Written by: United Theological Seminary April 16, 2020

Compassionate, Creative and Ethical Leaders – Stories from United during a Time of Pandemic

United students and alums don’t take a class that explicitly prepares them for leading in days like today. Yet we have seen them step into this precarious and unprecedented time in compassionate, creative, and ethical ways. From online worship, daily email communications, prayer services, and more, they have demonstrated the depth and breadth of their gifts as leaders.

Within days of the outbreak we heard from students and alums, telling us how their education at United helped prepare them for what previously seemed unimaginable. Student Meredith Olson (MDiv, 2020) wrote,

Little did I know that by offering classes via Zoom, you would be preparing me with exactly what I needed to lead a congregation during this time. These years of seminary classes via Zoom, watching professors’ skills and their struggles, have given me skills and insights about connecting virtually…I’m very glad I was ready with these skills. Thank you!

Katie Matson-Daley (MDiv, 2019), Interim Lead Pastor at First United Methodist Church of Red Wing posted on Facebook,

Two reasons I’m glad to be an alum of United Seminary of the Twin Cities this week. 1.) Consistently from my first class to my very last class I was told, ‘the world is changing, ministry will need to change too, we have to ‘do church’ differently.’ This week has been a fast paced whirl-wind of decisions and pivots but we’re still doing church. 2.) Practice with Zoom. (I was an on-campus student, taking classes face-to-face, but having Zoom classmates in the room, virtually, made me so comfortable getting started with Zoom.)

The 9/11 commission, reviewing the series of events leading up to September 11th, cited a “failure of imagination.” Other crises, including Apollo 1, the Titanic, and Pearl Harbor, also frequently cite a failure of imagination. In this and every time leaders are called upon to have vivid imaginations, bold visions, and creative ways of guiding communities.

At United the arts are key to the learning experience. While this appeals to those who are drawn to creative expression, it is not limited to painters, poets, or actors. The influence of the arts in theological education equips a generation of leaders to think creatively, outside of the box, and to be ready for change.

Jenn Luong (MDiv, 2019) wrote, “we were not only trained to pastor churches, but to think about, see, and engage the world differently.” The presence of the arts at United helps students and alums build the creative muscles needed to respond to challenges that are normal and beyond belief. As this crisis continues to unfold we are humbled by their leadership.

Preaching for the first time in an online service, Mayflower’s lead minister, Sarah Campell (MDiv, 1989), asked her congregation to reflect on, “What is God calling us to in these times?” For each of us the answer will be different. But at United we celebrate the many ways in which our students and alums are responding with faithful imagination. They are living out their call to be compassionate, creative, and ethical leaders. We are inspired by the gifts that they bring for such a time as this. We hope that you will be inspired by a sampling of their stories.

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Elizabeth Macaulay (MDiv, 1999), lead pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Rochester, MN and member of United’s Board of Trustees, led an 8:00 pm Facebook Live evening prayer service, inviting her congregation to “pray your way into resting.” Leaders from Christ United Methodist Church lead a fifteen minute service every night. These videos provide a nightly connection with the Holy and with each other. Elizabeth also writes a blog. A recent post is about pandemic pastoring.

Mayflower Community Congregational UCC in Minneapolis, MN started sending daily messages to members. Peggy (Margaret Carroll) Thompson (MDiv, 1988) collaborated with Sarah Campbell (MDiv, 1989) to include art in a daily “Mayflower Message” for members. Messages include multiple art forms including many paintings done by Peggy.

Melanie Greengo (MDiv, 2015) serves as pastor at Columbus Community United Methodist Churches in Iowa. She is doing a brief Facebook video each day as part of a Lenten devotional practice. In this link she reflects on the commandment to love one another.

Screen Shot 2020-04-06 at 3.03.23 PM
(David Bahr on Facebook Live)

David Bahr (MDiv, 1990) shares a video, reading a “Prayer for a Pandemic.” David serves at Park Hill Congregational UCC in Denver, CO. He has invited members to create their own palms for Palm Sunday and to take a video of their own Palm Procession at home to send to the church so he can share it with others.

Craig Lemming (MDiv, 2017), Episcopal Priest at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN, wrote a blog entitled Trinitarian Survival: Create, Improvise, Trust. Reflecting on fear he draws on Isaiah 41:10 (“do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand…”) writing, “In this COVID-19 crisis, we too find ourselves surrendering to realities beyond our control and improvising. Making decisions that change everything we have been so well-prepared for yesterday.”

Jenny Lind Larsen (MDiv, 2018) serves at Christ UMC in Maplewood, MN. Recently she read The Clown of God, a story for all ages, as a tribute to Tomie dePaola who died last week.

Cyreta Oduniyi Howard (MDiv, 2019) creates video reflections including this one entitled Monday Mindfulness. Cyreta is a deacon at Liberty Community Church, PCUSA in Minneapolis, MN and serves as a Middle School Specialist, Academic Navigator, and Leader Teacher at 21st Century Academy.

