Staff
Rev. Dr. Laurie Lyter Bright
Senior Pastor
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Laurie Lyter Bright is senior pastor at Peace United Church of Christ. Pastor Laurie is a midwesterner at heart, having grown up in the north suburbs of Chicago, attended undergraduate school at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and spent the last six years living in Wisconsin. In between, she has lived in California (twice), Colorado (twice), Balasore, India, and London, UK. She’s spent extended time in Palestine, working with peacemaking organizations in the West Bank.
Pastor Laurie is grateful every day for her family - her husband, Jesse, and daughters, Matilda and Sonora. They make her laugh, and keep her grounded, and are only mildly feral at church (the children, not Jesse. Usually.).
She completed her M.Div at Princeton Theological University and the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, and her phd in education at Colorado State University studying the church as a site of social formation and rape culture. She also wrote and released her first book Vagabonding: in Defense and Praise of Millennial Faith in 2018 (Cascade Books). You can find her work in journal articles, webinars, devotionals, and curriculum for youth and adults.
Laurie has served as executive director of two nonprofits focused on peacemaking work, and has served in churches small and large. She also teaches for United Theological Seminary in the Twin Cities, where she gets to continue learning from her students all the time.
Laurie is a relentless reader who says love through book recommendations. In her…free time?... Laurie is passionate about keeping up with family and friends, experiencing as much of the world as possible, writing, and going on adventures.
She finds God in the spaces between people, and believes that God is Love is a complete theology. And she is glad you’re here!
Dylon Starr
Director of Programming & Music
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Dylon has been a church musician for over twenty years, after taking on his first organ gig as a teenager. Since then, he has found musical opportunities performing in theater productions, singing with live bands and orchestras, and serving as Peace’s Director of Programming and Music. Dylon created Pathways, Peace’s intergenerational educational program, in 2023. He plans and promotes Peace’s event series and provides unique musical experiences both in and out of worship. Dylon is also the director of the Rochester Rainbow Choir.
Clare Tarr
Community Engagement & Outreach Coordinator
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Clare has been working at Peace United since 2017. She strives to make Peace an inviting and safe place for all. Along with administration duties, Clare helps to plan and promote outreach at Peace United and coordinate volunteers for the many opportunities that Peace has to make a difference in our community.
Dean Alcock
Finance & Membership Coordinator
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Tracy Walton
Teen Activities Coordinator
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Tracy has been working with our teens at Peace United since 2018, when she became a member. She has four children and two stepdaughters that keep their family busy. Tracy always has time for the amazing young people at Peace, especially the Teens. She strives to listen to them, empower them and help expand their view of the world outside of our wonderful community. There is NO limit of what they can accomplish when they see the world from a place of LOVE and Peace United IS love.
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