Alyssa grew up on a small farm, which means that the first vehicle she ever learned to drive was an International Harvester Cub Lo-Boy tractor. She misses the good old days of clutch-operated vehicles. A fan of all creatures great and small, Alyssa says that blessing of the animals rituals are some of her favorite parts of ministry. She has been an avid reader her whole life. After encountering J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth in junior high, she spent quite a bit of time trying to teach herself different Elvish dialects – and quickly realized that she probably wasn’t going to grow up to become a great linguist.

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These days, Alyssa enjoys playing and listening to music, going for walks with friends, and getting outside in the garden in the summer. (She is a relative novice and is always looking for advice on growing vegetables.) On cold winter afternoons, she loves experimenting with the chemistry of baking, curling up with a good book or movie, and taking naps. She and her spouse, Robyn, live with two cats named Quill and Pen(ny).

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Alyssa is passionate about helping people connect to God, to themselves, and to each other. She writes, “When we build up individual resiliency, collaborate with one another, and embrace the Holy Spirit’s guidance, God can work with us to create lives, families, and communities that are healthy and justice-filled. I am also passionate about embracing the richness of God’s creation.  It is easy to talk about creating communities of peace and justice. It is harder to build them, because people hold divergent ideas of what God calls us to do. In my mind, this is well and good; human difference arises out of God’s love for diversity.”

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Alyssa spent the early years of her professional life working for a variety of nonprofit organizations and academic institutions. After obtaining her undergraduate degree from The College of William & Mary and earning a master’s degree in education and social policy from Northwestern University, she taught history and English at the high school and university levels. She also pursued doctoral work in American history at Brown University, where she served as the assistant director of a post-doctoral program in education, co-edited To Educate a Nation: Federal and National Strategies of School Reform, and did some communications work for a private equity investment firm. Alyssa then served as the vice president of workforce development at the Urban League of Southern Connecticut before moving to Maine, matriculating at Boston University, and making a vocational shift into ministry.

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After graduating from BU with Master of Divinity and Master of Social Work degrees, Alyssa was called to serve as the associate director of The BTS Center, the nonprofit mission successor to Bangor Theological Seminary. Her next ministry site was the Maine Philanthropy Center (MPC), where she was the program and communications director.  

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Alyssa started at Woodfords in 2020 . . . and enjoyed three whole weeks in the pulpit before COVID shut everything down and a boiler catastrophe caused Woodfords to be declared a no-occupancy construction zone. She was installed as Woodfords’ settled pastor in 2023.  In addition to serving Woodfords, Alyssa has been the board president of the Maine Council of Churches since 2020 and is a member of the anti-racism resource team of the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ. She also is proud to serve on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the School of Theology at Boston University.

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