Sr. Minister, Rev. Laura Easter Rainwater
With the retirement of Rev. Barb, Rev. Laura begins her appointment at PUMC on July 1st and will work with the board leadership to begin to take the next steps in building the board into a strong group of lay leaders. Rev. Laura has had some background in the simplified leadership structure model, but will be learning alongside this strong team of laity to develop and lead through the upcoming first year.
Kim Bimestefer, Co-Chair
Kim is currently CEO & Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing. Kim sits on several boards in the greater Denver area. She and her partner Sara are active church members who engage in mission work that supports the Parker community through our congregation, like providing gifts for low-income families during the holidays. She has purchased, prepared and distributed mana bags, helps with donations to Parker Task Force, and participated in several online and in person studies and classes. She also supports Denver Mission, Food Bank of the Rockies, Wounded Warriors, Girl Scouts of Colorado, and more.
Lacye Cahill
Lacye has a Masters in Social Work and has worked exclusively in the area of organ transplant and organ donation. She has worked with patients and families around issues concerning end of life decisions and chronic illness. Lacye has been involved with children and youth at PUMC and will be a chaperone on the upcoming youth mission trip. She and husband, Kevin, are parents of Grace and Rhodes who are active in our congregation. Lacye is also the daughter of John and Charlotte Huffaker, who joined our congregation in 2019.
Susan Gustin, Recording Secretary
Susan retired from teaching history at CU Denver, and has a passion for learning and teaching. She was a Bible study leader in her former church in California for ten years, and has led a five year cycle of Disciple Bible Study at PUMC. She currently leads a church women’s book study, as well as participates in many studies at PUMC. She also enjoys making prayer shawls with the Knit 1, Pray 2, fellowship group. Susan is a natural teacher which means she is a good listener. She has enjoyed participating in mission outreach as well. Susan is an active member in the Parker Rotary Club and currently serves as their webmaster. She is married to her husband, Hal.
David Haukeness
David and his wife Jen have been attending PUMC for several years, joining in the last new members class. David works in autonomous vehicle technology as the Global Product Manager for Autonomous Systems for Komatsu Mining Technology Solutions. He has participated in the choir, serves on the technology team as a volunteer, and helped draft the new PUMC governance document. David and Jen are the proud parents of Cora and Parker, and Jen is the daughter of Steve and Tina Kascht. Both are active in our family ministries activities.
Julie Kronbach, Lay Leader
Julie has agreed to become the new Lay Leader for PUMC. Julie served as Lay Leader at a previous UMC church that she and her husband Dave were very active in. They have been active at PUMC for the past nine years. Julie has a background in executive management and has served as the Chair of the PUMC missions outreach for several years, overseeing missional giving, use of missional monies, overseeing Feed My Starving Children, been a member of the Wesley Council, and serves as a liturgist. She currently sits on the Board of Global Hope Ministries. During the pandemic, she and her husband Dave took every single chair in the gathering space home to paint and reupholster with new backs and seats.
Doug McKinney
Doug is a retired deacon in the UMC. He and his wife, Lynette, have been involved at PUMC for 21 years. For eight years, Doug was on the staff of PUMC. Doug served in full time ministry for 40 years in numerous roles and settings. His passion is developing people to learn to use their God given gifts and talents, which was the focus in all his ministry settings. Doug has been an executive director of a non-profit organization. He is currently serving PUMC through subbing for youth Sunday school, assists with worship leadership, attends a men’s Bible study, and has assisted with this year’s nominations team. Doug is also involved with Global Hope, Love INC of Littleton, and more.
Eric Ross
Eric and his wife Lauren have been active members at PUMC since 2005 when they moved to Parker, CO from Troy, MI.
Eric is a licensed Professional Engineer currently working in the Construction Industry. Over the years Eric has participated in Winter Shelter Network and in Small Group Study. Since 2018 both Eric and Lauren have been involved with Emmaus Ministries.
Ron Wyckoff, Co-Chair
Ron and his wife Leah have been active members at PUMC for 28 years. Ron is a retired U.S. Air Force Officer and a retired System Engineering Technical Advisor to the U.S. Government in aerospace engineering. Over the years, Ron has served on Finance, SPRC, Small Group and UMM ministries (and has recently re-engaged with the Saturday morning UMM group). He is an active member of the choir–both Chorale and Cambiata–participating throughout his years here at PUMC. He and Leah retired a year ago, and are now excited to become involved in more ways at PUMC, including serving on the new leadership board.
Elizabeth Gore Stanley, Co-Vice-Chair
Elizabeth Stanley was raised in this Parker UMC community for over 40 years, beginning with preschool, services, education, and youth groups when the church was located on Mainstreet. Her mother, Marian Gore, was an integral part of her spiritual formation becoming a deacon for the church during her youth years and encouraging her self discovery. Elizabeth left Parker for a time to pursue her degrees in Music and French and to start a family. Now she partakes in the music ministry team, decorations team and various support groups. Her children, Casimir(19) and Ren (16) grew up in the church and attended Little Blessings Preschool & Kindergarten, where she also taught Spanish for a couple of years. She currently works at CU Anschutz Medical School in Aurora and lives with her Mother and Ren.
Li Roberson, Co-Vice-Chair
Bio Coming Soon
Steve Brase
Steven and his wife Vicky have been active members of Parker United Methodist Church for 10 years. They moved their membership here after their retirements and near the end of Steve’s difficult cancer treatment (Multiple Myeloma). Steve is involved with ushering, the Winter Shelter Network, Feed My Starving Children and the North 40 small group. Outside this church, he has worked with SECOR food bank. He loves to travel, so if he is not on a trip you will find him planning his next getaway.
Linda Thomas
Linda moved to Parker Colorado in 2016 and joined Parker UMC in 2023. She retired as a Director of Internal Audit in 2020 after a 40-year accounting career with various industries. Linda is looking forward to serving on the Finance Team and becoming more involved with serving the PUMC community.
Emily Shaffer
Emily is the Director for Little Blessings Preschool & Kindergarten. She joined the Little Blessings team in September 2015. Emily moved to Colorado from Nebraska, where she was born and raised (GO BIG RED!), in the summer of 2007. Before moving to Colorado, she worked in a K-12 Special Education classroom for 5 years. After moving to Colorado, Emily taught Pre-K in Highlands Ranch for 6 years. In her spare time, Emily enjoys gardening, college football and camping with her husband and two children. Emily and her husband have been members of PUMC since 2009.