Governance
Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen (Senior Minister: ex-officio)
Ron Cookston (President)
Lauri Zuchlewski
Chris Scott
Forrest Johnson
Sheryl Abrahams
Beth McCracken
Drew Stawar
P.D. Wadler
Toni Holland – not Pictured
Don Poole (Treasurer: ex-officio) – not Pictured
Tawanna Grice (Secretary: ex-officio) – not Pictured
Also Pictured:
Connie Acosta (Immediate Past Vice President)
Earl Dredge (Governance Committee Representative)
Special Congregation Meeting
March 31, 2024
After Second Service
This is the Special Congregational Meeting to vote on the Ministerial Search Committee Slate. The Agenda for the meeting can be viewed HERE. The motion that was passed by the Board which will provide guidance for the work of the Search Committee can be viewed HERE .
Ministerial Search Committee Slate:
Steve Braun
Member since 2006
Steve Braun has been attending FUUCH regularly for over 22 years and formally joined 18 years ago in 2006. He has served First Church as a Board member, member & former long-time Chair of the Adult Programs Committee, and recently as Co-Chair of FUUCH's “Vision/Mission/Covenant sub-committee.
Steve is a retired attorney and recently helped FUUCH successfully negotiate its contracts for Energy-saving solar panels. He feels selecting a “good fit” as our settled minister is a vital task for the health and future of FUUCH and that it is critical that the minister have a clearvision of Houston's great need for a Liberal Religious/Spiritual Community/Church.
Finally, he has over 20 years of experience professionally in the "Search/Recruitment" industry and hopefully could use skills learned there on FUUCH's Minister Search Committee.
Johanna DeYoung
Member since 2022
She said it will be an honor and commitment to work together with the Search Committee in identifying First UU Church of Houston’s next minister.
Ruth Hoffman-Lach
Member since 2006
She is committed to the FUUCH community and looks forward to helping call a minister who will work with us to widen love’s circle.
Marilyn Knight
Member since 1999
Before she retired Marilyn worked as a nonprofit fundraiser for 35 years in Houston and is used to working in a collaborative fashion to accomplish specific, usually time-sensitive, goals.
As a fundraiser, Marilyn has learned to do her homework, ask exploratory questions, listen more than speak, follow-up in a timely manner, respect people’s time, values and opinions, and express gratitude often.
Mary Koch
Member since 2001
Mary is on the Justice Coordinating Council (JCC), the liaison to The Metropolitan Organization (TMO), the JCC representative on the Shared Offering Committee, serves on the Welcoming Team, and is part of the support group for Afghan immigrants. Mary also helps the Garden and Flower teams. Recently, Mary chaired a Board Committee to evaluate options for parking and was a member of the Mission, Vision, and Covenant Committee. She chaired our most recent Search Committee in 2009-2010 and before that had served as President of the Board.
Lydia J. Luz
Member since 2005
Lydia retired in 2023 after 30+ years as a non-profit executive and consultant in higher education, health care and the arts. Her early career was in law. Lydia cherishes First Houston as her spiritual home and community, as each inspires us to be our best selves. She views the Ministerial Search as vital to the church’s continued success and would be honored to serve on the Search Committee.
Becky Smith
Member since 2022
What motivates her to serve on the Search Committee is wanting to have a great minister. She is good at connecting with people and has a lot of professional and personal experience doing so with diverse audiences. She is persistent and doesn’t mind productive confrontation. She likes to work hard and also enjoy herself and, thus, she brings genuine personality to her work and volunteer roles. She loves people. She seeks to act from the “8 c’s” as much as possible across all areas of her life: compassion, creativity, curiosity, confidence, connectedness, courage, clarity, and calm.
Her daytime job is working as Texas director of the national non-profit organization Clean Water Action.
Board Minutes
Access to the First UU Church Board Minutes is restricted to Church members only per Board Resolution approved on January 20th, 2021.
Please send an email to minutes@firstuu.org to request a copy of the most recent minutes.
Your request will be answered as soon as possible.