Team Reports

The following are the reports from all of our teams doing the work of the church. Many thanks to all who serve on a team or who have helped a team with what God is calling us to do!

These reports are written by the teams and include a brief description of what each team does, some highlights from the past 18 months, what they hope to accomplish in the coming year, and the names of the team members.

If you feel God is calling you to join in any of the work being done by these teams, talk to one of the team members listed, or to one of the pastors. We’d love to have your help!

Communications Team

Team Purpose: Using print, digital, broadcast, and other media as appropriate, keep members of the congregation and the community informed about programs and services available at UPC. Encourage a welcoming environment at the building entrances and lobby.

Activities in 2019–20

  • Publications including the UP-Beat Newsletter, Sunday worship guide, and Annual Financial Report and Congregational Activity Report.

  • Brochures describing educational programs, volunteer opportunities, church history, and general information about UPC.

  • Website and social media management.

  • Creation of electronic fill-in forms for volunteer interest, facility use requests, and various events using our website, Google Forms, and Adobe Acrobat Pro.

  • Live broadcast of weekly worship services on YouTube (previously on Facebook Live) and Zoom.

  • Management of reprinting and streaming license for music used in worship.

  • Audio and video recording for worship music and liturgy readers.

  • Audio, video, and internet support for worship services and church meetings and events, such as book studies, Sewing Group, music rehearsals, and Friday night “cocktail hour”.

  • Directional signs for events and group meetings; safety signage for lobby and meeting rooms.

  • Information technology troubleshooting and support: upkeep and expansion of internet and telecommunications systems; installation of software and drivers; management of church’s climate control and video surveillance systems.

  • Audio, video, and internet support for group meetings and events held in the building, including a YouTube live video premiere for the American Guild of Organists recital in November 2020.

Future Plans

We will be upgrading our camera and audio system to improve the quality of our music recordings and to prepare for resuming live streams of in-person worship services.

We hope to see progress on our electronic sign in the near future. The vendor we were contracting with filed for bankruptcy and failed to fulfill his contract. We will be pursuing a different avenue.

Current Team Members: Sally Hunt; Office Coordinator Scott Kindig, Pastor Kimberly Chastain, and Pastor Becky Kindig.

Card Committee

In August 2020, amid the months-long pandemic and inability to connect in person, reviving and expanding the UPC tradition of sending cards and notes on important occasions seemed particularly fitting. As a result, a committee was formed in an effort to reach out to family and friends in our church community to recognize birthdays, anniversaries, illnesses, bereavement, remembrances, new babies, new members, holidays, graduations, new jobs, and other milestones meriting special thoughts, celebrations and/or prayers. Spearheaded by Pastor Kimberly and Margaret Davis, the committee includes Margaret, Lana Ogden, Suzie Northrop-Raboy, and Cindy Chadwick.

Activities as of December 31, 2020:

  • Committee established and organized (August); monthly check-in meetings held

  • Total of 186 cards sent:

August: 31 cards

September: 27 cards

October: 40 cards

November: 29 cards

December: 59 cards (includes holiday cards to UPC staff and special “pop-up” cards in lieu of Christmas sanctuary flowers to a group of congregation members)

  • Updated birthdays and addresses of church members, friends and family (ongoing)

  • Monthly activity logs prepared and provided to the church office, pastors and Session

The committee is grateful to be part of this ministry and welcomes anyone who would like to join us. In addition, we would appreciate notifications of events and celebrations in the congregation so we don’t miss any, and are always open to suggestions for special occasion cards.

Spiritual Formation Team

Team Purpose: The Spiritual Formation team creates opportunities for the UPC community to grow in their spiritual development with God and with each other. We helped to provide numerous offerings in the last 18 months that we hope that you enjoyed as much as we did.

Highlights of 2019–20

We changed course in the fall of 2019 with our Sunday school offerings by combining the youth and adults into an Intergenerational Sunday school with stations set up in the Library Lounge. During coffee hour, everyone was invited to interact with the stations and with each other. This is especially important for our youth to see adults learning and also to help form relationships with others. There were several different kinds of stations — some offering more factual information with discussion questions and others inviting the participants into a time of prayer. The stations were based on the scripture themes for the month, so there was time to one each week or catch up if you missed a week.

In October 2019, we sponsored our church retreat at Stony Point Retreat Center. We focused on the theme of Sanctuary and explored ways to be a community but also on ways to provide nurture for our own spirits.

One activity to choose was making our own mini Zen garden.

