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Our Staff
Rev. Dale Ostema - Senior Pastor email: dale@tccentralumc.org
Rev. Dale Ostema came to Central Church in July of 2007. Over the past twenty years Dale has served churches in Northern Michigan. His prior appointments include Baldwin, Charlevoix and Cadillac United Methodist Churches. Dale loves living in the northern part of the state and enjoys spending free time, out-of-doors, in God's awesome creation.
Dale is married to Debbie and they have three Children, Jay, Alison & Chloe. Dale and Debbie are graduates of Michigan State University with degrees in education. Both have worked in the field of Special Education. After teaching for a few years, Dale's sense of God's call to ministry became irresistible. It was then that he entered seminary at The Methodist Theological School in Ohio. Connecting people to God's love in Jesus Christ is at the heart of Dale's ministry. Through preaching, teaching, and just talking with others, Dale hopes to share the amazing grace God has for all people. The thing that excites Dale the most is seeing others embrace and live out their own call to ministry. He loves seeing so many active people at Central doing what God is empowering them to do in the church and community.
Living in the northern part of the state and enjoys spending free time, out-of-doors, in God's awesome creation. Dale is married to Debbie and they have three Children, Jay, Alison & Chloe. Dale and Debbie are graduates of Michigan State University with degrees in education. Both have worked in the field of Special Education. After teaching for a few years, Dale's sense of God's call to ministry became irresistible. It was then that he entered seminary at The Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
Rev. Chris Lane arrived on staff to Central Church in July of 2009. Since becoming ordained twenty years ago he has served several communities across West Michigan - rural, suburban, edge-city. Chris and his wife, Rev. Jane Lippert, served as co-pastors for 12 of those years to birth a new congregation in Grand Rapids, Genesis United Methodist Church. Chris is excited about serving God's church, and has this to say about it: "The Church is the only place I know where we live as if the Kingdom of God is already here, where even strangers are my brothers & sisters, and where Christ's love trumps all that divides us."
Chris and Jane have been life partners for more than twenty five years and have two amazing daughters to show for it, Hannah and Rachel. Chris is drawn to the dramatic, having an undergraduate degree in theatre. His graduate degree in seminary is through Boston University School of Theology. He loves mountain biking, swimming, reading poety and walking the dogs with family.
Among other ministry areas, Chris helps coordinate our youth ministry and our new worship gathering, The Well.
Jeff Cobb joined the Central Church staff in 2006. Prior to beginning his tenure as the Director of Music at Central Church, Jeff was the Choral Director at Traverse City Central High School. Jeff has also held positions in San Antonio, Texas; Parchment, Michigan; and in Leysin, Switzerland. Jeff is thrilled to be able to work with musicians of all ages at Central! In addition to his responsibilities as the Director of Music, Jeff also serves as the director of Adult Handbells, Youth Handbells, Choristers, and Music Leader of the new Well Services.
In addition to his work at Central, Jeff is also a busy composer – working in a variety of genres and mediums including works for broadcast, and choral, band and orchestral works for the concert hall. His concert works have won several awards including honors and his music for broadcast can be heard on several television series, radio spots, and in television advertisements. As passionate as he is about music, the true loves of his life are his wife Laura, and their children, Elijah and Arianna.
Tom Bara has deep roots in Northern Lower Michigan, having spent his high school years studying with Robert Murphy as a student at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Arts Camp, where he now teaches, and as a choir member at Central United Methodist Church, where he now directs the choir. His further studies took him to The University of Michigan, The Eastman School of Music and to an apprenticeship in New York City at both the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue.
His principal teachers include Jerry Blackstone, Robert Glasgow, Arthur Haas, Gerre Hancock, David Higgs, Donald Neuen, and Russell Saunders. Before returning to Interlochen, Tom worked as the Assistant Organist at Saint Thomas Church, where, miraculously given his myopic focus on the rigors of the job, he met his wife, Anne. In addition to music making, Tom enjoys cooking, carpentry, tennis and hiking.
Jacquie Thomas is a sixth generation Native Texan that found northern Michigan in 1974 when her father was transferred to Traverse City with Shell Oil Co. She joined Central in 1983 primarily because of the strong children’s programming and so many opportunities to put faith in action. She and her daughters, Meagan and Micha considered Central their extended family and all three were very active until 2000 when Jacquie moved to North Carolina, Meagan went to Savannah to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and Micha moved to Appleton, WI to attend Lawrence University.
Jacquie returned to Traverse City and joined the Central Staff in December of 2010 as Community Outreach Coordinator. She recently earned a BS from Central Michigan University in Community Development/Human Services and is currently enrolled at Western Michigan University pursuing a MA in Clinical Mental Health. Serving the homeless community and the low resource population comes as close as I can imagine to living out the Word and following the most basic of the teachings of Jesus Christ. I am honored.
Alline Beutler moved to Traverse City in 2004 from the East Lansing area with her husband Dan and their daughters Claire and Eliza. Soon after, Central Church became an important part of her life and she took on the role of co-VBS director and then moved onto being one of the Children's Ministries Coordinators. Shortly after taking on the role of Education Ministries Team Chairperson, the opportunity came for Alline to join the church staff as the Director of Adult Christian Education in June of 2009.
Professionally, Alline's background includes a degree in education from Michigan State University, teaching for Head Start, being the director for a cooperative nursery school, advising community college students and working as a family facilitator for Early On. Adult Christian education is such an important part of everyone's continuing faith development and Alline hopes to provide many and wide varieties of classes and events that will meet the needs of each person at Central Church.
