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About Us
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STAFF
Minister - Reverend Jake Bohstedt Morrill
Jake Morrill’s religious roots are in East Tennessee. He grew up attending the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, where he was an active youth leader, including a year on the Board of Trustees. As a high school student, he even planned to be a Unitarian Universalist minister. But, at first, life called him elsewhere.
For two years, he attended Wesleyan University. Then, in Austin, Texas, he sang with a rock band for two years, before finishing his undergraduate education at the University of Texas. Upon graduation, he moved to Iowa, where he attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Granting his Master of Fine Arts in 1998, the Writers’ Workshop also awarded him the James Michener/Copernicus Society Fellowship. Intending to continue fiction writing, he went next to the University of Cape Town on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, to work with the novelist JM Coetzee. But the country transformed him. Instead of writing, he spent the year working with children in the townships outside Cape Town. In recognition of a multicultural youth program he and a friend organized, local Rotarians named him a “Paul Harris Fellow.” By the end of the year, his call to ministry was loud and clear. Jake attended Harvard Divinity School, while serving in ministerial roles at the First Church in Boston and then the First Parish in Cambridge. He also worked for a summer as a hospital chaplain and led a year-long counseling and intervention group for men arrested for domestic abuse. In 2003, Jake graduated from Harvard with a Master of Divinity degree. That same year, he was ordained by Tennessee Valley UU Church and called to serve as the minister of Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, bringing his journey full circle. If his roots are in East Tennessee, so are his branches. In Oak Ridge, he is a member of the Rotary Club, Past President of the Oak Ridge Ministerial Association, and graduate of Leadership Oak Ridge 2004. As a member of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, he organized two ecumenical “Workers’ Memorial Day Services,” in memory of workers killed in unsafe work environments. In partnership with the Race Relations Center of East Tennessee, he has helped organize two “Undoing Racism” conferences; he also serves on the Board of the Race Relations Center of East Tennessee, and aspires to be an anti-racist white ally. At ORUUC, his ministry focuses on promoting vitality, clarity, and purpose—in the lives of each member, and in the church as a whole. Grounded in his love for the liberal free church tradition, he enjoys the diversity of religious commitments within the congregation, as well as the shared covenant of love, tolerance, and respect. The lively spirit in the congregation is a particular source of joy for him. Good things are happening at Stoplight #11! Jake and his wife, Molly, welcomed a son into their family in 2004, and another son in 2008. They enjoy hiking, cooking, and traveling. Director of Religious Education - Tandy Scheffler
Tandy is a Credentialed Religious Educator, Masters Level. She has taken seminary courses from Starr King School for the Ministry and completed post-graduate work in counseling at the University of Tennessee. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with a Masters Degree in Education and a B.A. in Early Childhood Education, minoring in psychology and religion. She is certified as an Elementary School Guidance Counselor, ElementaryClassroom Teacher, and Reading Specialist for Grades K-12.
Tandy is in her eleventh year as Director of Religious Education. She has extensive prior teaching experience--in regular classrooms, with the talented and gifted, with remedial reading students, in church school, and at a Montessori School. She was a Tennessee Career Ladder III teacher and is knowledgeable about child growth and development. In her many classroom experiences, she has drawn from Gesell, Piaget, and Montessori to create appropriate settings and experiences for children. Tandy has been a Unitarian Universalist for 30 years and active in RE for 26 years. Before choosing religious education as a profession, she taught church school, served on the RE, DRE Search and Curriculum Committees, and chaired the RE Committee and the Education Subcouncil of the Program Council at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville. She is currently a member of Church of the Larger Fellowship. Tandy has taught creative dance at summer camps and in her church's summer programs. Other interests include writing and storytelling, singing, and reading. She lives in Oak Ridge with her husband, two sons, dog and cat. Director of Music - Nancy Starr
After directing the adult choir for four years, Nancy became the church's first Director of Music in 2000. She is a serious pianist, having studied since early childhood and briefly at the college level. She serves as alternate pianist for Sunday services and memorial services. Before finding her way to UUism, she was a church organist for 13 years. She built up experience directing music by serving as music director and pianist for many stage musicals at the Oak Ridge Playhouse.
Church Administrator - Kimberly Oliver
A Knoxville native, Kimberly came to ORUUC after many years of being employed as a Project Manager as well as volunteering as a Board Member for several nonprofits. She is the mother of two energetic little boys, Eli and John, with another little boy expected in June. Most of her time is spent with her family enjoying the many animals on her small farm in Hardin Valley and working on various craft projects. Also, when she can get away, she loves to spend time hiking, camping, and backpacking. She enjoys the challenges and rewards that working at ORUUC brings and looks forward to working with the congregation and staff to find new ways that the office can serve their needs.
Office Assistant- Margaret Hoff
Margaret recently moved here with her husband,
Shannon Cook, as he just graduated from OU and got
a job at SAIC. Margaret has her bachelor's degree in
English from Mt. Union College and her master's
degree in Women's Studies from OSU. Before they
moved, Margaret worked at an organic farm in
Athens, Ohio. She enjoys camping, hiking, writing,
photography, and painting as well as other art forms.
She recently started writing a blog as the Knoxville
Green Living Examiner, so if you have any thoughts
on green living or green events in the area, she'd be
happy to hear from you. Margaret & Shannon live in
Oliver Springs with their dog, Orlando, and look
forward to having a big garden and doing a lot of
canning this year. She is very excited to be working
here at ORUUC!
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