We planned our Adult Education series for the 2019–20 school year to include both book studies and movies. We read Waiting for the Last Bus and Neighborhood Church in the fall of 2019 and were able to start our movie series with “Amazing Grace” and “Doubt” before we had to change course for the pandemic.

We continued our book studies over Zoom, getting to read Entering the Passion of Jesus led by Pastor Kimberly and Falter led by Chris Burger. In the summer, Judy Westcott led a group of us in a mindfulness study while we read Strength in the Storm.

As the pandemic started in March of 2020, we had to pivot Sunday school again. In order to keep the kids feeling connected, we started sending Sunday school packets home to families with children.

Each week Pastor Becky and receptionist Tammie Cummings would send a packet with an overview of the scripture lesson, some coloring pages, and a craft or activity. We have loved getting pictures back from the families with what they created with the materials we sent.

Over the summer of 2020, we still were able to have a recognition of the graduates, getting to see a slide show of all those who graduated from college or from high school this year, despite the challenges the pandemic threw at them with trying to finish school in online-only formats. We are so proud of their accomplishments! And we were able to send off our high school graduate Jullian Wanjama with our traditional blanket and the Traugher scholarship.

Our Monday Noon Bible study continued to make their way through books of the Bible covering all of Psalms, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The Bible study continued on Zoom during the pandemic and has covered Revelation, 1 Maccabees, and the Christmas narratives in Luke and Matthew, and is now reading the Epistles of the New Testament with the help of the book Evolution of the Word by Marcus Borg, which puts the letters into the order they were written and gives context about the periods when they were written.

Future Plans: The Spiritual Formation Team invites anyone to share their thoughts for what they would like to see in the months ahead to help nourish you in this time. We have some ideas for some more book studies, and Pastor Becky is working on a Lenten discipline called “Sundays in the Park for Prayer”. The idea would be to set aside some intentional prayer time out in nature. We would gather (masked and socially distant) at a different park each Sunday afternoon and be aware of God’s creation around us. We would come back together after our walk and talk to each other about where we saw God and have a prayer. Depending on the weather, we may choose to stay outside as a group for only 15 minutes or maybe an hour. We will decide each week. All ages are welcome! Becky is creating a schedule and will have more information in the next few weeks.

Current Team Members: Doug Jones, chair; Chris Burger, Lou McKeage, Jon Morse, Judy Westcott; Pastor Becky Kindig and Pastor Kimberly Chastain.

Worship and Music Team

Team Purpose: To oversee and coordinate all aspects of United Presbyterian Church’s worship services.

Highlights of 2019–20

  • The Church Picnic, June 9, 2019: Our church family worshiped at Otsiningo Park, which included the adult baptism of Jon Morse, followed by our Annual Congregational Meeting (Part 2) and a potluck picnic.

  • Triennium Commissioning, July 14, 2019: We commissioned the members of our congregation headed for the Presbyterian Youth Triennium (Jullian Wanjama, Shawn Landon, and Pastor Becky Kindig).

  • Dinner Church, June 23 and July 18, 2019: The congregation enjoyed these more casual services, held at 4:30pm and followed by a potluck dinner. These services encouraged discussion amongst the congregants.

  • August 25, 2019: 400th Anniversary of the first landing of enslaved Africans on English-occupied North America, commemorated as a day of healing and reconciliation. Parks, churches, community partners, and the public came together in solidarity to ring bells simultaneously across the nation for 4 minutes.

  • Taizé worship service, October 20, 2019: Aaron Whitney and Shawn Landon, who both went as members of the Presbytery of Susquehanna’s young-adult trip to the ecumenical Christian monastic fraternity in Taizé, France, facilitated a Taizé-style service.

  • The Feast of All Saints, celebrated November 3, 2019: We did a “Bouquet of Remembrance” for our members who died in the past year, and for all of those who are deceased that we continue to keep in our hearts.

  • Advent 2019: On each of the Sundays in Advent, we had speakers either during or after worship on various topics: Dec. 1, Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley on stewardship; Dec. 8, Susan Thornton on her work with Syrian refugees in Lesvos, Greece; Dec. 15, Jo Van Rue on her clergy witness in Arizona, dealing with refugees in our country and U.S. policies.

  • December 22, 2019: The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Binghamton and UPC presented a radio play, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, after worship.

  • Christmas Eve: We celebrated with a lovely 4:00pm service with lessons and carols, candlelight, communion, and music.

  • December 29, 2019: The UUCB brought their chalice over to UPC as we officially welcomed them to our church while their building was being renovated. We had a Taizé-style worship service with a potluck afterwards.

