MN 1980-1983 on the GI Bill

Ordained a Deacon in the United Methodist Church in MN in 1982

Pastored three small churches Lamberton/Sanborn/Germantown in rural MN from 1983-8

Ordained an Elder in the UMC in 1985

Moved to a large church in the lake country of northern MN at Park Rapids 1988-1995

Moved to a mid-sized suburban church in Hopkins just west of Minneapolis 1995-2002

Relocated back East as his father was dying of cancer coming to serve at the Wolcott UMC in the North Central New York Annual Conference 2002-3

Called to go serve as the pastor for the Rome First UMC to help the congregation build a new addition onto the church 2003-7

Sent to the Auburn, First UMC to help turn the church around and merge with another local UMC 2007-8

A new opportunity for ministry arose in 2008 with the appointment to serve the Grand Island Trinity UMC with a goal of providing leadership in growing the congregation and strengthening the connection between the conferences of Western and North Central New York

 Rev. Jeffrey B. Childs and  Rev. Robin Blair (http://www.robinblair.com):

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Rev. Sue Kaiser - Retired Pastor

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Rev. Sue Kaiser moved to Grand Island upon retirement in 2002, after 17 years preaching in 4 parishes in WNY. Serving Trinity primarily as their Prayer Ministry Coordinator, Adult Education Teacher, and Worship Dance Coordinator, she has a deep interest in ecumenical relationships and work toward Christian unity/

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Bob is happily retired and lives in Tonawanda. He attends 10:30 worship regularly. He is a renowned consumer of books of all types and loves to discuss any and all topics.

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Born in Buffalo in 1945, moved to Grand Island in 1953, and began attending Trinity Evangelical United Brethren Church, as it was called back then, until moving away from the area. Lived in Rochester, NY; Ontario, Canada; and Silicon Valley, CA.

BA SUNY Binghamton, MS SUNY Brockport, MBA San Jose State (CA), 2-year certificate Managment of Technical Documentation, Multiple Microsoft Certifications, Multiple certificates for psychology of learning, technical course design and development, website design and development, technical documentation design and development, Current NYS Teacher Initial Certification Biology and Chemistry, grades 9-12, with an extension for general science grades 6-8.

Chemistry lab technician (Eastman Kodak), blood bank technician (Strong Memorial Hospital), Computer industry (Tandem Computers Incorporated, Compaq Computer Corporation, Hewlett Packard Corporation, multiple startups):  customer account support, field support, technical and customer course design, development, and instruction, QA, end user software and hardware documentation, engineering software and hardware documentation, including corporate management white papers, project management, group manager.

Currently , Trinity Office Manager full-time.

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Chris Sipson - Office Assistant

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     I guess you could call me a tried and true Grand Islander. I grew up here, and have attended Trinity Church all my life, enjoying Youth fellowship and going to Church camp for many summers as a teenager, and singing in the choir, playing in the band, and participating in the many church activities as an adult.

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Ginny Wilkinson - Youth Co-Director

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I’m excited to be working for Trinity United Methodist Church. I was raised in this church and actively participated in events and activities from middle school through college. It only seems natural to be working here!

I came to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Young Life Ministry. Since then, I have had an active leadership role in both Young Life and Trinity’s Youth Group. In college I was a volunteer leader for Young Life, and helped our previous Associate Pastor, Edward McCutcheon, plan youth events. I have my Associates degree in Early Childhood, and was a Teacher’s Assistant for two and a half years at a Pre-School Special Education Center.

I look forward to creating opportunities for the youth at Trinity to grow spiritually, learn about themselves and each other, and serve one and other. My hope is to create lifelong learners and Disciples of Jesus Christ!

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Paul Sipson - Youth Co-Director

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I am a retired middle school teacher from the Amherst Schools.  For more than 20 years, I directed two youth choirs at Trinity.  Son Light Singers sang at Trinity and at other local churches, as well as toured several times down the East coast and once to California. The other choir was "Joyful Noise," an auditioned ecumenical choir that also sang locally and toured.  I also taught high school Sunday School for 10 years at Trinity.  I still direct the yearly musical at Amherst Middle School.

I am married to Chris (Pinkow) Sipson, and have two children, Todd and Jennifer, and four grandchildren.

Ginny brings youth and vitality to the team, while I bring experience and teaching skills.
 

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Anne Hipp - Senior Adult Ministries

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As the Senior Adult Ministry Coordinator here at Trinity for the past 14 years, my job (part-time) focuses primarily on coordinating and offering training to a group of volunteers, each of whom is paired with an older person from the congregation.  The goal of each visitor is to be an accepting friend to the person he or she visits. Those being visited are older and are confronting  loneliness, illness, being widowed, isolation, adapting to institutional living, etc.  Like the miracle of the loaves and fishes, we have been able to meet these needs of our congregation.  No one need fall between the cracks at this caring church.  Increasingly, I am coordinating programs of particular interest to seniors, such as an upcoming speaker who will demystify the tangle of some of the facets of medicare coverage during the enrollment period.  I am available to help with grief counseling, to assist with nursing home placements and to find resources to help families and individuals if I am not able.

I was born on Long Island, married while in college and graduated in 1968 from Syracuse University.  Our two children, Adriane and Mark, joined my husband and me on the corporate trail for his job, and we lived in Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, before coming to Grand Island in 1992.  I have a social work background which is invaluable in my work, as well as great affection and admiration for the people of Trinity.  

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Jim Welch - Music Director

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 James Welch is well known as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout the Western New York and Central Colorado areas. He is on the faculty at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia (Fredonia, NY) as an accompanist and instructor of Piano. He has accompanied the College Symphony Orchestra, Choirs, vocal student, faculty, and guest artist recitals, as well as Opera and Musical Theater workshops and productions. His teaching duties include group piano class and tutoring sessions.