Cori Berg (MA, 1998) writes, “You never know where seminary will lead you. I am now director of Hope Day School at Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ in Dallas, TX. We are doing frontline care for essential workers as we are right near the medical district. This is holy work. This was the most important thing I did today. I hope it brings you joy.” Enjoy.

Emily Youngdahl Wright (MDiv, 1988) wrote a song entitled, “A New Cup of Grace,” when she was an intern chaplain. Drawing from the 23rd Psalm she was inspired by a patient saying, “Well, no matter how bad things get, I get a new cup of grace each morning.” Emily serves as a chaplain for Fairview Homecare and Hospice in Minneapolis, MN working with pediatric and adult hospice patients and their families. Her song, “A New Cup of Grace,” is providing comfort to new audiences.

Pamela Lynne Serdar (MDiv, 2001) is a retired UMC minister. Previously she served as the lead pastor at Richfield United Methodist Church in MN and as the Big Water District Superintendent at the MN Annual Conference of the UMC. She is sending out a gesture of love and hope from her home in Eagle Lake, MN.

Please share additional stories about how you are dealing with this crisis either on United’s Alum FB page or by sending them to cbjohnson@unitedseminary.edu.

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October 9, 2026

Alums Homecoming News Releases

Rev. Dr. A. Leon (Lee) Tredwell (’06) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is excited to announce that Rev. A. Leon (Lee) Tredwell, PhD—who earned his MA in Theology and Biblical Interpretation from United in 2006—has been selected as a 2026 Distinguished Alum. An accomplished preacher, teacher, and published author, Dr. Tredwell has championed biblical narratives that affirm the divinity of all people, regardless of their race, creed, color, class, gender, or sexuality. Adopted at age four, Lee was raised in the Baptist faith and felt called to ministry as a child. Even so, after earning a degree in Political Science and Sociology at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, he spent the first ten years of his professional life as a grain trader for Cargill. After connecting with Drs. Ralph and Alika Galloway, Lee found United, and his call was reignited. He remembers Rev. Dr. Carolyn Pressler (Professor Emerita of Biblical Interpretation, 1990–2020) and Dean Richard Weis* with great affection. Both teachers, he observes, “taught us to wrestle with the biblical text until it opened up and spoke.” They also introduced Lee to Black and post-colonial hermeneutics, and Rev. Dr. Weis led him to passages in Jeremiah 38 (Hebrew Bible) that sparked his interest in learning more about a Black character named Ebed-Melech. Lee also cites the influence of Rev. Dr. Christine Smith’s (Professor Emerita of Preaching 1992–2013) preaching courses on his life. In Colorado, at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology, Lee completed a joint PhD program with a concentration in Religion and Social Change in 2017. Ronald Smith, a former United student who nominated Lee for this award, notes, “Dr. Tredwell has demonstrated that he is an innovator and compassionate leader who has served both inside the academy as a professor of African American Preaching at Iliff School of Theology, University of Colorado, Boulder, and in the larger community; he has served as [a] pastor, civil rights and human rights activist, and [a] chief executive officer in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, and Texas.” Lee’s new book—Black, Queer and Blessed: My Story and the Biblical Story Churches Don’t Teach—was published in June 2025. As the description reads, “For all who believe God-Yahweh is angry, mad, disgusted, and against LGBTQIA+ folx, regrettably, you been had, misled, took, hood-winked and bamboozled! Black, Queer and Blessed, through lived experience and the excavation of the subjugated biblical narrative of Ebed-Melech, demolishes society’s antiquated mores.” The book is part memoir and part theological reflection on the Ebed-Melech revelation. In addition to his roles as teacher, preacher, and author, Lee has specifically worked to promote adoption of Black children from foster care and create affordable housing. These days, he serves as the pastor of Theology and Community Engagement at Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. As Ronald Smith asserts, “Dr. Tredwell is the embodiment and an exemplar of United Theological Seminary’s mission, vision, and values.” * of blessed memory About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, explore multi-faith spirituality, and push the boundaries of knowledge.