  • Mid-March 2020: Ceased in-person worship services, with a small worship team continuing to gather on Sunday mornings to live-stream the services on Facebook Live. Added the Zoom platform to enable remote worship over the phone for those who don’t have reliable internet access.

  • Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020: After distributing palms to the congregation, collected photos and videos to create a “together apart” Palm Parade to integrate into our live-streamed worship service.

  • Maundy Thursday, April 9, 2020, and Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020: Broadcast our first pre-recorded worship service videos. There were ~150 views of our Easter service.

  • Honoring Earth Day, April 26, 2020: “A Blessing of the Animals”, for which the congregation was asked to send photos of their animals.

  • May 15, 2020: During the “Time for the Young at Heart”, Pastor Becky and her daughter Emma delighted us with an introduction to the goats which Emma cares for at a local farm. This helped to illuminate the worship theme for the children and the congregation.

  • Ascension Sunday, May 24, 2020: Pastor Kimberly and her niece Sara Lieberman incorporated a unique dialogue about the Ascension into the service.

  • Pentecost, May 31, 2020: The service focused on cultural diversity. This was when we were supposed to have our annual Church Picnic and Congregational Meeting (with our church program reports), which we had to forego.

  • July 5, 2020: Celebrated our first online communion service, and recognized the high school and college graduates in our congregation.

  • August 2020: We welcomed three guest preachers: Aug. 2, Rev. Cindy Kohlmann, former co-Moderator of the 223rd General Assembly, led a communion service prepared by the Presbytery of Boston and made available Synod-wide; Aug. 23, Rev. Dr. Amaury Tañón-Santos, Synod Networker for the Synod of the Northeast; Aug. 30, Rev. Naomi Washington-Leaphart, Director of Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs in the Philadelphia Mayor's Office for Public Engagement.

  • Our Money Story, October 2020: Pastor Kimberly, Pastor Pat Raube (Union PC in Endicott), and Pastor Rachel Helgeson (Northminster PC in Endwell) did a worship series on stewardship.

  • The Feast of All Saints, November 1, 2020: UPC delivered flowers to those of the congregation who had loved ones pass away in the past year, making a short video of them as they made a dedication, which was included in the service. Photos were sent in by the congregation for other loved ones to be remembered from years past were also included in the service.

  • A Service of Light and Breath, November 8, 2020: UPC had a service for healing during these troubling times. Written by Rev. Michelle Wahila, a minister in our Presbytery who lives in France, this meditative service featured candles and readings.

  • Advent 2020: We participated in the “One Candle Movement”. UPC Session and Worship Team members delivered yard signs to all of the families of the congregation. The signs depicted one candle with the words of Advent (Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love), which tried to foster the idea of unity amid the many divisions in our country. Pastor Becky also sent out Advent packets to the congregation, with ideas for how to fully participate in this season, even though we are still sheltering-in-place.

  • Christmas Eve 2020: Our online service of lessons and carols at 4:00pm included beautiful musical offerings from our congregation. Singing “Silent Night” was particularly memorable, as it included many members, who had been videotaped previously by the Session and Worship Team, holding a lit candle at their home residence.

  • Christmas Concert, December 27: Our Sunday morning worship service premiered on YouTube a second time the same evening as a gift to the community. With musical offerings created by more than 25 members of the congregation, the service included over an hour of music, featuring handbell pieces, organ, piano, various instrumental pieces, and the vocal and handchime choirs. It was beautiful, festive, and uplifting!

Thank you from the Worship Team! Throughout the pandemic, UPC has implemented services that have tried to convey a sense of the familiarity, resiliency, and connectedness in these traumatic times. UPC has tried to include as many people as possible from our congregation in our worship services through musical offerings, as readers, and as participants in the services so that we can still see each other and feel like we are a congregation, united together in worship. Blessed be the tie that binds! We could not have done this without the flexibility of our pastors, musical directors, musicians, and the efforts of UPC’S amazing worship production team (Scott Kindig, Phil Westcott, David Williams, and Sara Lieberman). A heartfelt thanks to all of you!

Instrument stewardship: Releathering of the sanctuary organ was completed during the summer of 2020. The Klop continuo organ was sold to an organization who was able to put it to much better use than we could.

