Pews in sunlight

News & Announcements

Welcome Kristy Herring

October 24, 2022

We welcome to the staff, Kristy Herring, our new Mission Coordinator. This new position, funded by a 2022 Envision grant, will work closely with the Mission Committee and Deacons to help us strengthen our engagement with the community, as well as deepen our relationship with mission partners in the area. She comes with a lot of experience in this kind of work and a deep passion for building relationships.

Kristy is an educator and missions consultant currently pursuing an Ed.D in Creativity and Innovation at Drexel University. She is the founder of the nonprofit Ministry Beyond Myself, which serves the educational and economic needs of children and families in low-resource communities in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Kristy was the manager of congregational outreach with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and will come to us with experience working with church youth groups.

In 2020, Kristy developed The Great Connection, which offers community-based nonprofit organizations training and assistance with program development and evaluation. Since then, she has served as a consultant to churches that seek to improve or expand their community outreach. Not only is she committed to expanding adults’ understanding of service and community engagement, she likewise, provides global education and international service-learning opportunities to youth.

As an educator of English language learners, she has hosted service projects to support the resettlement of migrants and refugees in the United States. Kristy is a strong proponent of relationship building, community partnerships, service-learning, and systems thinking. She is a servant leader and provides training and support to others who are committed to serving and embracing systems thinking and relationship building to transform our communities.

As our coordinator, Kristy will:

  • Reach out to current partner organizations and participate in local coordinating groups or task forces.
  • Lead an internal process (listening campaign, surveys) to assess the congregational interests, passions, current engagement, and interest in volunteering with local community partners.
  • Work with CPC committees and groups interested in local community ministries, to assess current commitments and activities, and to assist in coordination across committees and boards on projects.
  • Create a database of organizations – present and suggested in the near future.

Our goals for this position include:

  • To assess mission interests and talents within the congregation
  • To strengthen our relationships with local community-based organizations and other congregations who share our concern for the well-being of the community around us.
  • To support CPC members as they volunteer, sharing their time and talents with our neighbors who find themselves in vulnerable situations (facing hunger, homelessness, lack of adequate healthcare, education, etc.)
  • To develop new relationships that help us to hear directly from our neighbors who are often marginalized or ignored, those most impacted by economic and racial disparities.

Kristy begins working with us on Monday, October 31. And we plan to introduce her to you one Sunday in November. Many thanks to the Mission Committee for helping us to envision and realize this dream for CPC. We look forward to engaging in new forms of ministry together.