Lena K. Gardner (’15) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

[caption id="attachment_11955" align="alignnone" width="1920"] photo by Bethany Birnie[/caption] United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is thrilled to announce that Lena K. Gardner—who graduated with an MA in Justice and Peace Studies in 2015—has been selected as one of our three 2026 Distinguished Alums. A highly respected social justice activist and community leader, Lena is the co-founder and executive director of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), a nonprofit founded in 2015 that creates life-giving and life-saving opportunities for spiritual community and Black-centered organizing. According to Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel (’13), Lena has “been a force in the Twin Cities’ religiously rooted justice ecosystem for the last 15 years.” Dr. Voelkel, Lena’s nominator, traces Lena’s justice-organizing acumen back to 2011, when she served on the Faith Organizing Roundtable—a body that coordinated religious communities’ opposition to the anti-marriage amendment. Lena went on to champion marriage equality in the 2012–2013 legislative session. After a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, Jr., an unarmed 18-year-old Black teen, in 2014, Lena played a key role in transforming the Faith Organizing Roundtable into the Multifaith Anti-Racism, Change & Healing or MARCH. “In that same period,” Voelkel notes, “Lena was a core team organizer of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and served on its steering committee.” Lena was deeply involved, quoted in many national and local articles, and interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio after former police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd in 2020. In April 2021, after a Brooklyn Center police officer killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, Lena co-wrote an article in the Sahan Journal demanding that Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecute the case, and that the Hennepin County attorney be removed. More recently, Lena embarked on another ambitious project. In May 2024, through the BLUU Cooperative Housing Initiative, she co-hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for an affordable housing complex for single parents in North Minneapolis. In a MinnPost article about the groundbreaking, Lena explained, “It’s really about trying to give back to one of the communities that made me…. We really see providing stable housing in a cooperative framework as one of the many paths to collective liberation and Black liberation. Ultimately, it’s about self-determination.” When Operation Metro Surge arrived in the Twin Cities in late 2025, Lena took action again. As Voelkel observes, she “returned to the MARCH steering committee…. When MARCH organized a clergy call (in five days) to which 700 clergy came, the ability to create and host such an amazing event owes part of its success to Lena’s relationships with communications specialists, graphic designers, and organizers.” Lena was also a driving force behind Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), a mutual aid group she and Anna Stamborski founded in late 2025 to connect vulnerable ICE-targeted families with congregational networks whose members could provide shopping and transportation services. Through all of Lena’s indefatigable contributions to working for justice, Voelkel asserts, she “has focused on Black excellence, Black power, Black spiritual wholeness, Black beauty, and how non-Black folks can act in solidarity and followership of Black folks, particularly Black queer women. She has done so skillfully through building relationships across differences in ways that facilitate and deepen genuine relationships.”

Cori Berg (’98) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is elated to announce that Cori Berg (’98)—advocate, artist, and educator—is a 2026 Distinguished Alum. Cori earned her Master of Arts (MA) in Theology and the Arts in 1998, and for more than 27 years, she has integrated creativity, art, and spirituality into her field. Cori arrived at United in the 1990s, having majored in theater and minored in studio art during her undergraduate studies. “I knew I had an artistic voice,” she recalls, “but it didn’t make sense in any of the traditional contexts.” After seeing an advertisement for United’s Theology and the Arts program, Cori drove from Dallas to the Twin Cities to visit as a prospective student. A campus art exhibit by Merle Janis was all she needed to see—“this school had something I needed: strength, boldness, vulnerability.” For Cori, “life is liturgy.” She credits United with introducing her to “the freedom in a progressive faith.” At United, Cori learned to expand her creativity, which became a launching pad for a vibrant career. “United gave me a safe, nurturing space to explore, dream, and execute big things,” she writes. “I’ve continued that through the rest of my career as an artist, an educator, an administrator, and a speaker.” Art is central to Cori’s work and features prominently in her curriculum development for children. Her art was featured in the 2012 opening parade for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, TX, a project that involved “seniors, children, and adults in all aspects” from a local Methodist community program. Ministry with Children and Spirituality, courses taught by Rev. Dr. Barbara Anne Keely (Professor Emerita, 1991–2015), were particularly formative for Cori’s future in education. “I remember she taught us to get on the floor and view the church nursery from a baby’s point of view,” Cori reflects. “I use this today over and over as I teach early childhood educators…. She introduced the idea of seeing oneself not as a separate body, mind, or spirit, but when one part of my being is suffering, to use the other parts to help lift that part.” More recently, Cori has been an active community member at Dallas Meditation Center, where she is known for her moving dharma talks that weave Buddhist themes into contemporary storytelling. In public schools and congregational settings, Cori has applied what she learned as a United student to the field of early childhood education, for which—nominator Rev. Jim Peck (’99) points out—she has become “one of the nation’s leading advocates.” When facing challenges in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cori leveraged her ingenuity and creative vision to support educators with online training resources. As a teacher and an administrator in spaces where lack of institutional funding and support are commonplace, Jim observes, “she uses her [United] education to work for justice and equity,” to “nurture relationships in the early childhood settings where she has served, with an expertise in working in settings in crisis to encourage recovery, healing, and new paths for serving the future.” In May 2026, Cori completed her MEd in Curriculum and Instruction at American College of Education, where she immediately enrolled to begin her EdD in Early Childhood Education. She serves as an executive director at the University of Kansas (KU) and anticipates returning to Dallas to live near her family at the end of the year while awaiting her next opportunity. We are delighted to celebrate Cori and her decades of faithful, innovative leadership in the field of early childhood education and art. About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, explore multi-faith spirituality, and push the boundaries of knowledge.