Musicians for worship services: Becky Mebert has secured many talented people from our congregation and community over the past 18 months. Among them have been: Our wonderful choir, with choir section leaders Lianne Aharony (2019), Cole Tornberg (2019), Victoria Barics, Ryan Holleran, Julia Naldjian, Starletta Noll-Long; UPC’s United Ringers Handbell Choir; musical offerings by children in our congregation (the Hickeys and Nyamuames), Andy Chadwick (organ, piano), Rebecca Copek (flute), Jean Henssler (organ and piano), Kristina Ruffo (piano), the Vivace Recorder group (Lana Ogden and Claude Cornwall); Emma Schenemann (cello); Margaret Davis (violin); Andrew Beaty (viola); Nathan Raboy (trombone, piano), Elikem Nyamuame (drums, piano, organ); Aimee Backus (alto vocal, flute, and choir director), Ernest Backus (baritone vocal, drums), Emily Backus (steel drums), Phil Westcott (bass vocal, tenor saxophone, guitar, percussion, Bell Choir Director, technician), David Williams (tenor vocal, flute, arranger, sound technician), and Austin Shadduck (saxophone, shakuhachi, tenor vocal, Bell Choir Director, succeeding Phil in 2020).

Report from Music Coordinator Rebecca Mebert

At the beginning of 2020, with the glow of Christmas Eve still with us, who could imagine that our lives would change so drastically, so quickly — from complete family gatherings in the sanctuary to complete carols pre-recorded in our homes and sent in. In April, with the science telling us not to sing in person because of the danger of COVID-19 transmission, we began to learn how to worship from home. We stalled at first trying to think how worship could be done from each of our homes or from historic saved worship services. But it did not take long for staff to be creative and to teach volunteer music participants how to be a part once again of voice and bell choirs.

The ultimate year-end experience mentioned to me was the Christmas Eve service and the music concert gift to the community on December 27. Editing magic created the visual of us all together in little boxes singing or just holding our candles for the traditional “Silent Night”. We have, with the gift of technology provided by the expertise of people within our congregation, moved from worship live on Facebook to carefully edited and produced and professionally presented worship on YouTube. Choir learned to pre-record in their homes, on their phones or iPads, and send to Aimee or Phil for the download with final editing by David Williams and Phil Westcott. Scott Kindig, bell and voice choir member, recording technician and music archive librarian, is the “glue” that holds it all together. He can resource music from previous services to be used again or indicate a new recording is needed. He is the main technician to record in the sanctuary. He is the navigator that keeps us all on track of what is needed to complete the worship recording, that is launched on YouTube on Sundays at 10:00 but there for our viewing convenience any time. Our choir directors, Aimee Backus (vocal) and Austin Shadduck (handchimes) create “click-tapes” — keyboard music with metronome click to keep us all together — as we sing or play individually. The end result is the visual of faces in rectangles singing as one voice or playing chimes for each choir that is seen in worship. Bell choir has shifted to handchimes because they are far less fragile than handbells, so ringers can keep their assigned chimes in their homes for rehearsal and recording. Both vocal and handchime choir rehearsals are on Zoom on Wednesdays. Section leaders remain important to our music, recording service music and hymns as needed each week to help lead the congregational hymns with a full sound on YouTube worship.

Other surprises from our need to be creative in COVID times were the music groups practicing outside: Drumming led by Elikem Nyuamuame and his family, and Handchimes led by Austin Shadduck. A neighbor, hearing the chime rehearsal in the parking lot called out, “so beautiful to hear, thank you.”

Two new string players surfaced to augment our worship, Margaret Davis, violin, and Andrew Beaty, viola. Emma Schenemann, a community member, has continued to play cello for services and to join with Margaret and Andrew. Margaret, who joined the church in May, was the inspiration for the Christmas “gift to the community” concert on 12/27.

All of this creativity, though challenging at times as we all navigate different skills and knowledge, continue to provide the spiritual nurturing for us as music groups and congregational members who faithfully tune in to worship from all over the United States.

Current Worship & Music Team Members: Suzie Northrop Raboy, chair; Andy Chadwick, Margaret Davis, Jean Hill; Music Coordinator Becky Mebert, Pastor Kimberly Chastain, Pastor Becky Kindig.

Property Team

Team Purpose: The Property Team strives to have us be good stewards of the physical resources that we have so that we can continue to be a place for God’s mission in this community. That job entails:

  • Making sure the building is welcoming, clean, and safe — for worship, programs, and mission that takes place here.

  • Being consciously ecologically-minded in the ways in which we manage the building.

  • Working to keep what we have in good working order, making repairs as necessary, and upgrading what does not meet new standards.

Highlights of 2019–20

  • Finished replacing outside fire doors.

  • The light pole along the exit driveway was replaced, the breaker panel outside the sanctuary was changed, and several other minor electrical jobs were done.Completed repair of flat roof over Library Lounge, Chapel, and Terrace Room.

  • Completed repointing of brickwork on the towers and the education building.

  • Installed a new air handler system for the Chapel and Terrace Room.

