The Rev. Dr. Shawnthea Monroe attended Yale Divinity School, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1995. She completed her Doctorate of Ministry in preaching at the ACTS Program at Chicago Theological School in 2007.

Shawnthea lists as her special interests rearing her children, playing the piano, cooking, reading theology, and going to the movies. She participates in community and civic advocacy groups and is a Board Member and current chair of Churches United for the Homeless, Member of the Spiritual Advisory Board of the Prairie Psychiatric Hospital, and a regular speaker at Concordia College Church Professionals Conference. Her ecumenical activities include being a Board Member of the Louisville Institute, Vice President of the Charis Ecumenical Center and the Pastors' Working Group II, sponsored by the Louisville Institute. Her activities also extend beyond the local church in many ways. She serves on the Inter-Cluster Council of the Western Reserve (Minnesota conference), the Conference annual Meeting Worship Planning Team and the 50th Anniversary Planning Committee. She is active in two UCC Clergy Clusters (MN and ND). She was the keynote speaker at the Fall Conference Youth Event in 2005, and an invited presenter at the Celebration of Women in Ministry Conference in Boston, MA.

She also writes extensively and has authored many theological works. She accepted an invitation by Chalice Press to write a book on pop culture: Not So Desperate: Fantasy, Fact and Faith on Wisteria Lane. This was a witty, enlightening and entertaining read for many members of our committee.

Shawnthea's first pastorate was as Interim Minister at Colebrook Congregational Church of Connecticut. She was then called as an Associate Pastor at Trinitarian Church in Concord MA, serving for four years. She then became an Associate Minister at Valley City Congregational Church in Valley City, ND. Before joining Plymouth's staff, Shawnthea was Senior Minister at the First Congregational Church UCC in Moorhead MN.

Email Shawnthea Monroe at:

SMonroe@PlymouthChurchUCC.org

The Rev. Stephen C. Adams serves as Acting Associate Minister of Plymouth Church, UCC. A native of Irwin, PA, he is a graduate of Allegheny College and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He began his ministry as Interim Associate Minister at the Old Stone Church on Public Square in Cleveland, OH. Stephen then served as Stated Supply Pastor at Brooklyn Presbyterian Church in Old Brooklyn, OH. After a C.P.E residency at the Cleveland Clinic, he became a Spiritual Care Counselor for Hospice of the Western Reserve in 1993. In 1999 he began working on a joint program between the hospice and the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals, the "Safe Conduct Project," funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Elizabeth Severance Prentice and Cleveland Foundations. This program took an interdisciplinary palliative care team and grafted them into the out patient care of the acute care center working with patients from time of diagnosis of advanced disease. Through the years of end-of-life ministry Stephen served in part-time capacity in congregations throughout the Cleveland area. Stephen has lectured nationally and internationally on the subjects of Spiritual Care, Cultural Diversity, Grief and Loss, and Healing Touch. He is on the Professional Advisory Board of the Gathering Place.

Stephen is a Healing Touch Practitioner, having studied energy therapy here in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. He has utilized energy therapy in his practice as a Spiritual Counselor and parish minister. He is a member of Healing Touch International.

Stephen has lived in Cleveland Heights with his partner H. Bruce Blonder for fourteen years. Bruce is in housing development and investing, and enjoys the hands on work of renovating their home. Stephen is an artist working in stained glass and painting, as well as a trained vocalist singing with the North Coast Men's Chorus, Coastliners and Park Synagogue Choir.

Email Rev. Stephen C. Adams at:

SAdams@PlymouthChurchUcc.org