WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The First Congregational Church-Williamstown announced the impending arrival of our new settled pastor following a nationwide search. 

 

The Rev. Deanna Shorb will assume her duties effective July 1 -ending our period of interim ministry that was ably served by the Reverend Mark Seifried and Bridge Minister Reverend James Lumsden.

 

Shorb studied theater in college and came to Williamstown in the late 1980s to work in the Williams theater program. She thrived in the theater program but also started to evolve towards a "call" to the ministry through her service work of establishing a soup kitchen in North Adams and a chapter of Habitat for Humanity, said a press release.

 

She was mentored by Williams Chaplain and FCC- Williamstown minister Rev. Bob Buckwalter. This led her to Yale Divinity

School and ordination as a UCC minister. Following her ordination, Shorb was called to the Chaplaincy of Grinnell College in Iowa, where she has been for the last 27 years.

 

Shorb was the first full-time chaplain at Grinnell. Under her leadership she was able to grow this program from a peripheral piece of campus life to a centerpiece of the Grinnell experience. A name change from the Chaplain's Office to the Center for Religion, Spirituality, and Social Justice brought relevance and a sense of connection for the student body, and the Center became an active place.