  • The parking lot was excavated to expose the joint of three pipes. The three pipes (roof storm drains) went into the catch basin in the parking lot. We learned the blueprints of the building are not accurate. This was followed by a major excavation to replace the catch basin and dry well, which will relieve the water problems we’ve experienced in the basement.

  • Outdoor cleanup days: September 2019 with United Way Day of Caring volunteers, and October 2020 with congregation members, masked and distanced.

  • Prepped the building for COVID: installed plexiglass around Welcome Desk and hand sanitizer units around the building, replaced locks on bathroom doors with vacant/occupied locks for single-person use, and added , social distancing stickers and stanchions for routing people through the building.

  • The Chapel and Room 104 (the former Hands of Hope office) were cleaned out, painted, and new floors were put down. The Chapel also had the ceiling repaired and repainted. This allowed the Music Team to empty two rooms upstairs and move everything into Room 104.

Future Plans: The main project on the horizon in 2021 is the repair of the sanctuary roof. Due to the unpredictable nature of this year, no other major projects have been planned yet.

Current Team Members: George Cummings, chair; Chris Burger, Jean Hill, Ken Mebert, Kathy Preston, Bill Sands; Pastor Becky Kindig; Cindy Burger, secretary.

Personnel Team

Team Purpose: To select and support paid personnel and provide fair treatment for all staff

Staff in 2019–20: Our staff is our face to the community. They multiply the effectiveness of the congregation’s ministry and mission. Due to the number of programs and partner groups in our building, we are open Monday through Friday, daytimes and evenings. This schedule and building use were modified during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; hours were reduced or the building was closed as necessary based on state and/or local restrictions and guidelines. Our staff continued to accommodate the needs of the congregation and community despite the pandemic, adapting to and assisting with ever-changing circumstances. Office and building staff remained indispensable to vital community outreach and keeping our building clean, safe, and welcoming.

Our Staff (left to right, top to bottom):

Kimberly P Chastain, Pastor/Head of Staff

Becky Kindig, Associate Pastor

Scott Kindig, Office Coordinator

Vanessa Warren, Finance Administrator

Tammie Cummings, Welcome Desk receptionist

Sherry Conklin, Community Meal Coordinator

Eugene Favor, Building Manager

Jamel Allen, custodian

Mark Barnes, custodian

James Favor, custodian

Dave Schneider, custodian

Rebecca Mebert, Music Coordinator

Aimee Backus, UPC Choir Director

Victoria Barics, soprano section leader

Starlotta Noll-Long, alto section leader

Austin Shadduck, United Ringers director and tenor section leader

Phil Westcott, Video Production Editor and bass section leader

David Williams, audio technician and musician

Alex Hayes, kitchen staff

Staff Changes: Sherry Conklin began serving as the Community Meal Coordinator in December 2019. Due to the increasing demand for the community meal service, the establishment of a food pantry during the pandemic, and growing opportunities for community partnerships surrounding food insecurity, in December 2020 Session approved the Personnel Team’s recommendation to expand this position from 20 to 35 hours per week. Alex Hayes began kitchen worker duties for the Community Meal program in 2019.

When the pandemic spurred virtual church services, the Personnel Team adjusted positions as necessary to meet the growing technological needs associated with on-line services. A position of Video Production Editor was created, and filled by Phil Westcott who was assisting with this work previously. David Williams continued to serve as an audio technician to support our virtual services.

Austin Shadduck joined the music staff as director of the United Ringers handbell choir, a position formerly held by Phil Westcott. Austin also provides tenor support and instrumental talents. Victoria Barics became a choir section leader.

James Favor and Mark Barnes became members of the building maintenance staff. Due to the move to virtual church, nursery attendant duties were suspended in 2020.

We bade fond farewells to Brooke Bokal (nursery attendant), Katie Kukol Wright (community meal and kitchen coordinator) and Cole Tornberg, Ryan Holleran, and Julia Naldjian (choir section leaders).

Special Dedication: The Personnel Team lost a beloved and vital member in early 2020 with the death of Marilyn Myers. Her dedication, hard work, and knowledge were unmatched. Marilyn’s guidance and skills are deeply missed.

Current and Future Activities: The Personnel Team is continuing to work on creating and/or updating job descriptions, establishing a schedule for performance reviews, implementing systems to manage and track daily work assignments, and streamlining timekeeping procedures and tools. The Team will also review staffing post-pandemic for any necessary adjustments based on church and community needs.

Current Team Members: Kathy Preston, Lou McKeage, Cindy Chadwick, and Pastor Kimberly Chastain.