Staff at Harvard-Epworth

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Rev. Mitch Hay & Rev. Barb Lemmel

Co-Pastors

Rev. Mitchell Hay has enjoyed serving in diverse ministry settings:  a four-church charge in Vermont’s rural Northeast Kingdom, village churches in the Adirondacks, a compact urban ministry environment in Vermont’s capitol city, and, for the last fourteen years, a suburban faith community near Burlington. He has fallen in love with every place he has served.  Mitchell views his ministry as equipping individuals and communities to love God, humanity, and creation with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
 
Rev. Barbara Lemmel also brings a variety of ministry experiences.  After eleven years serving congregations in Vermont and the Adirondacks, she became the Director of Connectional Ministries for the former Troy Conference.  For the past 15 years, she has worked as a parish consultant, leadership coach and spiritual director, as well as the Director of Tending the Fire, a leadership formation process for clergy and laity.  She has also served as an interim pastor at UCC/UMC congregations in Vermont.  Her passion is helping individuals and congregations discover God’s dream for their futures and taking steps to live into God’s calling. 
 
Mitch and Barb met while in seminary at Boston University School of Theology.  They have maintained connections with the Boston area through close friends and their two children attending Northeastern and Harvard. Mitch and Barb wonder if there is perhaps a whimsical divine symmetry to returning to Cambridge after a third of a century away.
 
In all their ministry settings, Mitch and Barb seek to embody faithful living, social justice and inclusion.  They are committed to creating beloved communities that are transformational and joy-filled, and they look forward to joining Harvard-Epworth’s journey into God’s future.

Terry Halco

Music Director

Terry became the Music Director at Harvard-Epworth in 2010. He is the accompanist for the Chorus pro Musica in Boston and has been the accompanist for the chorus Musica Sacra since 1984. He is the accompanist for the choruses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He also works as a staff accompanist for the Boston Conservatory. He has been the accompanist for the Emerson College Chorale, the Polymnia Choral Society in Melrose, and the Simmons College Chorale, with whom he toured England and Puerto Rico. He has also performed with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the vocal ensemble Capella Alamire.

Terry has over 25 years' experience in church positions in the Boston area. He has previously served as music director at Grace Episcopal Church in Everett, First Presbyterian Church in Brookline, Christ Lutheran Church in Belmont, and Payson Park UCC in Belmont.

Terry worked for ten years in the Harvard University Library system, first in the Law School Library and then in the Loeb Music Library.

He was born and raised in northern Ohio, and received his musical education at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, at the New England Conservatory, and at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.

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Adam McAllister

Director of University Student and Young Adult Ministry

Adam is entering into his second year at Boston University, pursuing his Masters of Divinity on the Global and Community Engagement track. He is currently shifting into ministry and hopes to pursue a vocation within Campus Ministry. He currently lives in Medford and moved from Southwest Virginia with his partner, Alex, who is attending Boston Conservatory and their two dogs, Amos and Thatcher. 

He holds a Bachelors in Music from Bluefield College, Masters of Arts in Worship Studies from Liberty University, and a Masters of Arts in Music History from Radford University.  He has taught in person and now currently online at Ferrum College, a Methodist school in Virginia in the music and theatre departments.  He comes from the Holston Conference in the United Methodist Church and holds membership at Grove United Methodist Church in Radford, Virginia.  He is incredibly excited and blessed to find a Methodist church in which he can call home and to work to enrich the spiritual lives of the young adults and collegiate students in the Cambridge area!  

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Flynn Fernandes

Church Administrator

Flynn Fernandes is the Office Administrator at Harvard-Epworth UMC. He also serves as the Director of Faith Formation for Holy Trinity Parish, Quincy, in the Archdiocese of Boston. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Flynn came to the United States to pursue higher education. For many years, he worked as a project and program manager for different firms in the healthcare technology and services sector. During the evenings, he volunteered as a middle and high school catechist for his parish church.  Flynn earned a Master of Theological Studies from Boston University School of Theology, as well as the licentiate and doctorate in sacred theology from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.  He has taught courses in theology at Emmanuel College.

Rev. Natalie Hill

MIT Chaplain and Deacon

Rev. Natalie Hill is a Deacon in the United Methodist Church. Deacons are uniquely tasked with serving as a bridge between church and world, and between worship and work. At MIT and Harvard-Epworth, Natalie embodies this calling through her leadership in university student leadership, spiritual growth and service opportunities. She joined the staff at Harvard-Epworth in 2017, and has been part of the congregation since 2010.

Natalie holds a B.A. and M.Div. from Boston University and an M.S.W. from Simmons College. She has worked as a clinical social worker for many years, and has specialized in eating disorders for most of her career. Her ministry is an extension of this work, with a specific focus on counteracting societal forces that objectify or vilify the body by drawing on the Incarnation, the promise of resurrection, and other aspects of the Christian tradition to help people experience a transformed and transforming relationship with their own bodies.

To fulfill this mission, Natalie also serves as founding director of Seaspring, an urban counseling, retreat, and community engagement center. Seaspring offers individual and group counseling alongside programs to foster spiritual growth and missional service.