Rev. Katrina Forman, Lead Minister
973-744-7424, ext. 203 church office This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rev. Ron Verblaauw, Designated Term Minister
Pastor Ron was called to ministry after a career in public accounting and several corporate accounting, finance, and human resource positions. He is a graduate of Pace University, NYC, and Drew TheologicalSchool, Madison, NJ. While in seminary he co-founded SPECTRUM, a student caucus for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students of the Theological School, working to raise its active presence on campus and participation in the religious life of the Drew community. Ordained to the ministry in January 2015, he previously served congregations in Rutherford and Cresskill.
A lifelong aficionado of the pipe organ and sacred music, he is a member of the American Guild of Organists and has served United Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and UCC churches as a musician prior to entering pastoral ministry. Together with his husband, Manny, their blended family includes four adult children and eight grandchildren.
973-744-7424, ext. 202 church office This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jon Thomsen, Executive Director
Jon Thomsen joined Union as the Executive Director in April 2021. His primary responsibilities include managing the facilities, human resources, and finance, as well as supporting various board committees and taskforces.
973-744-7424, Ext. 201 973-744-7426 (direct) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
John David Whitener, Co-Music Director, Co-Founder And Music Director Of Pride Choir
John David Whitener is a conductor, music educator, and singer who is serving Union as the Director of Music. John David holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Middle Tennessee State University, a Masters of Music in Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and was a member of the Manhattan School of Music's Opera Studio. John David served his previous church, Bethany United Church of Christ, as the music director from 2016 until he moved to New Jersey in 2021.
John David has worked in several school districts teaching choir and theatre, for which he has received numerous distinctions including "Catawba County's Outstanding First Year Teacher Award" and has led students to achieve state-wide and national recognition. Outside of the classroom, John David has worked with numerous performing arts organizations, including a stint as the Executive Director of the Newton-Conover Auditorium, an organization focused on cultural and arts education and outreach. John David has performed in numerous musical theatre and opera productions.
John David and his husband, Jeremy, also a music and theatre educator. The couple loves seeing as many Broadway and off-Broadway shows as they can, cuddling with their puppies, working in community and political activism, and participating in UCC's vibrant music program.
973-447-7426 (direct) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jeremy Whitener - Co-Music Director
Jeremy received his Bachelors of Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he focused on choral singing and conducting. Jeremy has conducted church choirs, youth choirs, and handbell ensembles across North Carolina. Jeremy has been performing for over 25 years and teaching music, performing arts, private voice, and piano for 10 years. His love of music and theatre has led him to direct and music direct shows for his community's youngest performers including The Lion King Jr, Frozen Jr, Peter Pan Jr, and The Wizard of Oz. Jeremy has performed around the world with choirs, vocal ensembles, acting troupes, and musical theatre tours. He is currently the Performing Arts Teacher at Liberty Elementary School. When not teaching, acting, or making music, Jeremy loves crafting, cuddling with his dogs, and seeing shows with his husband.
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Kristine Hart - Director of Children's and Youth Choirs
Kristine holds a Bachelors and Master’s degree in music education and vocal performance. She has performed at opera houses internationally and was recognized as a National Grand Finals Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2001. Kristine is currently an elementary music teacher at Memorial School, in Paramus, NJ. She was recently recognized as “Teacher of the Year” in Bergen County and leads workshops in “Best Elementary Music Practices” in the area.
At Union Congregational Church, Kristine serves as the Soprano Section Leader, Children’s Choir Director, and Youth Choir Director. She believes that children and youth music help to develop a positive spiritual community, as well as a positive environment for the children to develop important musical skills.
Patty Dow, Program Coordinator for Children and Youth
Patty Dow holds a masters degree in Counseling and Family Studies from Montclair State University. She has made it her life’s work to give people the tools they need to live lives that they love. Patty has, and continues to work with persons of all ages in many capacities: from parent education; training au pairs; coordinating and teaching religious education programming at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair; and 13 years as an adjunct professor at Montclair State where she taught Interpersonal Relations and Child Development. As a former resident of Montclair, she is very excited to be part of the Union Congregational family and hopes to further the congregation’s commitment to children and youth both in house and in the community. Patty lives with her husband, Tom. Between them, they have three adult children and seven grandchildren who range in age from one to 24.
973-744-7424, Ext. 201 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Lynn Kulik, Director of the Nursery School
Lynn has been director of the school since 2013. She joined the UCWNS Community in 1998 as a parent, served on the Nursery School Leadership team, and later joined the faculty in 2008. She has taught Kindergarten and a multi-age loop classroom of Kindergarten/1st grade at a progressive public school in Chapel Hill, NC. Lynn has been involved in education for the past 25 years.
She holds a B.S. in Early and Middle Education from Radford University and most recently graduated from the NJ Directors Academy in the fall of 2013.Lynn serves on the Board of the NJEEPRE and is actively involved in the United Way Montclair Directors Network. She is passionate about how children construct knowledge and the Reggio Philosophy Approach to educating children.
973-744-9069 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kim Crabtree, Member Engagement And Communications Manager, Co-Founder Pride Choir
Kim was a professional Equity stage manager for eight years in Los Angeles, facilitating communication across all creative and technical departments of theatrical productions at the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse and Deaf West Theater. She then transitioned into a large-scale event fundraiser/development associate role for the meal-delivering non-profit Project Angel Food. Kim also spent several years in Los Angeles coordinating all of the details needed to transfer new, closing Broadway productions and open them in Los Angeles and San Francisco with original casts, sets, and creative staff.
Kim has created spoken, deck, and printed content, environmental signage, and videos for conferences and large-scale fundraisers across the country and in Ireland. Digitally, she has AD'd live-to-tape shows for PBS, produced livestreams, web content, app content, and social media campaigns. In March 2020, Kim assisted a colleague in helping launch her vision of a virtual event channel to keep women connected and entertained during the pandemic. Since its inception, they have Zoomed over 800 virtual events. Kim and her wife, a deaf and hard-of-hearing educator, live in Ringwood.
973-744-7424, Ext. 206 973-233-4563 (direct) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