Ann Porter first joined Central as a congregation member in 2000 eager to have a church home. She quickly became involved in Central’s Nursery Council and moved on to Nursery Coordinator. The hours I spent on the Nursery projects were a labor of love and led me to continue to the next step as Children’s Ministry Coordinator. Invited to become part of the staff in June 2009, as the Director of Children’s Christian Education, Ann is continuing many traditions here at Central as well as exploring new ways to bring children to the Lord.
Ann and her husband, Chris, are both graduates of Michigan State University. They chose to end their careers as Realtor and Controller of the Michigan Association of CPA’s respectively, to pursue their dreams of raising a family and getting back to God’s world in Traverse City. Ann and Chris have two elementary aged children, Owen and Sara. They are a continual source of input regarding Central’s children’s offerings.
Ann’s heart yearns for each child to know and love Jesus as their savior. With the Central’s children’s ministry goal of providing a place where children experience God’s love and have opportunities to grow in their faith, she looks forward to offering lots of fun, lessons, activities and fellowship where children are bathed in prayer and grow spiritually.
Dave Maxson's career experience includes 27 years in bank auditing and operations, then 14 more as Director of Internal Audit and Corporate Compliance with Munson Healthcare. He retired from Munson on a Friday in 2006; on Saturday morning, Central's Staff Pastor Parish committee offered him the part-time position of Business Administrator. He accepted.
In Dave's one day each week on duty, he gets involved with most anything that's remotely "business" related, including oversight of accounting and financial matters, insurance claims, IRS compliance, security issues, contracts with vendors, and even an occasional "policing" of the parking lot for unauthorized vehicles.
Dave otherwise enjoys retirement with his wife, Julie, in their home in Lake Ann, where they're privileged to spend a lot of time with their grandchildren.
Darcy graduated in 1985 from Ferris State College with a degree in Television Production. After graduation she lived in the Detroit area working at Comcast Cablevision, first in the local production department and later in the Regional Accounting Office. While at Comcast, Darcy continued her education at Macomb Community College and Walsh College receiving an associate degree in Accounting/Business management.
In the summer of 1995, while visiting a longtime friend, Darcy fell in love with the area and in January of 1995 she made Traverse City her home. After working for Eagle Container and The Pinery, Darcy started working for Central in 2000 first as Office Manager and now as Treasurer/Executive Assistant to the Pastors. She is responsible for payroll, overseeing the payment of bills, month financial statements and assisting the pastors and congregation in anyway she can. Darcy is a member of PAUMCS (Professional Associate of United Methodist Church Secretaries) allowing her to connect with many UM Secretaries across the country.
Darcy has been a member of Central since November 2003. Prior to 2003, she was a member at The Presbyterian Church – Traverse City. She has led all four Disciple classes and Christian Believer. She is a Stephen Minister and has helped put on the Amazing Race for the youth. Darcy has loved her time working at Central, growing both as a person and in faith.
Outside of Central, Darcy likes to travel, cross stitch, read and entertain. She has hosted 3 exchange students, a student teacher, a homeless teen and a college student in her home and currently lives with a big nineteen year old black and tan tiger cat named Max.
Kim Burch graduated from Ferris State University in 1995 with a degree in Public Relations and Marketing. She married her high school sweetheart, Scott, in September 1995 and they moved to Traverse City. Kim worked for 7 years in the Youth Development and Child Care fields, and later, earned her Master's in Education degree from Concordia University. In May of 2002, Kim and her husband Scott, left their careers to open a Grille-style restaurant in Downtown Traverse City, which they owned and operated until November of 2005.
Kim and her husband Scott first found Central in 2003 when they were searching for a church home. Feeling an almost instant connection to the church and it's huge emphasis on family, they joined as members in February of 2004. In March of 2004, Kim and Scott welcomed twins, Emmaley and Cecil, into their family.
It wasn't until August of 2006 that Kim joined the church staff as a part-time receptionist. Wanting to have time at home with the twins, it seemed like the perfect fit! Shortly after starting with the church, Kim found out that the Burch Family would once again welcome a new member. Their son, Evan was born in June of 2007. After being on maternity leave during the summer of 2007, Kim rejoined the church staff on a full-time basis in September.
Kim wears many hats in the church office. You'll hear her sunny voice when you call, or be greeted with a warm smile at the window. Kim also publishes the church newsletter and creates the weekly worship bulletins. Kim truly enjoys being a part of the Central Staff and church family. She feels that It is a blessing to be part of God's ministry in this great community!
Denise Edick - Webmaster email: daedick@charter.net
Denise Edick has been in the Traverse City area for 26 years completing her Associates Degree in Business Data Processing at Northwestern Michigan College. She has experience in designing projects for both business and personal use and some background in web design. She brings a rich employment background including restaurants, retail, receptionist, customer service, clerk at the post office, and organic agriculture.
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Rev. Chris Lane - Associate Pastor 
Jeff Cobb - Director of Music
Tom Bara - Chancel Choir Director
Jacquie Thomas - Community Services / Kitchen Coordinator
Alline Beutler - Director of Adult Christian Education
Ann Porter - Director of Children's Christian Educa
Dave Maxson - Business Administrator & Accounts Payable
Darcy Dewling - Church Treasurer & Executive Assistant to Pastors 
Kim Burch - Office & Communications Coordinator 
Beth Whiting
