Dr. John Elford has served as the Senior Pastor at St. John’s UMC in Corpus Christi, John Wesley UMC in Victoria and as Associate Pastor and Director of Music at First UMC in San Angelo. He has also served as a classroom teacher in San Angelo and McAllen, Texas. He was born April 11, 1956 in Toronto, Canada. He is married to Rev. Linda Seaman Elford, who currently serves as the Pastor at Crestview UMC in Austin and attended UUMC years ago. The Elfords have two children - Chris, 23 and Lauren, 20.

Over the past 30 years, Susan has served in a variety of pastoral positions with a highly fruitful ministry and brings a wealth of experience to UUMC. From 1989-1995, she was the Director of the Wesley Foundation at UT, and most recently she was Associate Pastor at Trinity UMC in Austin. As Associate Pastor at UUMC, Susan will work around 30 hours a week. Her responsibilities will include supervision of the Saturday Open Doors ministry, education and teaching, worship leadership, occasional preaching, and pastoral care. Susan holds a Master’s of Divinity Degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY and a BA in Math from Vanderbilt University. Susan has been married to Donald Tietjen for 26 years.

“Our students comprise one of the most diverse and vital Christian groups on campus. I enjoy watching them take ownership of their group – to the point where our numbers have grown incrementally each year. It is also a joy to be surrounded each day by people who are convinced they can change the world.”

Bill has been a United Methodist pastor since 1987 and has been at University UMC since 2002. He holds a Master of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology at SMU and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas. He describes UUMC as having a distinct and historical emphasis on social justice and hands-on mission work. “We are also situated in one of the most prime plots of real estate in the country: literally in the very heart of the nation’s largest public university.”

“People think of UUMC as being unique. They think we’re all UT professors, students, lawyers and politicians. We’re not. We have a variety of people, experiences and professions. It’s a diverse community of faith.”

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown and Perkins Seminary at SMU in Dallas, Bernie was a District Superintendant in the Southwest Texas Conference from 1999 to 2006. We coaxed him out of retirement to work part-time at UUMC ministering to the elderly members of the congregation.
Bernie has a message for elderly people and those with disabilities: “Don’t be scared off by the parking situation. We do have places to park at the church and other parking lots quite close by that are convenient.”

“I’ve always loved working with youth. I like their honesty. They don’t feel the need to keep up any sort of appearances as far as their faith goes. If they don’t believe something or understand something, they’ll tell you. Also, they’re really fun and active.”

A graduate of the Masters of Divinity Program at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Ingrid has a long history of volunteering and working with youth. She describes her goal as helping UUMC youth mature their faith. That means something different for each youth member: learning how to live in the world, love God and love others, learning more about the scriptures, how to be there for other youth members, and learning what it means to be part of UUMC and the Methodist church. Ingrid organizes youth mission trips, retreats and camps, Bible study sessions and is focusing on youth becoming more involved in church-wide activities.