News and Views
Welcome Rev. Tom and Jennifer Williams!
As promised, here is further information about our new Interim Pastor, Rev. Tom Williams. Tom will begin his position at Trinity sometime between mid-June and July 1st. Below is brief biographical information about Tom, in his own words:
Thomas L. Williams - A Brief Biography
I was born not in a stable nor a log cabin but a small town in Kansas, sort of the Lake Woebegone of the Sunflower State - Marysville. My faith journey was never to Damascus but always in a community of believers as I was raised in the Presbyterian tradition and privileged to learn among and from farmers, teachers, bankers, mail carriers, and housewives what it meant to believe and to be Presbyterian. With a slight but very impactful detour to Vietnam where I sojourned as a light weapons infantryman, I followed the “normal path” of the small town child, graduating from high school, attending and graduating from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. From there, I headed southeast attending and graduating from the denomination’s most progressive and best seminary in Louisville where I won the prestigious award for community involvement (that means they were glad I finally got out of there and they wouldn’t have to listen to me again – it should have gone to the faculty for their patience). 
I was ordained in 1976 as the Executive Director of South Louisville Community Ministries by the Presbytery of Louisville (a union Presbytery, so you can blame both denominations). I have spent most of my “career” doing tent-making ministries in Milwaukee, serving small congregations as a part-timer while working full time for various other businesses. I have served as the Interim Minister at Sun Valley Presbyterian Church in Beloit, First Presbyterian Church in Fond du Lac, Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison, and North Shore Presbyterian Church in Shorewood – all in Wisconsin. I am currently the Interim Minister for the St. John’s United Churches of Christ in Hartford and Slinger, Wisconsin.
In addition, I am married to Jennifer who is the Circulation Supervisor for the Whitefish Bay Public Library. While two of our children have moved away going as far east or west as possible (one in NYC designing clothing for Macy’s and one in Aberdeen, Washington restoring salmon habitat for the Quinault Indian Tribe) our youngest is completing two masters degrees at Badger U (the University of Wisconsin-Madison). Duchess the cat, who is truly queen of all she surveys, continues to allow us to live with her but for how long is anyone’s guess.
We look forward to our move southward and enjoying St. Louis with its culture, restaurants, and Cardinals though visits by the Brewers will bring no little amount of inner-anxiety and mixed loyalty. But mostly, I do truly look forward to doing ministry with you and enabling you all to call a new minister without haste and with a vision of new leadership and renewed commitment to the continued life and ministry of Trinity. Thank you for this opportunity.
Guest Preacher This Week
This week we welcome back the Rev. James Hartley. A retired Presbyterian minister, Jim began his ministry as a solo pastor in two small churches in Iowa. They taught him much! Later he served a 350+ member church in Indianapolis as Head of Staff. Most of his ministry came in two separate churches, each in a near-in suburb of Chicago, where he served as an Associate Pastor with responsibilities in Adult Education, Mission, and Pastoral Care. For the 13 years prior to retirement part of his responsibility was as a Stephen Leader, supervising Stephen Ministers in one-on-one lay pastoral care. He currently serves on the Presbytery Committee on Ministry. Jim and his wife Ginny reside in the city near their youngest grandchildren and the parents nurturing them. They have three sons spread out around the country.
Worship Workshops
--Ron Norgard
“Worship is at the very heart of the church’s life. All that the church is and does is rooted in its worship. The community of faith, gathered in response to God’s call, is formed in its worship. Worship is the principal influence that shapes our faith, and is the most visible way we express the faith.” Thus begins the Book of Common Worship.
“Worship” hails from the Old English worthescript which means to “to ascribe worth.” Each of us must answer for how much worth we ascribe. Worship as organized by the liturgy becomes an activity we mutually participate in. But, as activities go, how often has worship been for you the most important activity you did all week? Worship Workshops will seek to discern how to deepen and intensify our experience in worship services. They will start soon.
