Senior Pastor x103
Contact
To reach staff directly, use their first [email protected] (e.g. [email protected]) or call 978-475-0321 and use the extension listed below.
South Church has an Advocacy Panel who are available to receive any concerns, complaints, or allegations regarding misconduct, harassment, or abuse of any type. The Panel consists of two trained church members – Donna Schroeder and Eric Stubenhaus – who will treat every concern with seriousness, respect, and confidentiality. In order to contact the Advocacy Panel, you can email the panel here.
Rev. Dana Allen Walsh (she/her/hers) is a pastor & teacher and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. On March 23rd, 2014, South Church unanimously affirmed her call to be the 18th Senior Pastor and first female to hold this role in the church’s 300 year history. Prior to Andover, Dana served for eight years as Minister of Hancock United Church of Christ on the historic battle green of Lexington. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the University of Mary Washington. Dana was raised in Trumbull, CT where her spiritual journey began with the Catholic Church until she felt a sense of call to ministry through UCC youth service trips.
Rev. Genevieve Hosterman (she/her/hers), a native of Pennsylvania, graduated with her Master’s of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 2020. She is a recently ordained minister through Central Association of Penn Central Conference, and received a B.A. from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania in Communication, focusing in public discourse and performance, with a minor in Psychology, focusing in counseling skills.
Cathy Meyer (she/her/hers) works in the Boston area as a full-time musician: performing at the organ and piano, conducting, teaching, and coaching musicians of all levels and ages. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance with a Specialization in Church Music from the University of North Texas and a Master of Sacred Music from Boston University’s School of Theology with a concentration in organ. She is fully certified in the Orff Schulwerk approach to teaching, is the Dean of the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and teaches with their Young Organist Initiative. Meyer is also a Reiki Master Teacher and Acutonics practitioner, working with several modalities including sound healing.
Michaela Barczak (she/her/hers) is a teaching artist, director, and music director currently based in Boston, MA. She is a graduate of Muhlenberg College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Music, with concentrations in directing and choral conducting. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Theatre Education and Applied Theatre at Emerson College and working toward Massachusetts teaching licensure in Pre-K-12 Drama. In addition to directing youth choirs at South Church, Michaela also teaches musical theatre classes, coaches private voice lessons, and works as an early childhood educator. She believes that the arts can be used to help students learn about themselves and the world around them. She strives to enact this mission every place she works.
Shannon Eldridge (she/her/hers) is a voice teacher, theater educator, and performer from Haverhill, MA. She holds a B.M. in Classical Voice Performance from the University of Southern Maine and has been teaching private voice lessons and theater classes for over a decade at a variety of community arts organizations including Pike School (Andover), Acting Out Theatre Co. (Lawrence) The Paige Conservatory for Performing Arts (N Andover), Kaleidoscope Kids (Andover), Creative Arts (Reading), and Wellesley Theatre Project (Wellesley). Shannon owns and operates her private voice studio in Lawrence, MA where she specializes in Musical Theater and other CCM styles and is an active member of NATS – Boston Chapter. She is also a recently certified Music Together teacher! As a performer Shannon has sung with Opera Maine (formerly PORTOpera), Opera Providence, The College Light Opera Company, and locally with Pentucket Players, Inc. and Acting Out Theater Co.
Shannon writes: “My love for singing first began in my church youth choir when I was around 6 or 7, and blossomed into a passion that has lasted a lifetime! To be a part of the South Church Music Ministry is truly a full circle moment for me – to be able to share in the joy of music-making and to enthusiastically lead these amazing kids in the same ways that inspired me as a child.”
Sara Durkin (she/her/hers) is the founder/artistic director of the Merrimack Valley Voices and the former Choral Director and Arts Department Head at North Andover High School. Her choirs have performed in top national choir events, with the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants, and at the NAfME All-Eastern Conference concert hour. Sara has served as the Co-Chair for the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors’ Association Choir Festival, on the MMEA Executive Board, the MA Northeastern District Choir manager, and actively presents at music education seminars and adjudicates local festivals. As a 2017 ACDA International Conductors’ Exchange fellow, she worked with professional choirs in Montevideo, Uruguay Córdoba, Argentina. Since then she hosted both South American conductors several times and has returned to Uruguay to present workshops and concerts.
Sara is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Music Education at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Providence College and her Masters and Education Specialist Degrees in Music Education from Auburn University. She lives in Andover, Massachusetts with her husband and two young children.